Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

I know these refab books are ridiculous; rewriting history to create a supernatural conspiracy is a silly idea. However, one must give Grahame-Smith credit for his creativity, including the old-timey photos which were reworked to fit the vampire lore.

These vampires can go out in sunlight though :/

Plot: As a young boy Abe Lincoln watches his mother die to a vampire. He swears to hunt down the fiends; along the way he happens to fall in love, become a lawyer, and finally president of a divided nation. When the vampires start to come after his sons, shit gets real.

Such a good daddy!

Lincoln's character brings the president to life as a hero, but more in the modern adventure than political sense. I think this speaks to the shallowness of much of our society- we have to see someone win a physical fight to have them outlined as a leader to be admired. Maybe instead of an election we should have boxing or a mini-Olympics. Hopefully it at least inspires modern readers to look up more about him (he was probably my favorite president).

Another issue I had was that the book blamed the slavery issue on the vampires. I know people don't expect to take this book as real. However, it still irks me when something so complicated and terrible is cheapened into black and white issues (no pun intended) where it's the Nazis to blame, or vampires, and then lily-white, all-American, God-fearing heroes come to cleanse the world of problems. In reality, America dicked up. Human beings were sold and killed and tortured. There are many people who think that the Civil War was a much more complicated issue than just freeing slaves (I highly recommend Confederates in the Attic as an exploration of this issue). Soulless demons and fantasy creatures can't be blamed for past mistakes.

The book fulfilled much of my criteria for a good book: it had a good setting (decently researched), approachable characters, and a well-paced plot that kept me interested. However, such novels are dependent upon one's taste. If you like cheapened history, then go for it. It's also very predictable.

The movie was equally cheesy and ridiculous, so don't pay money for it, but if you have time and nothing else to watch on Netflix, it's worth a watch.

Goodreads link