Review: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Title: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter
Author: Seth Grahame-Smith
Publisher: Grand Central Publishing
Publishing Date: March 2nd 2010
Pages: 433
Genre: Alternate History
Series: Stand Alone
Source: Audio Book

Goodreads Summary:
Indiana, 1818. Moonlight falls through the dense woods that surround a one-room cabin, where a nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his suffering mother's bedside. She's been stricken with something the old-timers call "Milk Sickness."

"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying.

Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire.

When the truth becomes known to young Lincoln, he writes in his journal, "henceforth my life shall be one of rigorous study and devotion. I shall become a master of mind and body. And this mastery shall have but one purpose..." Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, Abe sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.

While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving a Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for hundreds of years. That is, until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln, and became the first living person to lay eyes on it in more than 140 years.

Using the journal as his guide and writing in the grand biographical style of Doris Kearns Goodwin and David McCullough, Seth has reconstructed the true life story of our greatest president for the first time-all while revealing the hidden history behind the Civil War and uncovering the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of our nation.

Review:
I have been trying to get this out of my TBR list since the movie came out, I cannot see the movie until I read the book. I finally fit it in and loved it! It was not at all what I thought it would be. I assumed it would be a funny light read, no it was a very serious deep, dark, read. I have always been a fan of the Civil War and Abraham Lincoln, the book was full of actual facts mixed with some twisted fiction. It is so worth the read.

The story is an age old story: Abraham Lincoln, he had a tough go at life since he was born. Even without proper schooling, he was a brilliant and well spoken man. Who ever thought he could kick some supernatural butt! There isn’t a lot to say about the story or the characters, we know the story without the vampires, and we know the main character without the super ninja cool weapon fighting. So we just add the vampires, a short appearance from Edgar Allen Poe, some made up history, a big ax, and some pretty cool fighting moves, we have a brand new story. I think one of the more interesting add-ons to the story was the conspiracy or the “real reason” for the Civil War and that every rich and powerful man was in cahoots with vampires. Pretty awesome.

The writing was amazing, the flow of the book was smooth, lots of fighting and history, lots of blood. A worthy read for sure and now I need to go see the movie.

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