Review: Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter, by Seth Grahame-Smith

Do you hate history? Does nonfiction leave you sleepy? Are you bored to tears with hearing the same tired stories about our sixteenth president? Author Seth Grahame-Smith, author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, has a cure for you, as he once again visits the world of historical horror fiction with his newest work, Abraham Lincoln, Vampire Hunter.

Smith takes a different tack with his newest work, creating something entirely original rather than choosing a previously published work to embellish. He addresses Lincoln's entire life, dividing the work into three sections - boyhood, manhood, and president - and lays the basis of Lincoln's interactions with the hungry undead early on. It turns out that Lincoln's grandfather, beloved mother, and other relatives died not from common malaise but from exposure to the blood of vampires, who attacked their family in retribution for an outstanding debt Lincoln's father owed to a bloodthirsty banker. This, it becomes clear, is the source of the animosity between Lincoln and his father, and is the beginning of Lincoln's career as a vampire hunter. Once begun, his journey brings him into the company of a vampire turncoat who advises him which of his kind need to die. Their relationship, and the alliances formed because of it, bring Abe to the highest office in the land. There, he battles slavery not only as a human evil, but for its underlying truth; southern vampires use the slave trade for food, and mean to take over all of humanity.

ALVH is does not have the dry wit of Prejudice, but does possess its own dark character that grows increasingly absorbing with each chapter. Smith strays from the action of the main story occasionally, and some sections are a bit dry, but on the whole the tale is well worth reading. At times, the tale seems a bit Ann Rice-y, but the addition of the vampires to Lincoln's life, especially in the political realm, seems fairly organic. The characters themselves are well-written, and the idea of slavery being in reality a massive food supply chain for the undead is genius. Abe's personal tragedies have always seemed almost unrealistic in their scale even in their actual fact, so the weaving in of vampires as a common thread of explanation for the long trail of sorrow almost makes more sense than the real stories behind them. The forward, which slyly mirrors one that would be seen in an actual work, sets the tone of a serious work of nonfiction, which Smith maintains throughout the story. The ending, though, has really captured my imagination. I finished this book about two weeks ago, and am still thinking about it, imagining what would come next.

It did take me a few chapters to actually get into the story, and occasionally the tale was a bit slower than I would have liked, but overall, ALVH is another success for Smith. I was impressed previously with his talent for seamlessly weaving zombies into a classic, and am glad to see that he possesses the dexterity to create his own original works as well. I look forward to reading whatever he comes out with next.

Rating: four out of five stars. Very imaginative, with intriguing characterizations.