Review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies

What happens when someone combines violent zombie mayhem with Jane Austen? It becomes something that I spend money on and buy!

There is alot of Jane Austen fan fiction out there, something that I found out on a date in January where we slowly walked through the shelves of the local Barnes and Nobles: lots of books continuing the various stories (I've only read one book of that sort) and there is a whole Jane Austen detective series.

Back to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies..... basically it is a retelling of the story (word for word in the majority of cases) with some Zombie action thrown in. Although there are some plot tweaks and changes. One of them being the relationship between Charlotte Lucas and Mr. Collins. While they still marry, you no longer have to pity Ms. Lucas for her choice in husband as she gets bitten by a zombie and eventually she becomes one. Mr. Collins is so heartbroken that he commits suicide. Lydia still runs away with Mr. Wickham, but in the final settlement where they are forced to marry, a condition is that Mr. Darcy gets to beat him senseless and lame in the name of honor. Wickham is so crippled that he continually soils himself, and selfish Lydia has to constantly change the diapers of her "brave" husband. And of course, in the final confrontation between Lady Catherine and Elizabeth over the rumors of Mr. Darcy proposing to her....there is a physical fight. Lady Catherine is very well respected for her fighting skills (she has a guard of personal ninjas you know) and it was because Elizabeth didn't behead Lady Catherine and let her live that Mr. Darcy renewed his affections.

The book was silly to be sure. The blending of Asian martial arts and 1800 England was...well...interesting. It was worth the read for the novelty alone; and the reading guide and artwork with the inaccurate period costumes, highly amusing. Out of all of Jane Austen's novels, I think that this would be definitely the only one that could be adapted to include a zombie menace.....possibly Emma.... but Pride and Prejudice is the only one with characters that lend themselves to really pride themselves on their social standing AND fighting skills. Also, Pride and Prejudice is probably the most recognizable storyline of Jane Austen. I don't think that it is her best book, but it is a good introduction to her writings. Everyone who is a hopeless romantic can appreciate the love/hate and then love relationship between Elizabeth and Darcy. I'm sure that all of us wish that we had her ready wit....cause she never seems to falter in an agruement. She isn't very deep though, then again, her character is only 20 years old...and how deep are we at that age anyway? I perfer Persuasion with its heroine, Anne Elliot. She's a klutz and make mistakes....and develops maturity with time. She's leaned on by so many people, and often unrecognized for what she does. She's older, 29, and has much more depth to her character. I recognize more of myself in her than in Elizabeth Bennett. So while Darcy would be nice, give me Captain Wentworth anyday.