utqtbry - reviewed on 3/23/2010 + 55 more book reviews

Helpful Score: 1

'The boundaries which divide Life from Death are at best shadowy and vague. Who shall say where the one ends, and where the other begins?'
-Edgar Allan Poe

What a great way to open up a book about one of our greatest Presidents being a vampire!!

******

If I had never read any other book Seth Grahame-Smith had written besides Pride and Prejudice and Zombies I would not have considered him a true author. A man with a brilliant marketing scheme - yes, an author - no. This book puts that assumption to bed though. The most brilliant thing about ALVH, is the seamless transition between true history and fiction. The use of real quotes from some of Lincolns speeches, and articles written about him, combined with excerpts from Lincoln's 'diaries' and wonderful narration results in a fiction story that truly sucks you in and reads as if it were a real biography (NOTE: While all of this was awesome I had been expecting a much more campy, fun, humorous, and obvious fake take on the subject). At points I was googling dates and people mentioned throughout to book to sort through for myself who was real and who is fictional, and whether or not certain debates, riots, and elections occurred when/where/how the book claimed. For the plot being so fantastic an amazing amount of fact was incorporated into the work. (I only wish the author had used more scholarly resources than WIKIPEDIA which he lauds in his acknowledgments.)

This book is also much darker, bloodier, and violent than PPZ. Maybe because this book was set in the American frontier and not a British parlor room. While the amount of gore did not really bother me I could see some people becoming a tad squeamish over the details portrayed.

There are a few illustrations scattered throughout, and while amusing did not really add anything to the work. They are meant to look like they are taken from old newspaper clippings but just don't come off as authentic, and the content was not really enlightening to the text associated with it. It almost seems as if they were a last minute idea thrown into the mix.

One complaint about the book is more about the writing/layout. The long passages taken from Abe's 'diaries' could sometimes be paragraphs long and hard on the eyes as the diary text was printed in a smaller type with smaller margins. It got to the point that when I saw a huge block of diary text was coming up I would skim it more than read it. Furthermore, I did not the introduction necessary. While it was interesting to have Grahame-Smith incorporate himself into the story and introduce Henry it seemed to detract from the book more than anything else. It took me out of the pretend world and reminded me that this was in fact just a fiction book instead of immersing me as I think it was supposed to.

On a final note, the front and back cover art are just amazing! At first I didn't even see the axe on the front till flipping the book over and being confronted by the bloody head and axe held by good ole Abe.

******

SPOILER!!!

I so didn't agree with the ending. I think Henry was selfish and that Abe wouldn't have wanted that whats so ever. Considered lowering my rating on this point alone.

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