Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Dawn of the Dreadfuls
by Steve Hockensmith
Every story has a beginning, the Dreadfuls weren't always just a part of an English girl's life. Even the five Bennett girls had a regular life at one point in time. Yet to their mother's horror it wasn't their fate to just grow up to be proper young ladies with nice families. They were meant to protect themselves and England.
This story takes place before the events in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. It shows when the girls all took up their swords and first learned about the threat of Dreadfuls to there world. We see them grow into themselves and accepting who they are as the rest of there world is also forced into accepting them too.
Their father is a more central character in this story, with their mother just being there to swoon in the background. He accepts what must be done much better than anyone else. The girls go along with this new path that is presented to them.
I love the way Mary and Kitty continue to be so completely girls, tittering and gossiping while still chopping off zombies' (Dreadfuls! a lady doesn't use the Z word) heads. But on a whole the story is a bit disappointing. It doesn't have the wonderful Jane Austen feel that the original had, nor use language in the same beautiful way.
It's a fun book but it doesn't quite match the wonderful parody that the first one created. Though that book did set the mark very high.
