Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austen & Seth Grahame-Smith

This book was so much fun. I'm not sure if it made it better by listening to it on audiobook, but I was giggling to myself at work while listening to it. Seth Grahame-Smith has tied the zombies in so brilliantly and seamlessly that you can hardly notice the additions. I would say this is a great way to introduce someone to the great works of Jane Austin, who wouldn't normally read it.

While Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favourite books, this version does not take away from the story at all, but alternatively enhances it for a different audience. I would advice anyone who loves the classics like Austen and Bronte to give this book a go.

I will definitely be listening to the prequel Dawn of the Dreadfuls, the end of the trilogy Dreadfully Ever After and other similar titles such as Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth - Carrie Ryan

The basic premise of this one is a village of people surrounded by a large fence, where on the other side is the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Aptly named as it is home to the Unconcecrated, once people who have been infected, died and come back to talk the living inside the village.

Pressing at the gates, the Unconcecrated are kept at bay by the Guardians who patrol the fence lines and the Sisterhood, who rule the village and always know best.

Mary, like all others in the village, never questions the order of things until her mother falls to the Unconcecrated leaving her alone in the village with no option by to join the Sisterhood. Here she learns that not everything is as it seems in the village.

With a major breach in the fences, Mary's world is thrown into chaos and she much choose where her loyalties lie.

Jaki's review

The first half of this novel brings you into the world of the village and its regime and rules. While moving relatively slowly, it lacks any action or real intrigue to entice you to continue reading further into the book. Only my quirky personal flaw, of having to finish a book I start, made me continue through.

The second half of the book picks up as things start to happen after there is a huge breach in the fences and Mary's world is thrown into turmoil. The ending of the book is very predictable but still worth finishing. It does however, leave you with questions regarding the fates of the other characters in the book, and to me that is truly frustrating leaving their fates untold. The ending does leave it open to continue with the story and I would probably read a sequel to satiate my need of a well rounded completion.