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!
