Monday, March 15, 2010

First Impressions: Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Slayer

I have been reading Seth Grahame-Smith's latest mash up, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. So far, it has been a pretty entertaining read. The novel is written in the form of a biography, in which the author uses (and includes direct quotes from) Lincoln's secret journal, which is supposedly about his second life of killing vampires.

The scenes are action packed - sometimes bloody and violent, but always engaging. I'm not sure how historically accurate the "real" parts of the biography are, but Vampire Hunter is definitely a page turner.

The only gripe I have so far is that some aspects of the novel don't seem to mesh with the whole mechanic that Smith uses. For example, Smith writes this novel using the diary of Abraham Lincoln. But how, then, does he know what Abraham Lincoln's grandfather was thinking and feeling? Although these embellishments add to the story, they sometimes dectract from the immersion.

Stay tuned for more on this unique novel!

1 comment:

  1. Hmmm..interesting. I am curious to see what you think of it in the end. I did a massive report on this historical figure in high school and fell in love with the presence and power he was able to command in such trying times. Very curious to find out what they've done to his story and the impression left on the reader. Happy reading!

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