After reading Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter and giving it a really positive review I was anxious to start another novel by Seth Grahame-Smith. I love his creative take on historical fiction, being a fan of the horror genre myself. Here’s the synopsis from its Goodreads page:
They’re an iconic part of history’s most celebrated birth. But what do we really know about the Three Kings of the Nativity, besides the fact that they followed a star to Bethlehem bearing strange gifts? The Bible has little to say about this enigmatic trio. But leave it to Seth Grahame-Smith, the brilliant and twisted mind behind Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunterand Pride and Prejudice and Zombies to take a little mystery, bend a little history, and weave an epic tale.
In Grahame-Smith’s telling, the so-called “Three Wise Men” are infamous thieves, led by the dark, murderous Balthazar. After a daring escape from Herod’s prison, they stumble upon the famous manger and its newborn king. The last thing Balthazar needs is to be slowed down by young Joseph, Mary and their infant. But when Herod’s men begin to slaughter the first born in Judea, he has no choice but to help them escape to Egypt.
It’s the beginning of an adventure that will see them fight the last magical creatures of the Old Testament; cross paths with biblical figures like Pontius Pilate and John the Baptist; and finally deliver them to Egypt. It may just be the greatest story never told.
(picture from our Instagram account)
Like I said before I’m so entertained by Smith’s storytelling and this book did not disappoint. If there’s anything I can say for him it’s that he knows how to tell a great tale. There aren’t many other writers that can get me so wrapped up in a story, especially one that takes place in a time period I can only read about or watch a movie about. I think authors that tell a story from the past or future have an especially large burden to make the setting real to the reader but he does it effortlessly.
In Abraham Lincoln Vampire Hunter the story is quite a stretch, after all at the end (!!spoiler alert!!) Lincoln is a vampire and not only survives the assassination attempt but lives on through the centuries. In this book there are fewer creative liberties but as a church kid who knows the Bible pretty well from growing up in Sunday School I actually liked that. The Bible is notoriously vague in its stories and I liked have a skilled writer creatively fill in the blanks for me. The main character, Balthazar, is one of the three wise men but he doesn’t get to the Nativity scene the way you’d think. Just as you’d expect from Seth Grahame-Smith, nothing is as you expect!