Abraham Lincoln was just a boy when he learned that his mother’s untimely death was actually the work of a vampire. From then on, he vowed to devote his intelligence, strength–and skill with an ax–to the elimination of the soulless creatures. It was a path of vengeance that would lead him all the way to the White House.
No one ever knew about Lincoln’s valiant struggle against the undead… until author Seth Grahame-Smith laid eyes on Abe’s secret journal–the first living person to do so in over 140 years. Putting a supernatural spin on revisionist history, Seth has reconstructed Lincoln’s true life story–while revealing the role vampires played in the birth, growth and near-death of our nation.

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter tells the story found in Lincoln’s secret journal describing his alternate life as a vampire hunter. Personally, anything titled “Vampire Hunter” should really be more entertaining than this.

I don’t know if by reading Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter I would really be able to have an opinion of the rest of the monster mash-ups as Vampire Hunter is based on Lincoln’s life and not another book like Pride and Prejudice. I assume as much though and as such, you’ll probably not see many more mash-ups reviews.

I have to admit I wasn’t converted. First, I wasn’t a huge fan of the narrator. The voices he used were just all off for me. I have a certain voice for Abraham Lincoln in my head (probably thanks to School House Rock or something) and this did not do it for me.

Next, I have to say the writing was done well and while I was impressed with the facts of Lincoln’s actual life that are woven into the story (I did confirm a few), it was hard to take someone telling the actual thoughts and motivations behind Lincoln’s actions especially regarding vampires.

As mentioned earlier, I guess I expected more action and adventure, less plodding along and talking. Now that I think about it, the “Abraham Lincoln” part really should have off-set the rest of the title enough. Don’t get me wrong, I greatly respect President Lincoln and I think that may have been one of the reasons I had a hard time with the book as well.

One of the perks of the audiobook was that there’s an interview with Seth Grahame-Smith at the end of the telling of the story and that was pretty interesting. He tells how the two books he saw everywhere for the last while have been Abraham Lincoln biographies and Twilight. Thus we have Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter. Also interesting to note Grahame-Smith has a MTV show in the makes.

My Gemstone Rating: