Dawn of the Dreadfuls

Hockensmith, Steve. Dawn of the Dreadfuls. Philadelphia: Quirk Books, 2010.

This book is a prequel to Quirk's remade classic, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. I thoroughly enjoyed the first book and recommended it to the students in my class who read Austen's original. I like the idea of taking classic works and adding a humorous or entertaining element, and I can definitely see how these works appeal to students (and adults).

I was not as impressed with Dreadfuls, however. I think the biggest problem stems from not having a classic work to base this novel on. Aside from the inherent difficulties in creating a prequel - and thus answering any questions brought up from the original novel - the style and language in this work just was not on par with Zombies. It was an entertaining read, and I could see my students enjoying it, but I was not impressed. Sadly, I was glad when this novel was over, and I hope that, unlike the zombies themselves, no one chooses to resurrect this series.