Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, by Seth Grahame-Smith: a Review

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies by Seth Grahame-Smith

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


The goal of this story was to take the much loved tale, Pride & Prejudice, and add zombies to it to make a funny romp of a classic. It's supposed to be funny and read with tongue in cheek. I understood that when I picked it up. However, any good mash up should take two different ideas and combine them to make something better.
In this case, Grahame-Smith falls pitiably short, taking characters whose learning in the arts of zombie killing could have added depth and interest to their characters, but instead, grossly detracted from them. I will own that Charlotte only marrying Mr. Collins because she had been infected was a clever bit, and does, truly, make more sense than her simply being afraid of spinsterhood, but that is the only case in which it works well. Further, that one case was dealt with in a manner which strikes me as insupportable by the rest of the story.
Also, this novel could have been improved by the judicious application of copy editing. I do assure you that sometimes spellcheck, alone, is insufficient. For instance, I doubt Mr. Darcy took great pride in his coy pond, but his koi pond, on the other hand, he may have.
I also found the ridiculous attempts to take perfectly British households and overlay a fawning attitude toward all things Japanese forced. No English maid during the Regency is going to be answering the door with bound feet, for instance, and little details like those suggested to me that the amount of research done by Grahame-Smith was sorely wanting.
Even when writing books for comedic effect, one must, surely, continue to respect their audience, and in this case, the precedent of the book from which half the words were drawn. This didn't do it, though I admit, I did enjoy going through and mentally highlighting the original text and marking those deviations which turned it into that which I had hoped would be a deeply entertaining zombie romp.

Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford: a Review

Jane Bites Back by Michael Thomas Ford

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


The premise was delightful, the pacing, in the beginning seemed appropriate for a book about Austen, but the female characters are written like caricatures of women, at times, even the seemingly strong female characters devolve into vapid stereotypes and I don't have time for that.
Further, the metaphoric and nearly literal rape apology rampant in the book is rather stomach churning. Spoiler alert: a woman being coerced into sleeping with a man she doesn't even like is a bad plot device when the rest of the plot is trying to set up some sort of likeable rouge character. As a repeat offender, plotwise, the fact that Ford keeps trying to redeem this character, or at least write heroic scenes for him just makes me want to puke.
Further, the plot tends to focus on unnecessary details a little too long, and with arguable accuracy (see makeup tips that died in the nineties) then to completely fast forward when details would make "action" scenes a little more readable.
I also disliked the suddenness of the plot turns toward the end. They reminded me of a role playing campaign with a lazy DM.
Sorry, there were parts that were enjoyable, but the parts I didn't like or that broke my willing suspension of disbelief barrier simply outweigh the good of the book. I won't be bothering with the sequel.