AustenBlog Gentle Reader Trai, who is more enthusiastic about the zombie thing than many Janeites, has reviewed the P&P&Z prequel, Dawn of the Dreadfuls, at her blog.

Mr. Bennet, despite the objections of Mrs. Bennet, sends for a master to teach his girls the deadly arts. This master is Master Hawksworth, a young man who takes no pity on the Bennets and immediately begins their education. The girls are not, to say the least, up to his expectations– Jane is too shy to be much of a fighter; Lydia and Kitty are more concerned with how attractive he is; Mary might be trying too hard to please… but Elizabeth is the one who is the most skilled. When Hawksworth tells them to unleash their battle cries, their inner tiger, the four girls muster weak cries. Elizabeth gives a piercing battle scream, prompting Lydia to remark, “She’s got a tiger, and it’s rabid.”

Heh. There is also a decent swag package to be won; see Trai’s blog for directions.

P.S. We know we slag on the monster books a lot, and we want to make it clear: we’re not against the genre per se; we thought, and still think, the original P&P&Z idea was pretty funny, and we even get the meta joke about Regency people being zombies of a sort, as the original Living Dead films portrayed modern suburban residents as zombies. But we are a little sick of the hype and the undeserved complaining about Jane Austen’s work that it has encouraged.