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Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter a book review by Steve Payne

Reviewer says: published in March 2010 by Seth Grahame-Smith, the author of "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies", this alternate (and also secret) history starts off quite promisingly with the contemporary discovery of ten volumes beginning "This is the journal of Abraham Lincoln". In the following three hundred and fifty pages, the central purpose of Abe's life is revealed to be vampire hunting, a pursuit which neatly dovetails with his role in US history because we learn that that the Civil War was, gasp! actually an attempt to enslave all Americans for the purposes of bloodsucking. Unfortunately, my interest didn't quite last that long...


Good points:

 


  • Overarching concept for the novel is very innovative
  • Context setting
  • Confederate vampires turn the tide at the first Bull Run (best scene in the novel)

Bad points:

 


  • Limited surprise factor / lack of suspense (I certainly wasn't scared which is kinda of a pre-req for Vampire novels?)
  • No meaningful story development or integration with the first person reader (he could have meet the undead Lincoln)
  • Black and White Photos great idea in thoery but ultimately dissapointing because of poor quality
  • Rushed Civil War section
  • Portrayal as a political leader (appears too fake especially the Cabinet meetings which have no atmosphere)

Of course the biggest risk in shooting a movie would of course be not echoing some of the bigger ideas of Anne Rice's far superior "Interview with the Vampire".

And having taken the lead as the Count in the 1991 movie Dracula, only Gary Oldman could play this Abraham Lincoln, but at five foot nine he's ludicrously short. Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter in Platform shoes perhaps?

 

Author says to read some radically different reviews of this novel please visit the Amazon web site.

Steve Payne, Editor of Today in Alternate History, a Daily Updating Blog of Important Events In History That Never Occurred Today. Follow us on Facebook, Myspace and Twitter.

Imagine what would be, if history had occurred a bit differently. Who says it didn't, somewhere? These fictional news items explore that possibility. Possibilities such as America becoming a Marxist superpower, aliens influencing human history in the 18th century and Teddy Roosevelt winning his 3rd term as president abound in this interesting fictional blog.


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