OK, by "Books" I mean a book. And by "sending me" I mean at my request. They didn't really hunt me down, I volunteered. But the rest is totally true.
My old friends at Quirk Classics put out a call to all interested bloggers to review their newest piece of fiction- Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. I get a free book before its release & I get to tell you all about it! Whoo-hoo!
But then it hit me....this is just like High School. I'm, in essence, writing a book report. I'm under a deadline. I have a task someone is counting on me to complete. Oh the stress. Well, sort of.
Like all good procrastinators, I was waiting 'til the last minute to write my review...then I found out B.B.'s surgery was going to throw a wrench in the works, so I'm writing this a bit earlier than planned...and it's my 3rd post of the day. I hope it doesn't show, but I feel much like I did the night I left my US History project on Louisa May Alcott until the last minute & tried to write the entire presentation at 10:30 the night before. Don't ask me how, but I B.S.'ed my way through that with amazing finesse....either that or my history prof knew next to nothing about L.M. Alcott. But I digress.
Back to the Zombies. I love Zombies. And I love Jane Austen. So I really love Zombies crammed into Jane Austen's works. P&P&Z (as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is affectionately called buy those of us in the know) made me a very happy FarmWife. This prequel, P&P&Z: DOD, made me a happy FarmWife (notice the lack of "very" in this sentence).
It was a good book. It made me laugh. It thoroughly entertained me during a 6 hour trip in the car with all 4 FarmHands when I was exceptionally cranky. If you need a bit of light reading that won't challenge your mental prowess, it's great for that.
Do not expect it to live up to Miss Austen's original work....or even to P&P&Z as it's written by neither Jane Austen nor Seth Grahame-Smith. But don't discount it entirely, either....unless you're a purist & cannot stand to see someone else's take on the family Bennett. Steven Hockensmith had an interesting take on the young ladies & their rise to the warrior calling. And he did a great job unveiling some of the hidden history of the residents of Longbourn (including a long lost love of Mrs. Bennett).
A few things irritated the Austen purist in me (yes, I know, "They gave Elizabeth Bennett a katana & put Zombies in Jane's most beloved novel & that didn't irritate the 'Austen purist' in you?!"). Mr.Hockensmith gave the Bennett girls a governess. She was momentary, but there none the less. I refer you to the first evening Lizzy spent at Rosings in the original:
"We never had any governess."
"No governess! How was that possible? Five daughters brought up at home without a governess!- I never head of such a thing."
And I think he made Jane Bennett a bit of a wet noodle, but that's simply a matter of opinion.
In all, I really liked the book. Even if Bitsy & B.B. repeatedly told me the book was "yucky!" Zombified cover art does not appeal to my children....yet.
And now for the really cool part of all this. In honor of the "All-Out-Worldwide-Zombie-Blog-Explosion 2010" Quirk Classics is offering you, my darling readers, a chance to win one of 50 Quirk Classics Prize Packs. Each pack will include:
- an advanced copy of P&P&Z: DOD
- audio books of P&P&Z and Sense & Sensibility & Sea Monsters (which I adored)
- a P&P&Z: DOD poster (I have one. It scares my children....maybe I could use it as some kind of deterrent for bad behavior....just a thought.)
- a P&P&Z Journal (you can start your own Zombie Apocalypse survival journal)
- and a box set of P&P&Z postcards (Yahoo, good mail!)
To enter to win, click this link, post something on the message board, and mention that you read about it here at Memoirs. Good luck! And don't forget to let me know if you win!
No comments:
Post a Comment