When I saw Seth Grahame-Smith’s first book in Borders (oh how I miss that store), Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, I didn’t know what to think about it.  When I saw this second book, Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, in stores, I thought it as downright blasphemous.

Why would anyone mess with the cultural sanctity of classic literature, much less the historical sanctity of one of the most famous and inspiring political figures in our history?  Then, I heard that this second book would become a movie, and I had a hand slap to the forehead moment.  What was my generation thinking?  Then I saw the trailer.It. was. awesome.

Now, I’ve always had a thing for the supernatural, vampires in particular.  And no, it didn’t start with Twilight.  It started with Interview with a Vampire and Buffy the Vampire Slayer.  Perhaps it was growing up in New Orleans that somehow inoculated me with this fascination for the creatures of the night.  Perhaps it’s just something in my own personality that draws me in.  Perhaps it’s their infamous charm that I just can’t resist.

I’m one of those people who like to read the book before seeing the movie, especially if I should expect some gory scene within the story.  My husband had the book on his Kindle, so I decided to read it during my birthday week.

I finished it in three days.  Each part took me all of two hours to read it.  And I don’t consider myself a fast reader.

The book has vampirism throughout the story, as well as a very accurate portrayal of the real Abraham Lincoln’s life.  Grahame-Smith did his homework.  One small detail that I thoroughly enjoyed was how he mapped the history of our country.  I tend to see our history spread out, but did you know that the 16th president was only born a little over 30 years after the Declaration of Independence?  The author has a gift of feeding fantasy with fact.

The book honestly makes me want to learn more about Lincoln’s life.  Taking the vampire aspect out of it still portrays a very strong, intellectual man with a very tragic life.  It brought a reality to the Civil War as well, as the deaths were very real and very gruesome, even though they weren’t really fighting vampires.

Tomorrow I am going to see the movie (I wrote this book review the night I finished the book so I wouldn’t get the two reviews mixed up.).  The author wrote the movie screenplay so I hope I won’t be disappointed.   I noticed there were characters in the movie that did not show up in the book, so I’m looking forward to seeing how everything will play out in the movie.