P&P&Z

So I just finished reading Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I'd give it a two out of five star rating. It was an interesting idea, adding zombies to the classic tale, and I was quite excited to read it. It had several really good lines in it where parts of the actual texts were mixed in with...zombieish things that were rather hilarious, but overall, it just didn't work.

The biggest problem was that the zombies didn't add anything to the story. They were just sort of there as pests that were occasionally dealt with in little side parts that did nothing for the actual book. It made the whole thing seem really choppy. It would roll along with normal Jane Austen stuff, then suddenly Elizabeth goes and kills some zombies, then back to the original plotline. It just didn't mesh. And if you're going to write something like this, it needs to have an AU feel to it...I'm a fanfiction girl, so I'm familiar with this sort of Alternate Universe fic. This is a universe with zombies. So make it matter! The zombies in this did nothing. They were barely involved with the plot. I felt like he just took the book, and then inserted zombie killing and descriptions into random parts.

Also, the characters. They were a lot less likable in this version of the book. The clearest example of this was Elizabeth as a zombie slayer... I really didn't like that. I felt like it could have worked, maybe, if he'd handled it better. As it was, it was just annoying and ridiculous. I realize that the book is supposed to be ridiculous, but really, if she's a trained killer, she's going to keep a cool head about things. Instead, she's always running about wanting to kill anyone who insults her in the slightest. When Darcy first insults at the ball, she wants to cut his throat. It's...really odd. She seems to just have no self control, which she should have a lot of, being trained in the Orient as a warrior. Also, side note: The Orient. I got so sick of hearing about it. She mentions it so many times. It's ridiculous. Whenever anyone says anything about her ability to do such and such, she always replies with how they forget that she trained in the Orient under Master...whatever his name was and blah blah blah. I don't care about the Orient!!! And the other most annoying character changes involved Darcy. He was not really much of a gentleman, in my opinion. He severely beat Georgiana's governess who let her plan to elope with Wickham, and he rendered Wickham lame before making him marry Lydia. That seemed really unnecessary to me. Also, there were some changes in his dialogue, especially towards the beginning with Miss Bingley and such where he wasn't just taciturn, but he was really rude. Most uncharacteristic. Mr. Bennett had some of those moments, too, with his wife, where I really don't think he would have said that.

And finally, the book was just plain boring. As I mentioned, the zombies had no actual effect on the plot, so the majority of it really was just Pride and Prejudice dumbed down, without the hinted sarcasm which was replaced with general rudeness and such. I did not enjoy it very much, which was sad, as it did have potential.