Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (Quirk Classics) [Paperback]

Steve Hockensmith (Author), Patrick Arrasmith (Illustrator)

Book Description

Release date: March 23, 2010 | Series: Quirk Classics

Readers will witness the birth of a heroine in Dawn of the Dreadfuls—a thrilling prequel set four years before the horrific events of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. As our story opens, the Bennet sisters are enjoying a peaceful life in the English countryside. They idle away the days reading, gardening, and daydreaming about future husbands—until a funeral at the local parish goes strangely and horribly awry.
 
Suddenly corpses are springing from the soft earth—and only one family can stop them. As the bodies pile up, we watch Elizabeth Bennet evolve from a naive young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead. Along the way, two men vie for her affections: Master Hawksworth is the powerful warrior who trains her to kill, while thoughtful Dr. Keckilpenny seeks to conquer the walking dead using science instead of strength. Will either man win the prize of Elizabeth’s heart? Or will their hearts be feasted upon by hordes of marauding zombies? Complete with romance, action, comedy, and an army of shambling corpses, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls will have Jane Austen rolling in her grave—and just might inspire her to crawl out of it!

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In this prequel to Seth Grahame-Smith's Jane Austen revamp Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, the town of Meryton has grown quiet and complacent while the long-lived zombie menace lays dormant. Taking place five years before Bingley moves into Netherfield, and sightings of "unmentionables" have become routine, this story kicks off with a certain Mr. Ford sitting up in the middle of his own funeral. In response, the Bennet sisters begin intensive training in the deadly arts with their warrior father and a new Master. Their neighbors, much slower on the uptake, are variously dismembered, disillusioned, and eventually convinced to prepare for a terrifying final confrontation. With a sure grasp of Austen's characters and the social structures of the times, Hockensmith is loyal to the material's roots but, divorced from any particular text, he's able to take Grahame-Smith's silly, raunchy, violent tone much farther than in the first volume. Mixing taught horror-movie action with neo-Austen meditation on identity, society, and romance, this happy sacrilege is sure to please fans of Grahame-Smith's original mash-up. 15 b&w illustrations.
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From Booklist

Edgar winner Hockensmith turns to zombie lit in this prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009). Ever wondered how the Bennett sisters got to be such great zombie killers? Hockensmith explains all in the story of the return of the zombie plague and Mr. Bennett’s secret history. When a neighbor rises up out of his coffin in the middle of a funeral, Mr. Bennett shrugs off the lifestyle of a Regency England gentleman and returns to his old calling as a warrior dedicated to eradicating the Unentionables. Turning the greenhouse into a dojo, he trains all five Bennett girls, with the help of fellow warrior Master Hawksworth, to take up his quest—just in time, too, as a deadly incursion is under way. Hockensmith does not abandon Austen’s original characters. Mrs. Bennett is the most true to the original, and even silly Kitty and Lydia are the same, only they fight instead of fuss over men. Elizabeth, from whose point of view significant elements of the story are told, is the most fully developed, and while she departs a little from the original, it’s not so far as to make Austen fans cringe (given that they’re OK with zombies, of course). This is a must-read for the growing legion of alternate-Austen fans (including, naturally, everyone who has read Pride and Prejudice and Zombies). --Jessica Moyer

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Paperback: 288 pages
• Publisher: Quirk Books (March 23, 2010)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1594744548
• ISBN-13: 978-1594744549
• Product Dimensions: 5.3 x 0.9 x 8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 3.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (121 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #352,267 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

As you might have guessed by now, I am a writer. Most authors are (with the possible exception of Snooki). As a writer, it is my duty to spend large portions of my day sitting in front of a computer in ketchup-stained sweatpants while swilling enough coffee each hour to drown a chihuahua. This I cheerfully do. Occasionally, I even write something. Via this time-tested method of sitting, drinking coffee and writing, I have managed to produce several novels. Some people think they're pretty good. I will now fill the rest of my allotted space with quotes from positive reviews. Sorry. To make it more fun for everyone, I've slipped one fake review in with the real ones. See if you can spot it!

"Grade: A-...hilarious...delightfully offbeat...." --Entertainment Weekly on Holmes on the Range

"Other books and TV series have featured genre-melding cowboys armed with ratiocination as well as revolvers, but Hockensmith's take is quite special. There's his combination of intriguing mystery, breathless action, colorful characters and enough laugh-out-loud moments for the book to fit in the humorous crime category." --The Los Angeles Times on The Black Dove

"Hockensmith takes a concept that could have been terrible -- the backstory of the Bennet girls learning to fight the undead, setting the stage for Pride and Prejudice and Zombies -- and turns it into a gory and gross, wonderful and clever tale...a true delight, really." --Romantic Times on Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls

"Hulk hate silly things puny humans call 'books.' Hulk smash The Da Vinci Code! Hulk smash puny Harry Potter! But Hockensmith books pretty good. Hulk no smash. Hulk want more sequels." --The Incredible Hulk on The Crack in the Lens

To learn more about me, go to http://www.stevehockensmith.com. To learn more about the Incredible Hulk and his taste in literature, go to http://www.marvel.com.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

33 of 35 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars More Zombies But Less Austen: Yet Another Moster Mash Up, Slight but Fun March 23, 2010

By K. Harris HALL OF FAMETOP 10 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

When you remove the novelty from a novelty novel, you end up with something akin to "Dawn of the Dreadfuls." Mind you, there is nothing particularly wrong with Steve Hockensmith's prequel to the surprise hit of last year, "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies"--it just seems somewhat unnecessary. I will defend "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" as an ingenious experiment, but its foremost success was to meld actual Jane Austen text with a story of the undead. This is what made the experience unique and daring. Seth Grahame-Smith challenged modern readers, and horror readers at that, to revisit (or in many cases, visit for the first time) Austen's prose in an audacious new way.

As a stand alone volume, "Dawn of the Dreadfuls" is a perfectly readable, enjoyable and pleasant little book. Charting the journey of the Bennet family in the years prior to "P&P&Z," we see the rise of the unmentionables within the sleepy little countryside and the call to arms of the Bennet daughters. From frivolous schoolgirls to lethal warriors, "Dreadfuls" plays as more of a family saga. Headstrong Elizabeth is still at the forefront, but all the characters get their due. Since "Dreadfuls" isn't tied to a particular format as "P&P&Z" was, the opportunity for more zombie mayhem and bloodshed presents itself. The spectacularly staged grand finale is even reminiscent of an upscale "Night of the Living Dead."

Hockensmith does try for the tone of Austen, especially in the romantic dalliances, but not the language. Funny and irreverent as it may be (and that's a good thing), it just lacks the novelty and cleverness factor of its predecessor. In broad strokes, he stays true to the idea of the characters if not their specifics. With the deviations of behavior and this rather gruesome back-story, however, you can't really accept "Dreadfuls" as a true prequel. The two novels don't really mesh as well as one would hope. Linking them together seems more of a financial decision than an artistic one--but that's just the cynic in me talking. All in all, though, I had fun with "Dawn of the Dreadfuls," it just doesn't compel me to fight for it in the way Grahame-Smith's attempt has. And a quick mention on the graphics--as with "P&P&Z," the cover and inner illustrations are top notch!

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Better than Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, but... November 28, 2010

By Christina (A Reader of Fictions) TOP 1000 REVIEWER

Format:Paperback

I am an ardent Austen fan girl and read far more of the published fan fiction than is probably entirely good for me. Along this vein, I could not resist picking up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies when I heard of it. I expected hilarity, but got what I found to be a shoddy, lazy job. That book seemed to have been written primarily through the use of Word's ctrl-f replace function, changing terms like "practicing the pianoforte" to "practicing the deadly arts." There were a few clever elements, but, for the most part, I hated it. Nevertheless, I could not resist giving the prequel a try.

To my surprise, this one was much better. The reason for this is that Hockensmith could not simply change a few words and sections in an already published novel. He actually wrote a story. It is silly and sensational and gory, the plot rather ridiculous, but that is all to be expected. For my part, I recommend reading this and skipping the book it is prequel-ing, but everyone can make their own decision on that.

11 of 11 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars Put down the embroidery needles; let's kill a Zombie! April 29, 2010

By Shiloh True TOP 1000 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Paperback|Amazon Vine™ Review (What's this?)

Let's start off with some reviewer honesty, here. I've never been fond of Zombie stories, or movies. C'mon, who could be afraid of something that walks with the efficiency of a two-toed sloth, while shedding body parts. More than once, I've shouted, 'don't scream---just run.' Now Vampires, my favorite creatures of the night, they're a different story. You can't run from them---and they can be so darn seductive, too. Not so with gooey, smelly, Zombies. Ugh!

Now you know why I've avoided Seth Grahame-Smith's work, to which 'Dawn of the Dreadfuls' is the prequel. Then destiny unfolded and Hockensmith's work was a Vine offering. My curiosity was piqued by the brilliant cover art. I hesitantly made the selection with limited expectations. Zombie's aside, I wasn't quite sure how I'd feel about anyone messing with Ms. Austen's masterpiece, P&P. I was prepared to be the worst critic.

I'm here to confess that, 'Dawn of the Dreadfuls,' was some of the most fun my free-child has had, in a long time. It was nothing like I expected. From the moment that dear Mr. Ford becomes an animated cadaver, at his own funeral, the action starts and there is scarcely a dull moment.

All of the characters are well developed and delightful, but the Bennett girls steal the show, particularly Lizzy. The girls experience many of the societal ills witnessed in P&P---that of a patriarchal society with strict social and moral boundaries. As in P&P, the girls were content to spend countless hours primping, daydreaming and searching for the perfect suitor. Of course, Mrs. Bennett is in typical form, pushing them toward higher social status. Then suddenly, their lives change. They have to put down the embroidery needles, stop preening, and pick up weapons, much to the chagrin of the town locals. Nope, war was NOT a woman's place!

The serene English countryside becomes cluttered with the undead, as the reader is introduced to a host of secondary characters cleverly driving the plot. The dialogue is witty and charming, with some romance and nail-biting moments; some with an accompanying illustration. There are several unexpected twists and turns with the ending culminating in a bloody crescendo. Everyone doesn't get out alive, and, some not all in one piece, so it didn't cop for a saccharine ending.

Grab this one and have fun. I know I sure did. Personally, I think Ms. Austen would giggle, if she could see her girls enjoying such empowerment.