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Apr 09, 2010

Elizabeth rated it:

Oh no, I won the First Reads contest!

I don't think that's the reaction I was supposed to have. Because as sickly fascinated as I am by the mad desire to insert zombies into Pride and Prejudice, I knew that reading any adaption was going to be a problem for me. How can I be a fair to an author who was going to create Elizabeth Bennet's childhood for me, and introduce zombies into it?

I mean, let's face it, I am an admitted Janeite. I am a card carrying member of JASNA. I'v More...

79 comments like (38 people liked it)

Nov 03, 2011

Mayday rated it:

This was handed of to me on HALLOW'S EVE, and given that I'd read "Pride & Prejudice" (& Zombies), I opted for it. After skimming the back, I was sorely disappointed to find that Mr Darcy was *not* in the story whatsoever. Actually READING the back 50 pages later, I found that two other "love interests" were supposedly involved and even though I knew Elizabeth wouldn't go for it, I nearly put the book down for good.

In spite of missing one of the best literary char More...

1 comment like

Aug 08, 2011

Ebster rated it:

O;
I've always wanted to try one of these books! This one did not disappoint.

The storyline is like an alternate universe-prequel to Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" In which England is routinely plagued by a zombies.

The Bennet sisters quite lives are interupted by the advent of an "unspeakable" plague.
They discover that their father is a member of an order of Englishmen/women who have taken up the deadly arts in order to defend their More...

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Aug 04, 2011

Amanda rated it:

I could just imagine Jane Austen rolling in her grave when Pride and Prejudice and Zombies hit shelves and remastered the art of the public domain. When Quirk released Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, the prequel to PPZ, Austen was probably so angry over the irreverent use of her work that she may just rise from the dead herself. This would, most likely, lead to sightings of a zombified Jane Austen shuffling through the streets, her arms outstreched, a low moan coming from More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Aug 01, 2011

Kurt rated it:

When I first learned of this book, I thought it was an exercise in completely missing the point. Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (PPZ) was a brilliant book not because it had fascinating characters but because it was a rebellion against the popular idea that Jane Austen novels are so good as to be above criticism. They were the literary equivalent of a small boy smearing mud all over something he doesn't like, as the proper atmosphere of an Austen novel was invaded by hideous zombies. At no poin More...

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Jun 09, 2011

Dustin rated it:

I know these "mash-up" books are stupid. THey are junk food for the brain. HOwever, I give this one credit for at least ATTEMPTING some originality. See, unlike the other "and zombies" books, this one does not simply insert zombies in the spaces where the source material lacked...uh...zombies. This book simply borrows the characters from Pride and Prejudice and threw them in a zombie-infested world.
It is basically just a Zombie novel set in Victorian England.
Had More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

May 28, 2011

NebraskaIcebergs rated it:

Jane Austen be gone! Astute readers will notice the absence of Jane Austen's name from the byline of second book in the Pride and Prejudices and Zombies trilogy. With good reason, for Austen never wrote a prequel. Yet if she were around today, she might have written Dawn of the Dreadfuls. Minus the zombies, of course.

In the movies, zombies are often nameless until one of the heroes is bitten. Then we experience the horror of seeing beloved characters turn into monsters. This plays ha More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 30, 2010

Karissa rated it:

Okay guys this is my first Giveaway on my blog and it is being offered through Quirk Books!

I read and enjoyed both "Pride and Prejudice" and "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" (PPZ). So when I heard that a prequel to PPZ was being released I was excited. I mean, finally, we get to learn all about how Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters got their awesome fighting skills. I got a copy of Dawn of the Dreadfuls through Quirk Books. I actually enjoyed this book more than More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Sep 27, 2010

Bookworm rated it:

What can I say about Dawn of the Dreadfuls? This was a fun, creepy and strange book and I enjoyed it. This book is a prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies which I read back in January.

Author Steve Hockensmith does not take the storyline directly from Pride and Prejudice, he does however use Austen's characters and adds a few of his own, then mixes that with zombies. The zombies a.k.a. The Dreadfuls, long since thought to have all been slayed, have now returned to Longbourne. Mr More...

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

May 30, 2010

Marlene rated it:

DAWN OF THE DREADFULS is the prequel to PRIDE AND PREJUDICE AND ZOMBIES and takes place when Elizabeth is sixteen. After a zombie arises during its funeral, all the Bennett children learn, that their father fought zombies during the previous zombie infestation. Now, the Bennett children must learn quickly and take up arms against the enemy. To aid the girls in this endeavor a ninja master, Master Hawksworth, is sent and the fun begins.

As a rabid Jane Austen More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 26, 2010

Ceridwen rated it:

I heard this story once from a friend of mine – I make no claims to its veracity – about a guy who ghost-wrote an autobiography for some minor Playboy bunny/starlet. It was a good gig for a struggling writer: he spent some weeks organizing the depressingly non-sordid details of a woman's life that culminated in being publicly nekkid, banged out a manuscript (sorry, is this a pun?), and then was paid for the time and bother. The real bummer was that at roughly the same time, the book that he'd wr More...

33 comments like (50 people liked it)

Mar 26, 2010

Peggy rated it:

This review originally appeared at RevolutionSF.com:

“And if you preserve genteel English womanhood while
serving up genteel English women as so much steak
tartare, I would say that you have most definitely lost."

Dawn of the Dreadfuls is technically a prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, giving us the story of how the Bennett family came to be the people we met therein. It gives us the first return of the unmentionables to Meryton, More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Mar 05, 2010

Michelle rated it:

I just finished Quirk Classics' newest future classic Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. DotD is the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austin's classic with Zombies and mayhem thrown in for good measure. This book begins four years before P&P&Z as Elizabeth is ready to come out into society, but low and behold even those long dead can't resist a good party!

Reading Steve Hockensmith's prose almost made me wonder if Jane Austin herself hasn't risen More...

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Mar 03, 2010

Sensitivemuse rated it:

I can tell you, that I LOVED this book as much as P & P & Z. It had the wonderful moments of humor and wit that I experienced before and enjoyed. You will see the original characters except for a few (no Darcy or Bingley here, sorry. This does take place before they met Lizzy and Jane). You read more about Mr Bennet who seems to take a more active role in the story (he helps trains his daughters to become warrior women). However the book also introduces new memorable ones which will prove unfor More...

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Mar 03, 2010

Laura rated it:

Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a prequel to one of my favorite reads of last year, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. As Jane Austen obviously didn’t write a sequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls is an entirely new work.

Dawn of the Dreadfuls tells the tale of how the “dreadfuls” first make an appearance in the Bennet girls’ lives. This is only slightly before Pride and Prejudice. Jane is eighteen and Elizabeth is just coming out. After a funeral goes awry and the dreadfuls have made an appearanc More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Aug 04, 2010

Lulu rated it:

I started off anticipating this book as a comic relief, much like "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies," and it definitely was for most of it. But I never expected the book to have such a somber ending! The novel took a sudden turn for the dark and serious near the last 50 or so pages. Boy, did I NOT see that one coming!

But I think the shocking events of the novel's climax are what redeemed the story in my eyes, because, while I enjoyed the humor, the book did a grand job of d More...

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Mar 03, 2010

Jennifer rated it:

Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith, the eagerly anticipated prequel to Seth Grahame-Smith's Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, is even more gory and comedic than Quirk Classics' debut novel. Hockensmith's advantage over Grahame-Smith was getting to create a somewhat unique story from scratch. All of Jane Austen's original characters are brought to life in Dawn of the Dreadfuls, along with a few new characters to sweeten the plot.

Dawn of the Dreadfuls takes place four years befo More...

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Nov 28, 2011

Bookwyrmgyrl added it

I was slightly annoyed, at first, at the idea of zombies being at all connected with Jane Austen's work. I figured it was either an insult to her fabulous abilities, or a gross attempt to simply make a buck off the association with her name.

However, a friend enjoyed this one, and loaned it to me. Taking it for what it is - a spoof, I read the first page, and was hooked. Why? Because compared to "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame-Smith, this book, "Dawn More...

0 comments like

May 23, 2011

Victoria rated it:

I found it a little difficult to review these books individually, so I have decided to do it as a whole. This review will be short, as I am stepped WAY out of my comfort reading zone by agreeing to review these books for Quirk Books. I've been told by friends that have read this series that you need to have read the orginal Pride and Prejudice before attempting these. I have not. Nor do I have any desire to. I don't like zombie books and I haven't found a classic book that I have liked yet More...

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Dec 01, 2010

Brendan rated it:

I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, as you would expect. But I considered it a one-hit wonder, an idea that was of its moment but from which it was a mistake to try and pull more material. I’m happy to say I was wrong. Steve Hockensmith had a real challenge before him to take Seth Graham-Smith’s innovations to Austen’s original and to expand the story. He did very well.

Dawn of the Dreadfuls tells of the earlier days of the Bennett family, the return of the unmentionables t More...

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May 29, 2010

Jay rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like

Aug 06, 2011

Char rated it:

For my full review please visit my blog: Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls review

3.5 Stars

I started this book with a sense of trepidation, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies wasn't a good book and I feared that this was going to be the same but it wasn't. Freed from the constraints of Jane Austen's classic story, this book proved that my suspicions that P&P&Z had a solid premise that was do-able, were correct. This book was delightfully funny and a joy More...

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Feb 12, 2011

Cass rated it:

Walking out in the middle of a funeral would be, of course, bad form. so attempting to walk out on one's own was beyond pale

The opening sentences gave me high expectations, which were dashed the more I read. The author continually missed the mark with the Bennet family, and missed the Lucas family altogether. The girls are made to seem rather pathetic throughout the book, with the exception of Mary who shows some promise. The author overuses the Christian names in what appears to be an More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Apr 11, 2010

Halona rated it:

Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a prequel to last year's hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and takes place four years before. In this book, zombies (aka "unmentionables" or "dreadfuls") took over the world before any of the Bennet children were born during a time called "The Troubles". They now have risen again and it's up to Mr. Bennet to train his daughters to be the protectors of the community even though it would make the community shun the girls for unladylike beh More...

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Apr 10, 2010

Kat rated it:

I thought Seth Grahame-Smith's reworking of Pride and Prejudice was okay. Funny at times, but not great. I gave this book a try because I was mildly curious about how the Bennet sisters become the zombie slayers they are in Grahame-Smith's novel.

Steve Hockensmith definitely has a sense of humor. He takes these well-known fictional sisters and throws them into a strict warrior-training regimen. That in itself is funny. The novel starts out at a funeral where the corpse is not dead, it More...

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Feb 01, 2011

Robyn rated it:

This was a fun read and dare I say it, I preferred it to the 'original' "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies". This has puzzled me somewhat and I wish I could be more articulate than what follows (it's 35 degrees Celcius today, my brain is a puddle of mush. I think even Zombies would hesitate before gorging) but here goes.

I believe I enjoyed "Dawn of the Dreadfuls" more because it was NOT an intersplicing of ideas into Austen's original prose. As a result, I could dive More...

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Aug 21, 2011

Tiffany rated it:

This book is the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (which I hear is meant to be made into a movie...) and it depicts the childhood of Elizabeth Bennet and her sisters as the Troubles begin (people are no longer staying dead, but are in fact coming back out of the grave with a thirst for brains...) As with the first of the series that I read, I thoroughly enjoy how the author is able to take the worries and concerns that a typical English family of the Regency period would experience, an More...

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May 08, 2010

Nicole rated it:

The absurdity of melding the paranormal with the beloved characters of Jane Austen is an unexpected mix. In the prequel to the best-selling Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Steve Hockensmith relies more on his own creative impulses in Dawn of the Dreadfuls instead of heavily borrowing from the immortal classic. However, the end result is a horrendous conglomeration of The Karate Kid, Frankenstein, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Masterpiece Theatre.

The comic book style antics begin with More...

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Jan 14, 2011

Kathryn rated it:

I enjoyed this prequel more than I enjoyed Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. The author did a fantastic job of giving voice to all five sisters ((and even to their father)) when even Jane Austen had difficulties doing such a thing. Each daughter had her own personality, and each one went through changes only natural for the way those personalities worked.

This book was a little predictable, and I don't even mean in the fact that I already knew that all five sisters would survive while More...

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Mar 09, 2010

NerdGirlBlogger rated it:

Dawn of the Dreadfuls starts out lovely enough, and begins this way – Walking out in the middle of a funeral would be, of course, bad form. So attempting to walk out on one’s own was beyond the pale. My god, isn’t that just a delightful way to be introduced to zombies in Meryton, Hartfordshire? The book just keeps getting better, with gross-out moments not always zombie filled. When Elizabeth and her sisters mistake their horney mother for a zombie while trying to gain entrance to their fath More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

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