Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter

I was of two minds about this book. On one hand, it was a fun read, and I still get a bit of a chuckle from reading the title. At the same time though, it takes itself fairly seriously: maybe there's some humour in the details for the serious Lincoln scholar, but for someone who doesn't know too much about Lincoln, it seemed like it was trying to be a straight horror novel about Abraham Lincoln and his secret war against the vampires of America.

It took a little time to get used to the format of the book, as well - it's being told by Grahame-Smith, but the paragraphs are interlaced with excerpts from Lincoln's hidden journals about his war against the vampires. I found the speed at which it went back and forth between the two to be distracting - I think I would have enjoyed the journal bits more if they'd been told as separate chapters.

I found the “vampires were responsible for supporting and maintaining the slave trade” theme a little distasteful, as well. I can understand why it was included - you can't write a book about Lincoln without discussing slavery, after all - and I would even concede that “slave owners as blood-sucking parasites” metaphor is a good one, but it also comes across like an attempt to absolve humans from the evil of slavery. We're capable of evil enough without vampires there

In summation: it's deeper than I had been expecting it to be, but kind of unsatisfying at the same time, although I can see why a lot of people seem to love it.