As romantic tension transpires, plenty of dishonesty, misjudgements, and zombie ass-kickery take to the fore. Grahame-Smith stokes the natural strain of Austen’s fiction with heaps of fight sequences, stacking up gruesome scenes with delight.
Perhaps the most compelling piece of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is just how seamless the writing is. Grahame-Smith almost immaculately integrates the horrifying bone-crunching nature of zombies into Austen’s comedy of etiquette, producing belly laughs and breathing new life into the mouth-watering sparring between Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth.
With a sequel already in the works and 20 illustrations, this is one big, blissful swell of bloody insanity that isn’t going anywhere anytime soon. Grahame-Smith, author of The Big Book of Porn: A Penetrating Look at the World of Dirty Movies, may seem an improbable cohort for Jane Austen, but I think it’s safe to say that, like it or not, these two are inextricably linked forevermore.
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