I must admit, I had little to no expectations going into this book. The only reason I read it was because a friend of mine suggested it, and we have similar tastes. I must admit the concept was awesome. I mean seriously, the 16th President of the United States, a man that arguably saved the nation from imploding, was a vampire hunter? The first thing that I thought of was, where did he find the time? How did he not get caught in his endeavor? As well as various other things I tried to nit-pick.
When I began the book it was about twelve-thirty in the morning or so, and I was just expecting to read for maybe a half an hour. I put it down around three hours later, and only then because I had to work the next day. To put it simply, I was amazed. It may have had something to do with the fact I thought it would be adequate at best, after all I got my hopes up about A Game of Thrones, and I was disappointed (insert your gasp here), so it had no where to go but up. The more I read the more I realized, that I simply loved this book! So here is my honest opinion on the book. I will do my best to divulge as little as possible, because I do not want to ruin it for you.
In a nut shell, the story begins with Abraham's childhood. He was already gifted at telling stories and the like. When he discovers that his mother was killed by vampires he resolves to kill very single vampire he can. His first attempt proved quite successful, and it leads you to believe that he is like Blade and some sort of natural vampire killing machine. However, his second mission goes very badly and he is nearly killed himself. He is saved by the Yoda type character, Henry. He takes the young Abraham under his wing and teaches him the right way to hunt vampires.
After several years of killing the foul beasts, he is introduced to a plot by the vampires to actually seize control of the United States, and make humans no more than cattle. I must apologize for the next few sentences, it will give a little away. Henry and a group of like minded people who called themselves the Union aid Lincoln in getting elected to President and in fighting the civil war.
He obviously wins the war, and the Union is preserved, this book just adds a lot more behind the scenes action than recorded history. In truth if it were not about vampires it could almost be believed!
How Lincoln dies is obvious. The book does not deviate from major historic accounts about our sixteenth president's life, it just adds a few extra unoffical entries to the official record. I gave the book the four stars. Why not five? As much as I prased it, that should be a given right? The answer is simple, the ending. Call it my nit-picking, but I cannot overlook it. Don't get me wrong the ending is sheer genius, I love it, but it leaves a question open, that begs to be answered. There are answers to this question, good answers, but I'm not able to accept them. I guess I'm too logical. It probably also doesn't help that the book is so well written that it actually sounds like a true historical account. So in a sense you do not have suspend your sense of logic to accept what is written, but if you do, it's much more enjoyable.
Obviously I will not go into the ending, it would ruin a huge treat if you decide to read it. Suffice it to say I highly recommend this book, if for no other reason than sheer curiosity (you can't tell me you're not). It would be well worth your time. I just hope the movie adaptation will be half as good, but I must admit I have more faith in authors, than in Hollywood.
No comments:
Post a Comment