Pride and Prejudice: Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith- Review by Carlyn

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Pride and Prejudice: Dreadfully Ever After by Steve Hockensmith is the sequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Jane Austen and Seth Grahame-Smith. The book is a parody of Pride and Prejudice with zombies added for fun.

The sequel picks up where the last novel ended. Elizabeth and Darcy are newly married and adjusting to living with each other. Elizabeth is discontent with being a gentleman’s wife and discarding her warrior duties for the sake of decorum. When Elizabeth and Darcy go on a leisurely stroll to discuss matters, Darcy is bitten by a zombie. Elizabeth turns to an unlikely source to help her find a cure for Darcy. She must set aside her morals to help the man she loves.

I really enjoyed reading this book. It’s a lot of fun. You have to embrace the ridiculous premise to enjoy it. What makes the novel entertaining is the humor. I don’t think there’s any laugh out loud moments but there’s plenty of ridiculous characters and situations that make the story entertaining. There’s always a surprise zombie attack that makes all the villagers run for their lives and the Bennet girls spring into action.

I liked how all the Bennet girls are skilled warriors. It was kinda like they were superheroes because they had to hide their fighting prowess as it would be considered unladylike for that time. While the villagers run off screaming from a zombie horde, the Bennet sisters race into action. There’s also ninjas in the story which add to the fun.

I thought the side plots with Mary and Kitty were more interesting than the main story that featured Elizabeth. It was interesting for them to go on their own adventures and love stories. I would love to read more stories where they are the main characters.

There’s a never a dull moment in this book. The blood and gore isn’t too graphic. I don’t enjoy horror unless it’s horror comedy so I found this book just right. There is a prequel to this book called Pride and Prejudice: Dawn of the Dreadful by Steve Hockensmith which will probably be more action packed as it will show the beginning of the undead plague.  

Janeite Tag

I decided to do a tag that Paige from Sunday Best and All theRest left on her blog for Jane Austen fans to do. Feel free to complete this tag too if you are Jane Austen fan.

The Rules:
~Thank and link back to the person who tagged you.
~Tell how you were introduced to Jane Austen and share one fun fact about your Janeite life (this fun fact can be anywhere from "I stayed up all night reading Emma," to "I visited Chawton and met Anna Chancellor.").

~Answer the tagger's questions.

~Write seven questions of your own.

~Tag as few as one or as many as seven other Janeites and let them know you've tagged them.

Jane Austen was a famous author from the 18^th century known for writing novels about courtship, class divide and gender differences. Her writing is described to be elegant, clever and witty. Jane Austen’s books include Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Northanger Abbey and Sense and Sensibility.

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The first Austen book I read was Pride and Prejudice and I was about fourteen years old. I had no idea what the book was about and I wanted to see why the book had endured to be popular to the present day.  I really enjoyed the book and continued to read more of Jane Austen’s work. Jane Austin’s writing inspired me to read other classic books which is something I still continue today. I like Austen books because the heroines are always brave in their own way. They are assertive and generally motivated to do good for others. The characters also have impeccable manners which make me wish that people were as courteous as they were in the regency period.

 Fun Fact: I love reading and watching all things to do with Jane Austen. I’m happy when there are new movies or series based on Jane Austen’s novels and I also like watching modernized versions too. My favourite modern inspired Jane Austen movies are Bride and Prejudice which is a Bollywood version of Pride and Prejudice and I also love Clueless which is inspired by Emma.

Paige’s Questions:

1) What is your favorite Austen book?

My favourite Jane Austen book changes and tends to be the one that I am currently reading. My favourite Austen books are Pride and Prejudice, Emma, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey and Mansfield Park. 

2) What is your favorite movie adaptation of an Austen book?

My favourite movie adaption is the 1995 movie of Emma starring Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma. I think she did a great job in capturing Emma’s lively spirit and the film is just filled with eye candy. I love all the houses and costumes.

Gwyneth Paltrow as Emma

3) What is your *least* favorite movie adaptation? 

My least favourite adaption would be the 2007 adaption of Northanger Abbey. I thought they made the main character a little too silly and I didn’t like all the sexual fantasies that she had.

4) Which character in any of the novels do you relate to most?

This is a very good question. I haven’t thought about it before. I think I relate most to Elizabeth Bennet because I think my parents are kinda like her parents.

5) If you could choose a Jane Austen home to live in, where would you live?

There are so many nice houses in Jane Austen’s books. It’s a bit hard to choose…. I suppose I would like Emma’s Hartfield or Mansfield Park or Pemberley. It’s not so much the huge mansions that interest me. I like those houses because of the gardens and features which I think would be fun to stroll down every day. 

6) Who is your favorite Austen hero?

Mr Darcy is my favourite hero because in the course of the book he changes and it’s good to show how you can change for the better.

7) If you were to write a sequel to any of Jane's novels, what would it be about?

I would write a sequel of Pride and Prejudice and we would see how Elizabeth and Jane adapt to their new lives.

Thank you once again to Paige for putting the fun tag on your blog. I don’t actually know any other Jane Austen fans so I invite anyone who is interested to complete the tag.

Here are my questions:

1. What do you think of modernized movie/book adaptions of Jane Austen’s work?

2. Do you read Jane Austen Fanfiction?

3. How has Jane Austen influenced your life?

4. Would you want to live in the regency period?

5. What book would make the best musical?

6. Which villain would you want to redeem?

7. Does any character remind you of someone you know in real life?