Review: ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls’ by Steve Hockensmith

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls

by Steve Hockensmith
Illustrated by Patrick Arrasmith
Quirk Books; March 2010; $12.95

A year ago, Seth Grahame-Smith and Quirk Books initiated the Quirk Classics series with the bestselling Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, which blended the text of Jane Austen’s classic [[[Pride and Prejudice]]]with new scenes.
The result was part romantic comedy of manners, part over-the-top action thriller in which the bloodthirsty Bennet sisters used their highly trained martial skills to confront zombies and ninjas, in between searching for husbands. Other authors in the series moved on with[[[Sense and Sensibility]]] and [[[Sea Monsters]]] and the soon-to-be published [[[Android Karenina]]]. Mr. Grahame-Smith has since moved on to other undead pursuits, but here is author Steve Hockensmith to take up the slack with this prequel to P & P & Z, set four years before those fateful events.

After a lull of many years, zombies (or, as they’re known by the more genteel, the “dreadfuls,” “unmentionables,” or the “sorry stricken”) have once again infested England. When Mr. Ford, Meryton’s apothecary, sits up at his own funeral and begins a frantic search for brains, Mr. Oscar Bennet renews his once forsworn vow to be a zombie-slaying warrior, and attempts to fulfill his broken promise to raise his daughters in that tradition.

The five Bennet daughters, previously brought up to be ladies, not warriors, show some initial resistance to their father’s decision.
Almost immediately, they confront social ostracism; however, they also gain self-confidence under the harsh tutelage of the handsome, mysterious Master Geoffrey
Hawksworth, who rapidly (somewhat too rapidly, if truth be told), turns these untried girls into katana-wielding fighters. Putting aside her previous distaste for violence, Elizabeth begins to discover the true spirit of the warrior within herself and her sisters. She must also sort out her feelings for Hawksworth as well as the extremely odd Dr. Keckilpenny, who believes that zombies can be “cured” through behavioral modification. (The reader, of course, knows from the outset that both of these men must be wanting in at least some respect; how else will Elizabeth have a free heart for Mr. Darcy?) Meanwhile, Jane finds herself in the unwelcome role of bodyguard to the lecherous, lazy, and cowardly Lord Lumpley, the owner of Netherfeld (the future residence of Mr.
Bingley). Lumpley has decidedly unsavory plans for Jane, and is concealing an unpleasant secret of his own.

The original P & P & Z was an amusing satire, and for the most part, the violence was played for laughs. In contrast, Hockensmith chooses to explore in greater depth and with a certain amount of seriousness an issue I brought up in my review of the original book: how does one maintain an appropriate balance between the strictures of social propriety and the development of killer instincts, required if the zombie invasion is to be defeated? Although there are substantial touches of farce, the book is surprisingly poignant in many places, and truly seems to mourn Elizabeth’s and Jane’s loss of innocence as these two girls leave their sheltered life and face danger and heartbreak for the first time, becoming strong women in the process. He even manages to make Lydia somewhat more sympathetic by the end, which I didn’t think was possible.

Hockensmith has clearly read both the source material and P
& P & Z carefully, and it shows; actually, his attempt to provide a background for a throwaway joke in P & P & Z (the Bennet daughters’ pastime of catching a deer and kissing it) drags on for far too long. He does introduce a glaring (but intriguing) inconsistency: he makes it possible to prevent someone from becoming a zombie by chopping off the bitten extremity, which leads to some freshly absurd scenarios. However, if that were true in P
& P & Z , than why doesn’t Charlotte Lucas consider amputation when a zombie bites her on the leg, rather than succumbing to the twin scourges of becoming undead and wife to the tedious Mr. Collins?

He also suggests that zombies are only a problem in England.
That being so, why is it that the best methods of combating them are sourced in Japan and China? And given the zombie plague is so pervasive that it outweighs any danger posed by Napoleon, how is it that the Bennet daughters can be spared to travel to China for training, as they clearly do between the two books?

But such quibbles are only for the most avid of nitpickers, who might also question the need for this volume at all, given that it has strayed substantially away from the initial conceit of mashing up a classic text with new scenes. Why not put aside such foolish qualms, sit back, and enjoy the gory ride?

P.S. Visit the Quirk Classics message board, mention that you read a review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls at ComicMix and link back here; you’ll be entered to win one of 50 Quirk Classics
Prize Packs, which include an advance copy of the book, a poster, audiobooks of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, and more.

Amy Goldschlager is an editor and reviewer.

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would like to submit books for review should contact ComicMix through the usual channels or email Amy Goldschlager directly at amy.goldschlager (at) gmail (dot) com