Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith

                                

Description from Goodreads.com http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/7090785            
With more than one million copies in print, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies was the surprise publishing phenomenon of 2009. A best seller on three continents, PPZ has been translated into 21 languages and optioned to become a major motion picture.

In this terrifying and hilarious prequel, we witness the genesis of the zombie plague in early-nineteenth-century England. We watch Elizabeth Bennet evolve from a naïve young teenager into a savage slayer of the undead. We laugh as she begins her first clumsy training with nunchucks and katana swords and cry when her first blush with romance goes tragically awry. Written by acclaimed novelist (and Edgar Award nominee) Steve Hockensmith, Dawn of the Dreadfuls invites Austen fans to step back into Regency England, Land of the Undead

The prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, we open up to see the family attending a funeral in which the dead man himself rises up from the coffin obviously undead. This leads Mr Bennet and others to begin training his children as he has sworn to do, to fight the Unmentionables that will once again become a Plague among them. Mr Bennet throws Mrs Bennet out of his Dojo and begins training his daughters in the necessary skills they will need to fight off the Zombies.
Baron Lumpley who sets his sights on Jane when he comes to discuss the Zombie situation with Mr Bennet. Becomes a destraction for the family and the young and handsome Jeffrey Hawksworth shows up to take over the training of the family in their Ninja skills and make them warriors. Then with the new arrival of a couple other new characters we get more drama and courtship thrown in to attest to the truest Austen novel scenarios. And without having to mention the fits of drama all the new company throws Mrs Bennet into.
I have to say that I did not enjoy most of the new characters in this book. I liked that Mr Bennet finally put his foot down when it came to making his own decisions regarding his house and children vs Mrs Bennet.
It is really Jane and Elizabeth that stand out more in the story and the other sisters, though they are all going through the same training are still more in the background. There is a lot of fighting, blood, gore and swords in this book as they see the Plague affect more people and they must fight to save their lands and livelihoods.
I really enjoyed the fact that the Zombies play a major role instead of just something that is discussed and maybe seen once or twice throughout that unfortunately,  is popular in other zombie novels.
There is drama, a lot more fighting and Zombies than the first novel. Hilarious moments that sneek up on you and make you laugh aloud. I am really enjoying these stories and cannot wait to see how it ends in the final book Dreadfully Ever After.
Again I want to make a note of the audiobook, the narrator Katherine Kellgren does an awesome job and I recommened picking it up. But yet again here in the physical book we get the wonderful drawings throughout the story to enhance the reading experience.
You can find an example of the audiobook here Audible.com
Thank you to Quirkbooks for the review copy Quirkbooks