Android Karenina – A Book Review

As a reader of this website, or listener of the podcast, please raise your hand if you’ve read Leo Tolstoy’s classic Anna Karenina (and no, following that link doesn’t count). I’m going to assume that no one raised their hand, and I’m not surprised. I haven’t read it either. A soap opera, with a bunch of hard to pronounce names, based in 19th Century Russia? No thanks. I’m sorry, Mr. Tolstoy, but I prefer my soap operas to have midgets and demons.

Enter Ben H. Winters, who co-wrote Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters with Jane Austen. Mr. Winters had the brilliant idea to rerelease Anna Karenina for a new (much cooler) generation. Take everything that made the novel a beloved classic, and mix in two healthy doses of Steampunk and robots. Quirk Classics, the Masters of Our Public Domain, jumped on this idea, and catapulted Mr. Tolstoy into superstardom (possibly back into superstardom, records are unclear).

Android Karenina, the novel that breaks all the rules (but not those very important three!), is the fourth title which re-envisions classics of literature with a patently geeky bent. Following hot on the heels of Zombies and Sea Monsters, the addition of robots to the arsenal completes the Geek Trifecta.

Need more of a reason to check out Android Karenina*? How about a picture of some swanky dude making time with a robot chick…

*Not so fast, Sparky. As with my review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls, Quirk Classics is letting me clue you in on another fantastic contest! Here’s the deal: Click on this link –> RIGHT HERE <- and tell them about Kneel Before Pod. As before, registration is required, but it’s a small price to pay for this awesome prize pack you will have a chance at winning (prize pack worth nearly $100…that’s a lot of money, children)!

• Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls by Steve Hockensmith
• How to Survive a Horror Movie by Seth Grahame-Smith
• Dracula’s Heir: An Interactive Mystery by Sam Stall
• Extreme Encounters by Greg Emmanuel
• How to Tell if Your Boyfriend is The Antichrist by Patricia Carlin
• An Android Karenina Poster
• And More!

**Special Bonus! The Official Release Trailer!

Bennet Girls + Zombies = Badass Video

Hot on the heels of my review of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls comes the official trailer for the book. Peep this, son (and daughter)!

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls – A Review

Do you have any idea how long it’s been since I read about the romantic exploits of Elizabeth Bennet and her gaggle of sisters (as told by Jane Austen)? Go ahead and guess…NO! Longer even than that. I have never read Pride and Prejudice. I watched part of the movie one time, but I was more concerned with Keira Knightley’s eternally pouty lips and sultry bedroom eyes. I understand that Ms. Austen’s work is considered a classic in the snobby cul de sac of the literary neighborhood, but I tend to hang out at the strip mall behind this conclave of brandy-snifting monocle-wearers. Specifically, at the comic book store, with a cup of gas station coffee in one hand and a cigarette in the other.

It should come as no surprise, then, that Quirk Classics’ masterpiece Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls is right up my alley. A more Romero-esque take on the Bennet girls’ younger days, PPZ DoD is a hilarious tale of Victorian England’s brush with the shambling horde. Martial mayhem (like, karate stuff), gripping tension, and yes, even romance, the prequel to Pride and Prejudice and Zombies should have a well deserved spot on your bookshelf alongside Max Brooks’ books.

Now, who said we here at KBP never offered our listeners (and readers, obviously) a chance to possibly get something for free? Quirk Classics, the Masters of our Public Domain, are giving away 50 Quirk Classics Prize Packs (retail value over $100). Included in these prize packs is:

• An advance copy of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies: Dawn of the Dreadfuls
• Audio Books of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies and Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters
• A password redeemable online for sample audio chapters of Dawn of the Dreadfuls
• An awesome Dawn of the Dreadfuls poster
• A Pride and Prejudice and Zombies journal
• A box set of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies postcards

To register for this amazing contest, all you need to do is click *here* and mention where you read this read this review (http://www.kneelbeforepod.com, of course). Quirk Classics requires a quick registration, but, jeez, look what you can win!

*shhh…don’t tell anyone, but Quirk’s next book is Android Karenina…but that’s just between us, ok?*