A Review - "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After"

The story opens with our newly married protagonists, Elizabeth and Fitzwilliam Darcy, defending their village from an army of flesh-eating “unmentionables.” But the honeymoon has barely begun when poor Mr. Darcy is nipped by a rampaging dreadful.
Elizabeth knows the proper course of action is to promptly behead her husband (and then burn the corpse, just to be safe). But when she learns of a miracle antidote under development in London, she realizes there may be one last chance to save her true love—and for everyone to live happily ever after.

Steve Hockensmith has done it again! I didn’t think the feeling could be any greater than it was when I finished “Dawn of the Dreadfuls” but it absolutely was! The feeling is one of simply not wanting a book to end. It’s one I’ve not had often but it was so strong when I finished “Dreadfully Ever After” that it was nearly painful. I LOVE this book!

The action doesn’t take long to start – only ten pages into the book the unmentionables infect Elizabeth’s beloved husband, Darcy. This is the event the entire book centers around as the Bennett family does their best to save him by putting their trust in Lady Catherine, befriending ninjas, and doing whatever necessary to lay hands on the fabled cure. Twists and shocking turns abound in the manner I’ve come to expect from the PPZ series. While we see less of Mrs. Bennett in this installment, we see much more of Kitty and Mary. Hockensmith develops their characters nicely, turns them around from the dislikeable (or at least, forgettable) personalities they had been before, and makes one nearly as fond of them as Austen made us of Lizzy and Jane.

London gets turned upside down, Lady Catherine finally gets what’s coming to her, and the whole family – with the exception of Mrs. Bennett – finds the happiness they all deserve. I am, however, saddened knowing that this is the last we are intended to hear of my favorite family from the Regency era! I thoroughly recommend “Dreadfully Ever After” to anyone who can read and if you haven’t yet indulged in “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies” or “Dawn of the Dreadfuls” I suggest you do so! I suspect I will be reading all three again very soon: they have become my favorite books with “Dreadfully Ever After” unexpectedly slipping into the #1 spot!

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dreadfully Ever After" will be released on March 22nd, 2011.  You can pre-order from Amazon now.  You can also follow the book on Facebook to see what other early reviewers have to say about it!