I was intrigued by this book when I first heard about it. I actually enjoyed reading the original when I was a senior in high school and everyone who reads my book reviews knows that I am a fan of the paranormal when it came to writing. Seth Grahame-Smith took the original work of Jane Austen (actually, it is about 85% of the original work) and blended in a sub-plot that has Britain overrun with a terrible plague that leads to the creation of "unmentionables," which are really human-eating zombies. Yes ... I know. It sounds outrageous, but it was actually quite fun.

Grahame-Smith does a wonderful job of capturing the tone of the language while seemlessly interweaving the zombie tale. For those of you unfamiliar with the original story, Pride and Prejudice is the tale of the Bennett family. Mrs. Bennett's goal is to make sure that her daughters are married off to wealthy men not only to improve their status, but also to help with the troubled finances of the family, which is placing the estate and their livelihood in tatters. One of their daughters, the tom-boyish and brilliant Elizabeth ends up in a love-hate relationship with Mr. Darcy, the friend of their new neighbor, after meeting at a local dance.

In this new version, the Bennetts are still struggling economically, but their daughters have been specially trained to fight off the terrible "unmentionables" in a way that would do Buffy the Vampire Slayer proud. For the most part, the story remains the same only with the additional fear of being bitten and turned into a zombie or just being eaten.

What is most surprising is that the tale is still a satire of the era's role of women and the trappings of the need to marry for status. The addition of zombies and various warrior women seems to only highlight the inequalities further, leading for a rich and fun read.

As the language of the original is often considered dry and the pacing slow, it should be warned the same is true of this version. The addition of swordplay and zombies has done little to make it more approachable for reluctant readers. With that said, Grahame-Smith should be proud of how true to the original he stayed.