Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter Why did I have such low expectations of this book? and why was I so surprised to find it well written, fluid and coherent?

I guess the title says it all. If that doesn't set your sights low then I don't know what will unless vampire books form the staple of your diet. This was my first vampire book just as World War Z was my first (and only) zombie book.Back to the book. I am not American so there were no scared cows there for me. I was able to just let myself go and get caught up in it. I was surprised at the depth amidst the gore. I wasn't expecting that. The portrayal of Abraham Lincoln as a compassionate man facing near endless grief was so well done that I had a strong sense of the person inside that show more character.I really liked this book, I like the style, the characterisation and the momentum. I particularly liked the change of narration from first to third person which sounds horrible but was actually a way of anchoring these passages.The evocation of slavery was both well done and painful to behold. The frontier life and its hardships, factual but not sentimental.Later on I caught an interview with Seth Grahame-Smith which gave another view of this wonderful book. He says that the title is a joke but after that everything is deadly serious.Never having read another vampire book I have nothing to compare it to within the genre, but as a book in its own right it is well worth the time and trouble. show less

Surprisingly wonderful. This book features a strong story -- powerful and emotional -- and strong characters. Lincoln is very well-developed as a character, and I was happy to see this book describe not just his political struggles, but also the tragedies in his personal life. A different main character, Henry, who is complete fiction, is nuanced and carefully written. Most importantly, this alternate-history novel approaches the real history and real Lincoln with reverence. Generally, this novel is a rewrite of history with the premise "What if vampires existed and had been involved in Lincoln's life and American politics?" I was surprised at the level of detail and the historical accuracy (which, for the most part, is sound). Best of show more all, although this novel seamlessly blends history with the fantasy of vampires, it also suggests that Abraham Lincoln, the true-life nonvampire-hunter Lincoln, was also heroic, hard-working, and worthy of every accolade and honor that his memory has received. show less

OMG WHY IS THIS SO AWESOME.

Now, I love me some vampires. If I weren't into Sherlock Holmes I would be obsessed with vampires. I know. Anyway. If you don't like the vampire genre don't read this book. If you saw the title and thought, OMG so funny! I want to read something funny! No. This is not the book for you.

The book saves its ridiculousness for its premise. The writing itself is completely deadpan. It is a horror novel with Abraham Lincoln killing evil unsexy vampires. Vampires who want to make a country for themselves. And what kind of country is better for vampires than a slave country? Cue the civil war. Haha. In less agile hands the metaphor of slavers = evil vampires would be incredibly trite, even twee, but the writer makes show more sure to keep it in the background and not wave it in your face all over the place. Well it kinda is all over the place when I think about it, but comparing the worst of our traits to the nature of monsters is what horror novels do. He makes sure to distract us with enough blood and historical detail. haha, and the fact that it is pretty silly. show less

Though the vampires had robbed Young Abe of much of his family, after his voyage down the Mississippi, he realized he had gotten off easy. They were completely out of control in the South. Why risk discovery hunting down prey when it could be bought down at the slave market? The depravities suffered on their plantations brought him to tears. Abe had dispatched a handful of vampires on his own but now he knew he had to take the fight up a notch. He would not let them take over this new country like they had Europe. He would strike at them any way he could, even if he had to become President, even if he had to drag the country through the ravishes of war... America would be free of tyranny.

"America is thataway, Mr. Lincoln," laughed show more Davis, pointing north. "You're in Mississippi now." He stepped forward, to the very edge of where Abe's ax could reach if he chose to swing it. "And let us speak plainly, sir. We're both the servants of vampires. But when these hostilities are at an end, I will be left to enjoy the peace of my remaining years in comfort and wealth, and you will be dead. And there it is."

I know I've been reading a lot of these mashups lately.... I guess we all have our guilty pleasures. Lincoln is my favorite president so I couldn't stay away and I'm glad I didn't! This one is really captivating. Grahame-Smith took a iconic hero and just upped the ante. I gobbled it all down at once, like a huge Thanksgiving dinner. I heartily recommend it. show less

As far as alternative histories go, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter was quite entertaining. In a nutshell, we follow Abe Lincoln throughout his life, from childhood, to his presidency, through the war and end with his assassination. On top of all this we learn of Lincoln's secret career as a vampire hunter and how this played a role in the Civil War and the future of our nation. Grahame-Smith mixed enough facts in with the fiction to make it quite intriguing. Of course now I want to pick up a regular Lincoln biography!

What a delightful twist on history! At an early age young Abe mourned the loss of his mother until he found out how she died. He vowed to rid the world of vampires so he set off to find out everything he could about them. His father wasn’t much of a role model, preferring to only work enough and make enough to keep the family fed and clothed. But his father had a gift of storytelling which Abe learned and prepared him to be the great speechmaker he became. In his personal hunt for vampires Abe comes across a vampire who also wants to rid the world of vampires, those that take young children and defenseless women. Henry teaches teen-Abe more about vampires. Henry has been around for centuries and knows which ones deserve to be killed. show more He sends Abe cryptic letters with information on where to find his next kill. All of this cleverly blends real history with the author’s imagination as Abe marries, has children of his own, enters politics, fights to free the slaves, agonizes over the lives lost in the Civil War (knowing that the Confederates had help from vampires who wanted to continue using slaves for their next meal) and on through to his assassination. Although this book was from my local library, I will buy a copy because I want to re-read it. (I think old Abe is somewhere on “Dexter’s” family tree!) show less

When Seth Grahame-Smith adapted Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice as Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (2009), he was pushed to the front of the mash-up revolution. He had taken an original story, peppered it with zombies, and slapped his name on it. And you know what? In that case, he was successful.

What was before a classic novel, became something even more accessible and hip. Grahame-Smith ignited a trend for paranormal mash-ups, inviting success stories like the sequel to his own book (Steve Hockensmith's ...Dreadfully Ever After) and some not-so-success(ful) stories (Little Women and Werewolves, Sense and Sensibility and Sea Monsters, The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn and Zombie Jim). But what inevitably works (and, in some of those show more examples, "works" is stretching it, but go with me) is that the authors are basically staying within the framework of the original piece and making it more colorful. Like an Austen paint-by-numbers.
Or something.

There's kind of an unspoken rule that the new work retains the feel of the original narrative while incorporating a paranormal or fantastical element. At the end of the day, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies is still Pride and Prejudice...with zombies. Unfortunately for Seth Grahame-Smith, that rule carries over to Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, which is based on historical fact rather than a literary narrative; the new work reads like a biography or a history book...with vampires. The publishing industry calls it "dark historical revisionism." I call it "lame."

The result of this venture is just downright boring. It reads like a biography with little flourish. It is proposed that Lincoln's thirst for vengeance against vampires is rooted in the death of his mother which, according to his drunken father, was at the hands of a vampire. So he goes in search of vampires to kill, gets saved by one, makes nice, and then kills a bunch of other vampires at his buddy-vamp's behest without question. Honest Abe can be chalked up to being an honest fool who, lacking any self-motivation (he only runs for president because the "good" vampires are using him as a pawn in their war against the "bad" vampires), has so little integrity that I felt offended for the real Abraham Lincoln's memory.

The alternating of third person narrative with the "primary source" of Lincoln's "lost journals" is formulaic and frustrating and, while that might work for a bargain-shelf novel of historical fiction, it does not work for something that's marketed as a horror/thriller/fantasy novel. Even a campy one. And the lack of irony in this book is so remarkably absent that I can't even call it campy. It's just a wreck.

Lauren Cartelli
www.theliterarygothamite.com show less