Jane Austen marked her place in history 200 years ago when she began publishing books like “Sense and Sensibility” and “Mansfield Park”. Though it wasn’t her first piece of published work, Austen’s most well known novel is probably the infamous “Pride and Prejudice”.

For those who do not know what the original “Pride and Prejudice” is about, the story follows the life of the five unmarried Bennet sisters after the arrival of the wealthy, eligible Mr. Bingley. Along with Mr. Bingley we are introduced to Mr. Darcy, who is also very wealthy and very focused on social status. Though there are a number of character, the story is told through the eyes of Elizabeth Bennet as event unfold. The original story focuses on the world that Austen herself grew up in, full of rules, etiquette, and a lot of expectations when it came to who to marry. Now imagine all of that and a zombie infestation.

“Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” is the same 200 year old novel that many Jane Austen fan have fallen in love with, just with one slightly disturbing difference. In this parody version of the story author Seth Grahame-Smith takes us to the same world that Austen created but with the addition of a massive zombie infestation. This infestation has resulted in people all over traveling to the Orient to pursue the “deadly arts” in order to protect themselves. Amongst those people are the Bennet sisters. Austen’s world had become a place where you can choose to fight for one’s life or put down the sword for marriage.

When this book was published back in 2009, Jane Austen was credited as a co-author. After reading this book I can understand why that choice was made, because this is the same “Pride and Prejudice” that she wrote, it just has a lot of blood and guts added in. This story was surprising funny, well written, and a lot of fun to read. This version of the story renewed my love for Elizabeth Bennet and the grumpy Mr. Darcy while still staying true to the characters I love. Everything that Grahame-Smith did to change the original story was executed very well and made this book stand out in it’s own unique way. A book worthy of becoming a movie.