Literary Quote of the Month

"A reader lives a thousand lives before he dies," said Jojen. "The man who never reads lives only one." - George R.R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

Tuesday, April 27, 2010

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter... An Audiobook Review

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter
by Seth Grahame-Smith
The Audiobook Review...

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...

Seth Grahame-Smith is a genius! How he seamlessly blended the historical facts surrounding Abraham Lincoln and his life growing up with the fictional history & superstitions surrounding Vampires is amazing! Seth had to be careful writing the story because Abe Lincoln and his life is so well known, but he has made Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter actually seem realistic. With absolute respect for Abraham Lincoln, Seth Grahame-Smith tells the story of the humble beginnings of Mr. Lincoln, being born on "an unseasonably mild" Sunday in February in a one room cabin in Kentucky, and follows his life, and the developing American frontier, until his assassination in 1865 by John Wilkes Booth. In between "the pages" of the story, we float down the Mississippi with Abe as a young man, learn about his Baptist upbringing that taught him that slavery was wrong, watch him gain proficiency in using his axe (very helpful with Vampires), and watch him fall in love. We meet Edgar Allan Poe, Stephen Douglas, Dred Scott, and witness the start of the Civil War. Vampires have a funny way of being part of all this history, and we soon learn that looks can be deceiving...

It's important to note, these vampires in Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter are not the semi-sweet kind you'll find in the Twilight series, these vampires are vicious... with the exception of Henry Sturges, who was begrudgingly made into a vampire long ago, befriends Abe, and helps him seek revenge on the "unnatural" souls who have caused him so much pain.

I listened to the unabridged audiobook narrated by the soothing voice of Scott Holst. Scott does a wonderful job of setting the mood with his pitch perfect delivery of the story. His voice captured my attention and the story grabbed it. The accompanying music played at the start of the discs and the ending of each disc did a nice job of setting the tone for the particular part of the story. And at the end of the audiobook, there is a wonderful interview with the author! PLUS, a bonus PDF of "historical photographic documents", which are strangely vampirish in nature!

Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter is like Anne Rice writing like Mark Twain with a heavy dose of David McCullough. Of course it's all Seth Grahame-Smith, who also wrote Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and if you like historical fiction, you have to listen to this! It's Fact, Fiction & a lot of Fun! Hours of great narration and a great story to match! Listen to an excerpt of Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and judge for yourself! *Warning, this is a vampire story, so there is a bit of blood & gore.

This audiobook is unabridged, 9 CD's, and approximately 10 listening hours! I want to thank Anna from Hachette Books Group for sending along the audiobook for me to review! Thanks Anna I thoroughly enjoyed listening to it!

19 comments:

Amy (ArtsyBookishGal) said...

I really want to win a copy of this audiobook!!!

Amy
artsyrockerchick at aim dot com

Amy (ArtsyBookishGal) said...

I'm a follower!!!

Amy
artsyrockerchick at aim dot com

Denny, Alaska said...

Thanks for entering my name in your giveaway!

denny(dot)gill(at)gmail(dot)com

Melissa said...

Would love to enter

I'm a follower

jjameli(at)cableone.net

Susan Helene Gottfried said...

No need to enter me, babe. I'm dropping in to say thanks for the e-mail. I've got this posted at Win a Book for you.

stpand said...

Please enter me.

I am a follower of your blog.

I thinkt that Lizzie Borden would have been a great vampire hunter.

http://services.nexodyne.com/email/icon/kZP6YCw8ToE%3D/DrfPGPc%3D/SG90bWFpbA%3D%3D/0/image.png

Chris said...

Love to enter!

danunepthys (at) hotmail (dot) com

Anonymous said...

would be nice to give the eyes a rest,,thx for the contest..
thehighflyer3(at)hotmail(dot)com

Simply Stacie said...

Please count me in.

simplystacieblog at gmail dot com

Simply Stacie said...

I follow!

simplystacieblog at gmail dot com

carla said...

I would like a chance to win this book.


I think Joan of Arc would've been a good vampire hunter.


cjay (at) iavalley (dot) edu

Thanks!

Michele said...

Please enter me.
Thanks!
mmmtnbike09@yahoo.com

Michele said...

I follow your blog.

mmmtnbike09@yahoo.com

Dawn M. said...

I would love the chance to listen to this. Count me in, please!

Thanks! :0)
librarygrinch at gmail dot com

Unknown said...

I am a follower and would love to win a copy of this audiobook.

Eileen
wiseowlreviews@aol.com

Anonymous said...

Would love to say "I am so IN!"
Keeping fingers crossed.
Love the blog and will sign up definitely now

all the best

PK Reeves
aisleb.tumblr.com

wendy wallach said...

what an interesting concept for a story!

madamerkf at aol dot com

Unknown said...

Would love a chance to own this audiobook. Thank you!

debraldufek AT hotmail DOT com

noel said...

I'd love to win this!
Cookierooks at yahoo dot com

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