85% Austen, 15% zombie, this mash-up of the original book was published in 2009. Did I read all of it, yup. Did I love it, ummm...it was alright, but relying on the strength of Austen to get you through is simply not enough. I think this kind of book actually has potential to be a lot of fun, and yes, I got some laughs out of it as it stood (mostly the first few chapters, the mix-up of genres is lovely and fresh here), but I felt the author just didn't work hard enough for those laughs. I know this is comedy, but why not take it another level, be smarter about it, weave it in a litte closer. Too much of it felt like what it was, paragraphs added to another book. Adding more backstory, making it more consistent, showing some more of the brilliance of the original, would have got my admiration more than some zombie story added in, and sometimes sitting awkwardly, waiting for laughs. It went on too long, basically. The initial idea is great, you enjoy the first few chapters, then it feels too much like the author went "oh, and now I've gotta keep this going for another 200 pages, crap!"I know, I know, perhaps I cared too much, but I've read some great humourous work over the years, some smart stuff, and I wish one of those writers had got their hands on this idea. I'm not sure I'll bother with any of the other mash ups, this is a cute idea, probably only worth a short story length of attention, that had some promise but relied too heavily on the brilliance of Austen to see it through.
5/10 (with a 10/10 for the original idea itself, which is hilarious, well worth reading the first few chapters for the initial chuckle, then putting it down at that).
Another eRead on Kindle for iPad.
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