Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter: Amazon.co.uk: Seth Grahame-Smith: 9780446563086: Books

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Grahame-Smith does an excellent job of capturing the spirit of this style of story-telling, mixing historically accurate anecdotes with entries from Lincoln's fictional secret journal, weaving the vampire elements into the story in a manner that's quite believable. --Wired

Not just the Lincoln biography we've all been waiting for. It's also the funniest, most action-packed and weirdly well-researched account of the Civil War you'll probably read in a long time. --Vanity Fair

Thanks to P&P&Z, a delicious mutant book craze was born. But then opportunists infested the territory...It's nice to see plucky Grahame-Smith retake his turf. --Entertainment Weekly --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Book Description

The brand new book from the bestselling author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

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19 Reviews

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3.7 out of 5 stars (19 customer reviews)

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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Twisted History, 7 July 2010

By

Thomas Hand (Liverpool UK) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)

This review is from: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (Paperback)

OK so this isnt a literary masterpiece and is as scary as a deflated souffle but it is fun. The author has cleverly twisted real history and events in Abe Lincoln's life with elements of vampire myth. So much so, in fact, that there were times when I started to ask myself if an incident he described really did happen or if he invented it to keep the story going.
Written for the 'Twilight' generation, this book does what it says on the tin - it delivers a rollicking romp through an alternative American history and it is the perfect beach accessory for that lazy sun-kissed fortnight in Greece. If an enjoyable easy read is what you are looking for, you could do worse.

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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Honest vampire-hunting Abe, 17 May 2010

By

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
(HALL OF FAME REVIEWER) (TOP 100 REVIEWER) (REAL NAME)

This review is from: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (Paperback)

Seth Grahame-Smith is well known for having turned Jane Austen's "Pride and Prejudice" into a zombiefest, so what would he turn his gruesome imagination to next?

The answer: Abraham Lincoln, the iconic sixteenth president of the United States. Unfortunately, "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter" isn't Grahame-Smith at his best -- it's a slow, wangsty slog that never quite makes up its mind whether it's a novel or a fictionalized biography. While Grahame-Smith conjures some unique ideas, it's not really funny or witty.

According to Grahame-Smith, he was leading a mundane existence running a store when he was accosted by a customer of his -- who turned out to be a vampire, and who wanted him to adapt and reveal Abraham Lincoln's secret journals. Born into a tiny farm in the Indiana woodlands, Lincoln first learned of vampires after his mother's death, and began a lifelong crusade to destroy as many of his mother's killers as possible.

With the assistance of a couple of buddies -- and a friendly vampire named Henry -- Lincoln's quest continued, only for him to lose more loved ones and friends as he silently destroyed the undead. Even after marrying and being elected president, Lincoln's main focus was on vampires -- especially since the United States and its countless enslaved people are being threatened not just with slavery, but with a fate worse than undeath.

The whole idea of the great Abraham Lincoln fighting against the undead is a pretty quirky idea, and the idea of a fictionalized biography filled with presidential vampire-slaying is even cooler. Sadly, this book only taps a little of that potential -- and the worst part is that you KNOW the author can do better.

Grahame-Smith's writing is also very uneven, swinging randomly between the aloof tone of a memoir/biography, and the florid gore-splattered mood of a vampire novel. Even the author seems to forget what kind of book he's writing, since there are huge chunks (including the final scene) which couldn't possibly be in Lincoln's secret journals. And the first half of the book is painfully slow and repetitive, although it becomes more interesting in the second half.

There ARE some clever moments (Lincoln and Poe's conversation, and Poe's suspicious death shortly thereafter), and some intense musings on good and evil ("That belief -- thaat we live beyond the reach of darkness -- is one that vampires have worked tirelessly to instill through the centuries"). But these aren't enough to save the book.

And this vampire-slaying version of Lincoln is not very likable either -- he whines, moans and mopes constantly, and reacts to every personal tragedy or setback with suicidal melodrama. He doesn't seem to have the backbone to be a president, let alone a vampire hunter. He's Emo-ham Lincoln! The only interesting character is Henry, a "good" vampire who gives Lincoln information and little nudges in his silent crusade. Too bad we didn't hear more about him.

I was expecting some wit and clever historical twists in "Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter," but instead Seth Grahame-Green drags us through a wildly uneven, melodramatic little historical novel.

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3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars "He was Legend", 19 Aug 2010

By

Bob Marlowe (UK) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter (Paperback)

Basically this is a mixture of fiction and biography. The style reads more like a biography for much of the book and as wikipedia would reveal there is a lot of accurate biographical detail. Seth Grahame Smith has taken Abraham Lincoln's life and added vampires to the mix in a similar way to his addition of Zombies to Pride & Prejudice (although this is darker than Pride & Prejudice & Zombies and possibly would have benefitted from some more humour)
As an example Abe's mother died of "milk fever", when he was still quite young but in the novel he later learns that this is a cover for her death at the hands of a vampire his father owed money to. This starts his pledge to rid the world of vampires.
He has helpers most of them friends but also there is an ambbigous figure in his vampire mentor Henry. By the end of the book you may still be pondering the motivations of Henry who challenges Lincoln's prejudices toward vampires and tempts him with the possibility of resurrecting loved ones (a feature of Smith's vampires is the short window after death for them to revive someone as a vampire).
Despite the help he comes across as a rather tragic loner, not unlike Robert Neville in the wonderful vampire novel I am Legend by Richard Matheson. He is also exceptionally bloodthirsty when it comes to despatching vampires, although the carnage of the Civil War greatly saddens him.
There are several points where the vampire story takes a backseat to the real life of Lincoln and these are as enjoyable as the rest of the book.
There is an introduction of the "How I found the secret documents which are genuine honest gov" variety and I'm afraid I always find these cheesy, but it does lead to a few notes in the text explaining what Abe is referring to a little like in the Flashman novels.

What may be a sticking point for some people is the connection of vampires to slavery. They did not cause it but support and encourage it for their own ends. I think this was necessary to prevent it losing importance as a driving force in Lincoln's life but some may find it tasteless to add the fantasy element to such an important part of American history. I think that Smith has covered this by having Abe against slavery before learning the connection to vampires and by leaving many of his original sentiments intact.

If you do not like the idea of changing a justly important Historical figure as Abraham Lincoln, then this is not for you but if you are happy provided something of the real man remains and enjoy dark vampire novels, then I recommend it. I know I learned a bit about the real man alongside the adventure.

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