September 14, 2009
This latest effort to combine Jane Austen mania and pop culture horror takes the same format as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies minus the innovation of being the first to do so. Using the familiar plot structure of Austen's first novel, and a few of the most famous lines, the mannered life of early nineteenth century gentry is stripped of witty dialogue and replaced with monsters, vulgarity, and violence. When Mr. Dashwood is eaten by a hammerhead shark his daughters Marianne and Elinor, along with their sister and mother, are sent to Pestilent Island where they meet Sir John Middleton, owner of the islands, and squid-faced Colonel Brandon. Marianne is rescued from a giant octopus by Mr. Willoughby, causing her to fall in love with him. Meanwhile, Elinor falls in love with Edward Ferrars who is engaged to the evil Lucy Steele. Readers who found humor in the contrast between Austen's familiar novel and the addition of zombies will probably welcome this unevenly written effort.
September 15, 2009
You may already know the Dashwood sisters: Marianne, who is ruled by her emotions, is a strong swimmer with excellent lung capacity. Elinor, the older, more controlled sister, is a fine carver of driftwood and an expert on the dangers of marine animals large and small. The two sisters, both of marriageable age, encounter various suitors, including the dashing Willoughby, the honorable Edward Ferrars, and the monstrously tentacled Colonel Brandon. Whether in their cottage on Pestilent Isle or in the social whirl of Sub-Marine Station Beta, they never lack for excitement and danger, and despite the depredations of the hideous Devonshire Fang-Beast, nearly everyone lives happily ever after. The effect is strangely entertaining, like a Weird Al version of an opera aria, and Eugene Smith's amusing illustrations add an extra touch of bizarre hilarity. VERDICT Austen fans will be either delighted or horrified, and those who haven't read "Sense and Sensibility" will be confused. But readers of Jasper Fforde and other literary in-joke writers will enjoy this follow-up to the best-selling "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies".Jenne Bergstrom, San Diego Cty. Lib.
Copyright 2009 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.
September 15, 2009
Quirk Classics follow-up to the surprise hit Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009) spins off from Austens first published work, Sense and Sensibility, the story of the Dashwood family and the attempts of Elinor and Marianne to find true love and marriage despite their reduced circumstances. This new version takes place in an alternate England, one greatly changed by the Alteration, when all water creatures became hostile to humankind. In fact, Mr. Dashwood dies when attempting to discover the source of the Alteration, leaving Mrs. Dashwood and her daughters with but a small pittance. Sea monsters are everywhere, and they attack at will, but the plucky Dashwoods fight back: Mrs. Dashwood stabs and kills her first monster on the trip to their new seaside cottage. While preserving the clever dialogue and nuanced love story that drive Sense and Sensibility, Winters overlays the horror elementskiller sea monsters and a hostile settingskillfully, producing another bizarre hybrid that will appeal to the same cult Austen audience as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, albeit the lack of zombies may limit popularity just a bit. Readers of Jasper Ffordes classics-inspired Thursday Next series (The Eyre Affair, 2002) may also enjoy this clever mash-up.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2009, American Library Association.)