Jane Austen: Monster Attack

So after my brother Logan's wedding in June, I drove to Texas with my sister Torry and her kids, which is about fourteen hours. I am a huge fan of Audio Books for long car rides and so I flipped through my Facebook Visual Bookshelf application (which I love and use frequently) to see what books I had been meaning to read, wanting to choose something that would surprise T and also be entertaining for that amount of time. I decided on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. T had never heard of the book, so the explosion of amusement and unbelief that came out of her during the very opening as we heard, in a very serious voice, 'Audible Incorporated presents, Pride and Prejudice ... and Zombies' was worth the choice alone.

It was actually very entertaining. My only real qualm with it is that it was even more long-winded that the actual Pride & Prejudice. It didn't really take anything out of the story or change the timeline of the events or even the style of the writing. It really just adds events like zombie attacks, duels of honor and Undead body burning, and changes some personalities and back stories slightly as they live in a warrior society and all five of the Bennet girls, especially Elizabeth, are masters in the art of the Shaolin discipline of fighting from Japan. It almost took itself too seriously at times and I wished it would hurry up a bit. Maybe it would have been different if I had been reading it instead of listening to it because it would have gone faster. The lady who narrated was very funny though- oh, you have to listen to it for the Charlotte scenes! Ha!

This picture is from what is probably my favorite scene in the book because though they had been discussing it, this is the first scene where they actually come across zombies- they are at the first ball in the story, just after Darcy's insult, when zombies attack. Some guests were standing too close to the windows and they were 'seized and feasted on at once.' Mr. Bennet then yells, 'Girls! Pentagram of Death!' and the Bennet sisters go back to back in the center of the room and pull out their hidden ankle daggers and proceed to branch out into the room and swiftly dispatch the 'unmentionables.' Oh my goodness, how T and I laughed and laughed.

This picture is from a scene where Elizabeth and Darcy are strolling in the morning and have a good chuckle as they come across some silly Undead who have stupidly mistaken cauliflower for stray brains, a trap often used to catch them.

Below is an actual excerpt from the book- click on it to enlarge:

Since Zombies received such a great reception (apparently a movie is even in the works), I have wondered what would come next- A Tale of Two Cities and Zombies? Tom Sawyer and Zombies? The Great Gatsby and Zombies? The Taming of the Shrew and Zombies? I mean, the possibilities of classic stories to desecrate with the insertion of the brain hungry undead are really endless. I just came across an article, however, that answered my question, and they are sticking with Jane Austen. They are not, however, sticking with zombies. The new Quirk Books novel is to be ...

Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters

(On sale September 15th - te he ;)