By Seth Grahame-Smith

This is a book that I am reading for the first time for this blog, which is a little ironic, seeing as I said last week the movie of this was my introduction to anything Jane Austen.

“It is known as “the strange plague,” and its unfortunate victims are referred to only as “unmentionables” or “dreadfuls.” All over England, the dead are rising again, and now even the daughters of Britain’s best families must devote their lives to mastering the deadly arts. Elizabeth Bennet is a fearsome warrior whose ability with a sword is matched only by her quick wit and even sharper tongue. But she faces her most formidable foe yet in the haughty, conceited, and somehow strangely attractive Mr. Darcy. As the two lovers meet in the ballroom and on the battlefield, they’ll soon learn that nothing–not even bands of ninjas, hordes of flesh-eating zombies, or disapproving aunts–can stop true love.”

My spoiler-free review is this: if you like fast-paced action and fight scenes in gory detail, then you will find it here. If you enjoy Jane Austen’s humor and romance, you will find some of that here, but less than in the original book. But there is one cool thing about this book, and that is the artwork inside. Every few chapters, you will get a page that depicts a scene from that chapter in a style very similar to the artwork in books of the 18th century. It is beautiful and grotesque.

I have 3 things I would like to talk about.

Firstly, the zombies or as they are called around 75% of the time, the unmentionables. I find the interaction of the undead with Jane Austen’s world in this book interesting. Every time anyone leaves the house, they are attacked by zombies. Also, the use of unmentionables as a euphemism for zombies is funny because unmentionable is, at certain times, the go-to word when talking about men’s genitalia.

Secondly, Charlotte Lewis, I have no sympathy for this version of Charlotte. In the original, Charlotte marries Mr. Collins to have a comfortable life, which is understandable. But this woman accepts the marriage proposal after she has been bitten by a zombie. She expects she can have a nice life before she fully turns. This is especially harsh because Mr. Collins is a pacifist, meaning he could get killed. Or at least be traumatised by having to kill her.

Thirdly, how violent Elizabeth and everyone else are is so interesting, by which I mean the violence not just for the zombies. Elizabeth’s reaction to Mr. Darcy saying that “She is tolerable, but not handsome enough to tempt me,” leads to Elizabeth almost killing him. If zombies didn’t show up, she would have! Also, there is a throwaway line where the older Bennet girls tell their mother that with the training all the Bennet girls receive, they could easily get work doing many different things, meaning Mrs. Bennet’s obsession with marriage is less reasonable.

So, I hope you enjoyed this little detour into the world of the horrific. Until next time.

Happy reading to all, and to all a good night.