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Turning back the clock to several years before the zombie-strewn action of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, author Steve Hockensmith introduces readers to the young family of Bennet sisters as they stand on the cusp of the resurgence of the undead army, and meet their kismet as lady warriors in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls. With a cast of characters both old and new, Hockensmith attempts to address the most complex questions regarding zombies, as posed by the zombie savant Dr. Keckilpenny: “What could reanimate the flesh of the dead? What drives the resurrected to feed on the living? Why only people? Why only in Britain? Why are you taking out your sword?”

The answer to this last question, at least, is quite apparent. Following The Troubles, the decorous English reference to the original zombie plague, the genteel folk of Meryton are horrified when fresh (or at least freshly rotted) zombies begin bursting out of the ground after an unusually warm spring, like so many grisly piñata surprises. Since no one wants to acknowledge the impending horror, Mr. Bennet, surviving warrior of the original zombie menace, calls upon his daughters to lift up their katana swords and slay the dreadfuls. In doing so, Mr. Bennet’s long-repressed warrior is also reawakened, as he expels the false-front of potting shed respectability in the garden to finally get back his mojo… er, dojo, that is.

Dawn of the Dreadfuls is a hilarious prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies that follows young Elizabeth Bennet from her first clumsy attempts at slaying a dreadful to her even more disastrous coming-out ball. In fact, Hockensmith does a fine job of presenting the coming out of each Bennet sister into the world of zombie slaying, in keeping with their Austen personalities. Lydia and Kitty tandem-slay a dreadful, chattering the entire time, Jane nobly dashes in to finish off a zombie to save her sister, Mary over-thinks her way through her zombie kill, and Elizabeth rushes in headlong like the fine warrior lady we later see in Pride and Prejudice and Zombies.

In this prequel, we also get a bit of background on the Bennet parents and their seemingly irreconcilable differences, with the armless and legless Captain Cannon providing some comically romantic tension as an early suitor of the garrulous Mrs. Bennet. There are also some early romantic adventures for the young ladies, as Jane and Elizabeth find themselves wooed by men both dashing and dreadful (though not dreadful in the zombie sense, of course).

The style of Dawn of the Dreadfuls is quite a departure from previous Quirk Classics we’ve seen. Because it doesn’t rely on addended text and modifications to an actual Austen text, it reads more like a cohesive novel rather than a quirkily interrupted one. In addition, Hockensmith, while retaining some of the Austenite language, has refrained from direct imitation of Austen, the result being a very readable and funny novel with more emphasis on fresh plot and less reliance on fetid zombie appendages. However, while the style is simple and a quick read, there are loads of clever puns and jokes. Elizabeth, for example, stays true to her nature by falling for her deadly arts Master, whose primary downfall is his overwhelming pride. And, later, when she realizes his many faults, she reprimands herself that “far, far too late, she’d recognized the fault within the man — perhaps because all that was outward about him was so pleasing. It was a mistake she would never make again.” Not many years later, of course, she makes the exact same mistake with Wickham.

Naturally (or unnaturally, as the case may be), the show-stoppers in the novel are the hordes of brain-thirsty zombies who converge on Netherfield and eventually turn Elizabeth’s coming-out ball into a frenzy of first kisses, scandalous secrets, jealous rivals, and airborne zombie limbs.

And if this prequel doesn’t have enough slavering braniac action to satisfy the zombiephile, readers will have a chance to win one of 50 Quirk Classics Prize Packs by heading on over to the Quirk Classics message board. Each Prize Pack, with a retail value of more than $100, will include:

• An advance copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls
• Audio Books of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
• A password redeemable online for sample audio chapters of Dawn of the Dreadfuls
• An awesome Dawn of the Dreadfuls poster
• A Pride and Prejudice and Zombies journal
• A box set of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies postcards

Order now at Amazon.com:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (Canada)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (US)

Pre-order at Amazon.com:
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (Canada)
Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls (US)

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls are distributed by Quirk Books (International/US) and Raincoast Books (Canada).