Since reading Pride & Prejudice in high school, Elizabeth Bennet has been my favorite heroine of my literary world. I don’t think many of you would disagree if I said she might be the favorite of yours as well. She’s beautiful, witty, independent, sensible, and deadly with a katana. Okay, that last attribute adding to Lizzy’s glowing character should be accredited to Seth Grahame-Smith, the co-author of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, “the classic regency romance – now with ultraviolent zombie mayhem.”
In P & P & Z, it’s 19th Century England and the country is dealing with the nuisance of the undead as well as all the inconveniences they can bring with them, i.e. lost messages due to zombie interference/the messenger being eaten, the risk of zombie attacks during those leisurely walks, etc. The Bennet family lives in the countryside where Mr. Bennet focuses on training his five daughters in martial arts and zombie-slaying techniques. As a result his daughters become deadly defenders of Hertfordshire against Hell’s legion of undead.
All the while, Mrs. Bennet prefers her daughters simply marry wealthy suitors. To her delight, wealthy and amicable Mr. Bingley moves into the neighborhood, bringing with him the even wealthier (and quite deadly himself) Mr. Darcy. Even as zombies attack during the first ball, Jane Bennet, the eldest of the sisters, catches the attention of Mr. Bingley. Elizabeth, though in a different way, also attracts the attention of Mr. Darcy. Though Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy get off on not the friendliest of terms (yet most civil) time and further association leads to love…that and their shared love of being zombie-killing warriors.
Grahame-Smith’s inclusions of zombie attacks and the character’s lethal skills are welcome and seem to fit in well with Austen’s romantic novel of ‘first impressions’. The novel is possibly more enjoyable after being familiar with Pride & Prejudice’s plot. Fans of the original version of this novel (if anything like me) will be pleased with new plot twists dealing out fair karma and reason – chiefly, why are militia stationed in town exactly? Zombies, of course! Also included in the novel are great illustrations provided by Philip Smiley that help your imagination along while reading (especially if zombies have gotten to the imagination portion of your brain). I can imagine these illustrations being inspiration for some sort of movie. I really looked forward to reading this book before it came out, had a difficult time getting a hold of the book once it came out, and found it difficult for me to put the book down once I started reading it. I hope you enjoy reading!
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