In the quiet English village of Meryton, a mysterious plague has fallen that brings that dead back to life. Along with her sisters, Elizabeth Bennet has been trained in the art of fighting evil and is determined to save her little town from destruction. However, the arrival of Misters Bingley and Darcy begins to distract the young ladies, with Jane falling head over heels in love with Bingley while Elizabeth tries to understand the haughty and arrogant Darcy. With Elizabeth be able to keep focus on the task at hand or will she and the rest of her family become distracted by the duties society expects of them?

Based off the classic novel by Jane Austen, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was surprisingly delightful. I received the book many years ago as a joke from a friend because he knew how much I was offended by the thought that there was a book that combined one of my favorite classics with zombies. So of course I continued to push off reading it until I finally decided to give it a chance (what with the movie coming out later this month and all).

I will tell you that Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is the story of Pride and Prejudice, with some extra scenes added in, set during a zombie apocalypse. That aspect is what I think made it interesting to me because I enjoyed seeing how the author had that type of society react to a zombie apocalypse. The story was also comedic, choosing to be rather blunt to the point of making fun of certain characters and their motives throughout the novel.

However, I also wished that the story went a little off from the original Pride and Prejudice much more than it actually did. Before reading it, I had this certain picture in my head that would show the Bennet sisters going through several trials and tribulations in a world with zombies, but that was only partially the case. The novel didn’t have as much zombie interaction as I expected it to, although the instances it did present provided an interesting twist and maybe it was enough. They do say: Less is more.

Overall, the novel was well written and it showed the characters in a different light than in Pride and Prejudice. The Bennet sisters tended to stand out more from society and I loved Elizabeth’s fierce independence and brazenness. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is a good book for teens who don’t quite get where Jane Austen is coming from and for adults who are itching to read a good twist on a classic story.