Hey Rare-Extreme! Today I bring you all a review for the prequel of the bestselling novel “Pride and Prejudice and Zombies”, “Dawn of the Dreadfuls!” This book is about- Wait, don’t leave! It’s got slobbering undead 18th century noblemen, melee weapons of all sorts, zombie crap and Ghoulies taking kicks to the ghoulies! Now that I’ve reclaimed your attention, let’s dive past that grotesque cover and into the literature-warping carnage…
Setting the stage in (not-so-jolly) England, Elizabeth Bennet must face down stuffy English protocol regarding society’s views on how polite women should act and been seen as, the two potential suitors who are as different as night and day, and a horde of shambling ghouls. What really impressed me about the writing style of the book was how “believable” the scenario was in the context of the story. All of the characters spoke in perfect “olde-tyme” mannerisms, and their unique actions with dealing with the horrible emergency of the countryside being overrun with zombies is extremely entertaining. Remember Red vs Blue’s expanding on the “Zombie Plan” idea, where one would explain what they would do if the zombie apocalypse happened RIGHT NOW? Take that conversation-sparking topic and give it to a bunch of British Aristocrats, martial artists and musket wielding soldiers. If Dawn of the Dreadfuls was a videogame, it would be a mix between (The high-octane action, brutality and physical excellence from) Ninja Gaiden, (The structured society format of a ) Japanese RPG like Blue Dragon, and (The humor and Ghoulies from) Grabbed by the Ghoulies.
One of the brilliant things about Steve Hockensmith’s writing is how he can make the characters and inject so much personality and depth into the entire cast. I could identify with Dr. Keckilpenny, who has a Zombie Plan to observe the Dreadfuls and use his scientific findings to help the masses fend off the horde. I felt slightly put off by Master Hawksworth, the martial arts master who couldn’t care less for trying to understanding the brainless ghouls and would prefer to lop off heads with his katana. The most impressive and interesting hooks in the story is how poor Elizabeth is thrown from her normal life of being a refined lady to attempt to overcome the sneers from civilized society and the full-frontal sexism for her training and skill in slaughtering zombies.
Every character is written to grab your attention and to make certain you care about them, and the only people you won’t like are because they’re complete jerks! I wanted to smack several main players in the book at certain points myself…
Plenty of gore, grime, chilling illustrations, clawed hook things on chains like that one you saw the bad guy use in Enter the Dragon, love, passion, suspense, blood, nut-shots, and ZOMBIES! How could I not love this book? I’ll be sure to pick up Pride and Prejudice and Zombies very soon!
Oh, and one more VERY important thing: Quirk Publishing is kind enough to give away 50 killer prize packs that include Dawn of the Dreadfuls, a poster of the cover (Which I have!) post cards, audiobooks and more! http://quirkclassics.com/index.php?q=Quirk...est_DOD_Reviews
Just register, and let them know ‘ol Zenek told you about the bloodbath of fun this book is, and that you read it here first on Rare-Extreme.com! Something fun to do when you’re not plugged into the internet, wish I’d thought of that one. Zombies make everything better I suppose- Oh, and there’s supposed to be some sort of “classic literature” in here somewhere, but I was enjoying myself too much to care! Ha!
More Info here: http://quirkclassics.com/index.php?q=dawnofthedreadfuls
Enjoy, and tell me what you think!
-Zenek
Not 100% sure if the title comes in hardback form though- I'll have to ask Quirk, as I've only seen softcovers too. They were awesome enough to send me the cover of the book as a poster! 
Ah, well- it's what I do best! Ha!