I first read Pride and Prejudice Zombies and did not really like it but however I was willing to give this book a try. I am glad I did.
First off let me say this I was beyond amazed at what the author accomplished in this book. He stuck to historical events and included vampires in such a way that one could totally believe that Abraham was fighting the Civil War to ward of vampires that would enslave the living man. That fighting to end slavery was just a minor part of the deal. While reading I had to constantly remind myself that vampires aren’t real and this was just a wonderfully compelling tale.
This is a book that gives a compelling look at what this version of Abraham went through and what made him hate vampires so much. It tells how in his early life Abraham lost his mother to a vampire. Before dying she had woke up and told little Abraham, live. So later on in his life when he felt like giving up he would remember that word and go on to honor his mother. After his mother died he made himself various tools and stakes and practiced until he was very adept at using them. Then he tried to kill his first vampire and was almost killed himself. It was a vampire who saved him. This is how he came to meet Henry. Henry told him “to Judge us not equally” and trained Abraham further in the arts of tracking and killing vampires. When he became good enough he sent Abraham out to kill the evil vampires. Every so often Henry would send a letter telling him where to find such creatures. Such creatures took babies out of their beds and slaves and devoured them. Especially the slaves. They would buy them at slave auctions, the weak, lame or old a and take them home and for lack of a better word eat them. Abraham spent many years killing these types of vampires.
I thought the Civil War part with vampires on the southern front was fascinating. They were weapons in their own right.Luckily we all know that the north won the war but at times you wondered how the north could beat vampires, for these scenes were written as such you were not sure if the North would win in this book.
This book has a lot of guts and gore and torture scenes so if you are sensitive to any of that you probably wont enjoy the book as much or at all.