{A Blast from the Past} Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter by Seth Grahame-Smith

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

Indiana, 1818. In a one-room cabin nine-year-old Abraham Lincoln kneels at his mother's bedside.
"My baby boy..." she whispers before dying. Only later will the grieving Abe learn that his mother's fatal affliction was actually the work of a vampire. Gifted with his legendary height, strength, and skill with an ax, young Lincoln sets out on a path of vengeance that will lead him all the way to the White House.
While Abraham Lincoln is widely lauded for saving the Union and freeing millions of slaves, his valiant fight against the forces of the undead has remained in the shadows for almost two hundred years - until Seth Grahame-Smith stumbled upon The Secret Journal of Abraham Lincoln. Now, using the journal as a guide, Seth reconstructs the true life story of America's greatest president. For the first time ever, he reveals the hidden history behind the Civil War - and uncovers the role vampires played in the birth, growth, and near-death of the nation.

MY REVIEW

I read this book first a long while ago in High School, just before the movie graced the screen. I'm sure that I don't need to explain the allure of this book to me, but I will for those of you who haven't read my reviews before. It is a re-written view of the Civil War, one of the most important moments in America's history, has my personal favorite President as the main character, and as I'm sure you'll find when you read the excerpt, beautiful language.

Young Abe (from the movie)

Seth Grahame-Smith created a world like ours in almost every aspect except the fact that this world, and this President Lincoln, is plagued with vampires. And no, I'm not talking about sparkly vampires that would rather date you than eat you alive. There is no vegetarian menu available, so they basically run around drinking from whoever they wish. Abe's own mother was poisoned by vampire's blood, which drove his never-ending hunting and hating of the monsters themselves. I was amazed very often at what this Abraham Lincoln would do to get the job done, how bloody his life was from the day that he killed his first until he was assassinated himself (no, that isn't a spoiler at all, trust me).

Abe and his trusty axe (from the movie)

I really enjoyed the amount of thought that Seth put into the book. When the passages were taken directly from Abe's "secret journal", it felt like an older way of speaking, like someone from the 19th century had taken a time machine to the 21st and written all of it down. I found a hard time pulling myself away from the book, the scenes were filled with so much beautiful/horrible detail that when I pulled myself out to do something else, I was thinking about it instead, and wondering what would happen next. He makes this book so real, from adding in pictures of "vampires" from around that time, to adding his own little twist to supernatural legends of America's past. It feels as if you are living when he was, breathing in the 19th century air, watching America, and Abe, become what they became.

South lawn of the White House under heavy guard, circa 1862. The man on the portico is believed to be a member of Abe's trinity (bodyguards)

Not only did it do all that I mentioned above, it also introduced me to a side of my favorite president that I wasn't aware of; the side that enjoyed writing poetry and reading stacks upon stacks of books, beginning of course with the Christian Bible. I am ashamed to admit that despite him being my favorite president, I knew almost nothing about him other than his famous hat, the Emancipation Proclamation, and the fact that he was assassinated in a theater, so this book taught me a lot about his life. For example, it gave me a pretty accurate look at his life before becoming president; the places he lived, what he did when he wasn't hunting vampires or becoming involved in politics, where he came from, etc. And yes, I checked the facts after reading this book and it is very accurate about who he was. (Without the vamp killing, of course.)

This is a gif of Abe training in the woods with his trusty ax (from the movie).

All in all, if you like supernatural tales filled with action and history, gore and peace, horror and beauty, then what are you waiting for? Pick this up and start on page 1, you won't regret it a bit.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

SETH GRAHAME-SMITH is the New York Times bestselling author of Pride and Prejudice and Zombies. In addition to adapting the screenplay for ABRAHAM LINCOLN: VAMPIRE HUNTER, Seth also wrote Tim Burton's latest film, Dark Shadows. He lives in Los Angeles.

A LITTLE EXCERPT

"I have no memory of driving it in - I only remember that I did. His laughter ceased and he took an awkward step. His eyes turned black in the space of a single blink, as if inkwells in his pupils had suddenly shattered - the spill contained behind glass. His fangs descended, and I could presently make out a faint blue web beneath his skin. It was true. Until that moment there had been room for doubt. But now I saw it with my own eyes. Now I knew.
Vampires were real.
His arm rose, and his stout little hand instinctively grabbed
the stake. There was no fear in his face yet. Merely a puzzlement,
as if he was attempting to sort out just how such an
object could be attached to his body. He presently lost his
footing and collapsed into a seated position, where he remained
for a moment before falling the rest of the way onto his back. His
hand lost its grip on the stake, and the arm fell to his side.
I walked around him, wondering when he would strike. Wondering when he would laugh at the futility of what I had done and cut me down. As I did, his eyes followed me. They were the only things that moved now. There was fear in them. He was dying... and he was afraid. What little color he had left him now - and rich, dark blood began to run from his nostrils; out the sides of his mouth. A trickle at first... then a flood - running over his cheeks and pooling over his eyes. More blood than I ever thought possible. I could see his soul (if indeed he had such a thing) departing. Bidding an unexpected, frightening farewell to such a long, long life - one undoubtedly filled with happiness, and agony, and struggle, and success. Filled with moments too beautiful to share. Too painful to recall. It was all ending now, and he was so afraid. Afraid of what nothingness awaited him. Or worse, what punishment.
And then he was gone. I expected my eyes to fill with tears. To feel remorse at the sight of what I had done. I admit that I felt nothing. I only wish he had suffered more.
Thomas stood aghast. "Look what you've done," he said after a sickened silence. "You've killed us."
"On the contrary...I've killed him."
"More will come."
Abe had already begun to walk away.
"Then I shall need more stakes.""

pages 59-60

Well, that's all for now!

Have a Happy Halloween!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

 

Watch the trailer for the movie that came out in 2012! (the one on the bottom is more gorey, keep that in mind)

Listen to some tracks from the movie!:

What Do You Hate? by Henry Jackman

Mary Todd by Henry Jackman

Powerless by Linkin Park

{A Blast from the Past} Bound by Donna Jo Napoli

Today's review will be about:

THE SUMMARY

YOUNG XING XING IS BOUND.

Bound to her late father's second wife and daughter. Bound to a life of servitude as a young girl in ancient China, where a woman is valued less than livestock. Bound to be alone, with no parents to arrange for a suitable husband. Xing Xing spends her days taking care of her half sister, Wei Ping, who cannot walk because of her foot bindings, the painful tradition for girls who are fit to be married. Even so, Xing Xing is content to practice her gift for poetry and calligraphy, and to dream of a life unbound by the laws of family and society.
But all of this is about to change as Stepmother, who has spent nearly all of the family's money, grows desperate to find a husband for Wei Ping. Xing Xing soon realizes that this greed and desperation may threaten not only her memories of the past, but also her dreams of the future.

MY REVIEW

I found this book years ago while I was doing a little bit of book shopping. I was looking though all of the shiny new books when I found this one, and started reading a little bit to decide whether or not I was going to buy it. Before I knew it I was a couple of chapters in and loving the world that the book brought me to. I think that part of me was enchanted by the fact that it was about a part of the world that I don't know much about, and therefore was a door into something that I might find interesting, and another part of me was interested in the subject of foot binding, something that I had never even heard about.

The above picture is of a woman with normally sized feet (left) next to the "trendy" bound feet (right).For those of you who don't know, foot binding is the tradition where women's feet were bound between the ages of four and six. This binding would make the feet smaller, preventing the foot's growth. The bindings would bend the girls' toes underneath her sole, and would wrap around their feet to their ankles. The purpose behind this would be to keep breaking the bones in the foot whenever it got too big, and would be finished in two or three years, after which the feet would be kept in bindings to retain the hoof-like shape. As the legend goes, it first became popular in the tenth century after a dancer had her feet bound like this and danced in front of the emperor on a stage shaped like a lotus flower.
The size of the bound foot even gave it different labels. A three-inch foot (or a "Golden Lotus") was the most desirable for a bride, a four-inch foot (or a "Silver Lotus") was okay too, but having a foot that was five inches or longer (or a "Iron Lotus") was undesirable and hard to find a husband with. Foot binding was made unpopular in 1923.
This trend of finding smaller feet more attractive is not that different from the trend towards small waists in Victorian England.

This is a picture of a "lotus shoe", one that women with bound feet would wear from the 1930s, balanced on top of a normally sized foot.

It was only after I had finished the book for the first time years ago that I realized that it was a re-telling of one of the most popular fairy tales around; Cinderella. All of the clues slipped past my notice; the absence of her father and mother, the presence of a mean stepmother who made her do all of the daily chores, etc. That being said, with or without your notice of what it is, this book is wonderful and well worth your time.
Xing Xing (pronounced Shing Shing) is a wonderful heroine who shows you the inside story of a woman in her time, and the spiritual responsibilities of someone like her. She's just like how you would expect a Cinderella to be; willing to follow orders, gentle, with some animal friends. Through all of her daily troubles she tries to be humble and keep a very close connection with her parent's spirits, which was a little twist in the normal Cinderella character that we see. She even goes out of her way to help keep her stepsister Wei Ping entertained who is stuck in the house until she learns to properly walk with her bound feet, a fact that Xing Xing could not be jealous over.
While Xing Xing's stepmother's name is never mentioned in the book, her character is as interesting as the main character's. She reminds me a bit of Hatsumomo (from Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden) in the way that she does anything that she can to get what she wants; a husband for Wei Ping, and therefore more money for her materialistic lifestyle. She doesn't treat Xing Xing too terribly, but she does make her do all of the chores and chastises her for taking too long doing something. If Xing Xing is doing something for Wei Ping that she wasn't ordered to do, she seems to get more approval from her stepmother, but only until she does something wrong.
Wei Ping herself doesn't do much in the story due to her bound feet, but at one part she does become a pretty good friend to Xing Xing, and even shares in the love of Xing Xing's animal friends, who do a lot more. One of them, a koi with red fins and golden eyes, appears throughout the book as a source of Xing Xing's comfort. She makes better friends with the fish, and even feeds it, hoping that the legend where a fish once turned into a dragon would happen to her fishy companion. At one point, she even moves the fish inside as entertainment for Wei Ping.
All in all, if you're looking for a book isn't too long (only 184 pages, folks!), that gives you a new way to look at the Cinderella story, and a heroine that you can cheer for, then look no further!

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Donna Jo Napoli is the acclaimed and award-winning author of many novels - both fantasies and contemporary stories. She won the Golden Kite Award for Stones in Water in 1997. Her novel Zel was named an American Bookseller Association Pick of the List, a Publishers Weekly Best Book, a BCCB Blue Ribbon, and a School Library Journal Best Book, and a number of her other novels have been selected as ALA Best Books. She is head of the linguistics department at Swathmore College in Pennsylvania, where she lives with her husband and their children.

A LITTLE EXCERPT

"Xing Xing squatted by the water, silent and unmoving. Her stillness was a prayer.
It was answered: The sun glinted red. Only an instant and it was over, but there could be no doubt; her eyes had not played tricks: A white fish with red fins and golden eyes zipped past and under a lotus leaf. She laughed in delight.
"Lazy One, bring the firewood," came the distant call.
In the past year, "Lazy One" had practically become Xing Xing's household name. She imagined her father's wife holding one hand above her eyes against the sun that was too bright today, it had already burned off the morning fog. She imagined her frowning in impatience, then ducking back into the shadows of the cave. The girl picked up the armful of wood she'd gathered and rushed back along the path. Her hair was tied in two hanging knots that thumped on her shoulders as she ran. Hurry, they drummed, hurry hurry. The cold dirt licked at her feet. Hurry hurry.
But she was wrong. Stepmother had not gone inside. The woman shivered in the chill of spring, arms crossed over her chest. "Get inside, Lazy One." She yanked one of Xing Xing's hair knots as the girl raced past through the open door."

pages 1-2

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

{A Blast from the Past} Warriors: Into the Wild by Erin Hunter

Today's review is about:

THE SUMMARY

FIRE ALONE CAN SAVE OUR CLAN...
For generations, four Clans of wild cats have shared the forest according to the laws laid down by their warrior ancestors. But the ThunderClan cats are in grave danger, and the sinister ShadowClan grows stronger every day. Noble warriors are dying - and some deaths are more mysterious than others.
In the midst of this turmoil appears an ordinary house cat named Rusty... who may turn out to be the bravest warrior of them all.

MY REVIEW

I got introduced to this series from my silly Dad who wanted to bring me back a present from a recent work trip. So he stumbled into the airport book store (they had those back then), told a nearby employee my interests, and asked if they had a book that I would like. Luckily enough, this lady was awesome, and decided to recommend the Warriors series to him, and he bought the first one. When he brought it home, I devoured every word and hungered for more. Since then, I have devoured around 20 of these books, but this one (Warriors: Into the Wild) is the most loved book that I own other than Song of the Sparrow by Lisa Ann Sandell (and by loved, I mean that the spine of the book has evidence of being bent many times from reading).
But enough about my obsession, let's get to the meat and potatoes.
This book is about a kittypet (house cat) named Rusty who has to choose between the comfort and care under his twolegs (owners), or to become a warrior cat and hunt in the forest, maybe even become leader of the nearby Clan. This choice is what I think is what I love most about this book. On the one paw (See what I did there? ;) ), you've got comfort and laziness, on the other adventure and the great unknown.
The fact that Rusty (obviously) chooses the adventure is what I love most about him. True, he chooses it at first for selfish reasons, but over the book you get to see him grow to love and fiercely protect the Clan that he chose as home. That, and he's feisty and doesn't take crap from any cat. He's got a sharp tongue that one...
Not only that, but time and time again he proves in the forest that no matter where a cat came from, be it from a Clan, a house, or a nearby street, they deserve respect and care as much as his Clanmates. He's willing to go into unknown territory to protect any cat that deserves it.
All that I'm going to say about the plot in this book is watch out. There are a small group of cats that you can't trust.
All in all, this book is a must read for cat lovers and adventurers alike of pretty much every age (obviously you have to be able to read XD). :) You will not regret delving into the world of the warrior cats.

A LITTLE EXCERPT

""But kittypets can't be warriors!" Graypaw blurted out. "They don't have warrior blood!"
"Warrior blood," Bluestar echoed with a sigh. "Too much of that has been spilled lately."
She fell silent and Lionheart meowed, "Bluestar is only offering you training, young kit. There is no guarantee you would become a full warrior. It might prove too difficult for you. After all, you are used to a comfortable life."
Rusty was stung by Lionheart's words. "Why offer me the chance, then?"
It was Bluestar who answered. "The fact is, ThunderClan needs more warriors."
"Understand that Bluestar does not make this offer lightly," warned Lionheart. "If you wish to train with us, we will have to take you into our Clan. You must either live with us and respect our ways, or return to your Twolegplace and never come back. You cannot live with a paw in each world.""

Well, that's all for now!

See you next time!

~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Visit the Warriors website to look at the cats, clans, and videos!:
http://www.warriorcats.com

{A Blast from the Past} Across the Universe by Beth Revis

Today's review is on:

THE SUMMARY

Amy is a cryogenically frozen passenger aboard the spaceship Godspeed. She has left her boyfriend, friends - and planet - behind to join her parents as a member of Project Ark Ship. Amy and her parents believe that they will wake on a new planet, Centauri-Earth, three hundred years in the future. But fifty years before Godspeed's scheduled landing, cryo chamber 42 is mysteriously unplugged, and Amy is violently woken from her frozen slumber.

Someone tried to murder her.

Now, Amy is caught inside a tiny world where nothing makes sense. Godspeed's 2,312 passengers have forfeited all control to Eldest, a tyrannical and frightening leader. And Elder, Eldest's rebellious teenage heir, is both fascinated with Amy and eager to discover whether he has what it takes to lead.

Amy desperately wants to trust Elder. But should she put her faith in a boy who has never seen life outside the ship's cold metal walls? All Amy knows is that she and Elder must race to unlock Godspeed's hidden secrets before whoever woke her tries to kill again.

A map of the interior of Godspeed.

MY REVIEW
I had already read this book once before and loved it, and the second time around was no different. I was once again swept away into the world of Godspeed with Amy, Elder, and Harley. This book will take you on a wild chase, making you think about who could've done something so horrible as unplug a frozen person when they have no way to get out, to survive. The answer will shock you, just as it shocked me, even the second time around.
There are a lot of things that are shocking about the "utopia" that is created on Godspeed. The most shocking thing about it, however, is the amount of lies that the leader, Eldest, spins to keep the ship "running". It seems that he has absolutely no qualms about murder or even allowing a person to think that they are crazy, when they are the sanest person on the ship. The web of lies never ended, even when the book ends. I'm really glad there are two other books that will probably go deeper into the deception on the ship.
The scene in the beginning with Amy's parents makes me dead sure that I never want to get cryogenically frozen. It's terrifying what happens during the procedure and after. The entire time I was thinking about how it would sort of be like a coma, but instead of growing older, you just stay in the same state you are when you are frozen, and the world goes on without you. That's a frightening thing to think about. Everyone you loved that wasn't frozen with you would be gone, and there are only two ways to look at that; you could cry about it for a while, or you could do what Fry did in Futurama: WOOHOO!
When reading, I started to think about what would happen if I was in Amy's spot and had to live on a ship after being violently waken up and shoved into its crazy society. I realized that I would fit in more than Amy would. True, I do have a very light complexion, but I also have very dark brown hair and brown eyes, so I wouldn't stick out as much as Amy did. I'm not saying that I would want to live on Godspeed, but  at least I would fit in better with the dark skin, dark hair, and dark eyed world that is Godspeed. Amy, however, with her red hair, fair skin, and green eyes, sticks out from the very beginning as a freak, and you can't help but feel sorry for her.
I also loved the importance of art in this book! Harley, one of the main characters, is a fantastic painter who specializes in pretty much anything. He loves painting koi the most because of his past, which is shown in more detail later. Elder said that in one of Harley's paintings, he "used these amazing colors - colors no one else would think of". In a world inside a metal bubble, art is important.
WARNING: This book has some mature content such as rape and suicide. I wouldn't recommend this for people who are too young to understand such concepts, because even for someone as old as me, it was shocking.
This is a book that I would definitely recommend! Though perhaps you should read it when you don't have schoolwork to do...

This is what I imagined one of Harley's paintings to be like.

A LITTLE EXCERPT
Something's happening.
No, no, no. Nothing's happening. Nothing ever happens. It's that nightmare again, that same nightmare. Ed/Hassan will unfreeze me, and I will be like now, and they'll throw me back in. Or the ship will crash, and I'll be stuck here, forever, never unfrozen. Or maybe this is the nightmare where-
Thunk.
-where they forget to unfreeze me at all, the ship lands and everyone's so excited they just leave me behind, and-
Something is happening.
No. The nightmares are getting more real, and they'll be so much worse because of it. I think I hear something. I can't hear anything. It's all in my mind. It's not real. Think about something better. Think about Jason. Think about Mom, about Daddy, think about-
Click.
No. I did not hear a click. A click did not vibrate through the ice. That did not happen. It's just the nightmares... it's another nightmare. It's as simple as that.
If I could, I would squeeze my eyes shut. Instead, I try to focus my mind, like I used to be able to focus my eyes in and out when I looked at something really close. Memories. Memories always kill nightmares.
My mind's eye flashes images, a slide show of memories. Hiking the Grand Canyon. The middle school trip to the beach. Gymnastics when I was a kid. The first time I drove. The first time I scratched the car (same day) and Daddy yelled at me, but got me ice cream afterward anyway, and we pinky- promised not to tell Mom. Baking Christmas cookies with Mom and Grandma the year before she went to the nursing home. Cross-country meets. Marathon training.
I feel something. I feel something. Warmth in my stomach. And I hear... the hum of electricity. I realize I hear it because it is coming from the tubes down my throat.
My body slips. Just a fraction of a millimeter, but it slips.
The ice is melting.
Oh, God.
Thump.
My heart.
Thump-thump.
Water leaks onto my left eye's lash-line. I twitch involuntarily. The yellow crust that has sealed my eyes for who knows how long cracks as - for the first time since I was frozen - I move.
OhGodohGodohGod.
(pages 68-70)

Thanks so much for reading!
See you in the next one!
~Sea-Solo

EXTRA! EXTRA!

Take a tour of Godspeed and more on the trilogy's website!:
http://www.acrosstheuniversebook.com

{A Blast from the Past} The Chronicles of Vladimir Tod: Eighth Grade Bites by Heather Brewer

Today's review is on:

THE SUMMARY

Vladimir Tod

NORMAL EIGHTH-GRADE STUDENT?

OR POWERFUL VAMPIRE?

Junior high really stinks for thirteen-year-old Vladimir Tod. Bullies harass him, the principal is dogging him, and the girl he likes prefers his best friend. Oh, and Vlad has a secret: His mother was human, but his father was a vampire. With no idea of the extent of his powers and no one to teach him, Vlad struggles daily with his blood cravings and his enlarged fangs.When a strange substitute teacher begins to question him a little too closely, Vlad worries that his cover is about to be blown. But then he realizes he has a much bigger problem: He's being hunted by a vampire killer who is closing in - fast! This first book in this ghoulishly funny series leads readers on a nail-biting adventure that is filled with dark characters and mystical glyphs, secret identities and hidden agendas, unearthly powers and teenage angst.

MY REVIEW
I started these books when I was in middle school myself, so reading this one was truly a blast from the past. I loved coming back to the world of Vladimir Tod, a character that I understand now more than 5 years ago. The constant vampire jokes and references made me laugh, and the serious moments filled me with dread.
The characters Otis Otis scared me once again as I was swept into the mind of a young male vampire. Unlike the Twilight saga, love isn't the focus. He has a crush on a girl named Meredith, yes, but Vlad focuses more on the vampire world and his parents. Just like Vlad, you learn things about his parents, their pasts, and also about vampires and how they are.
I am also sympathetic toward Vlad because of the bullying that he receives in the book. I'm sure that many of us know how it is to be in that situation.
Basically, this book is a rollercoaster ride of emotion that I would recommend to anyone. I've really loved re-reading this book. :)

A LITTLE EXCERPT
He was spooning a big, sweet glob of half-frozen blood into his mouth when the doorbell rang. With a hurried swallow, he dropped the empty container into the biohazard box beneath the sink and popped the plastic fangs over his shrinking canines. With careful steps, he snuck over to the wall just to the right of the archway and peeked over at the front door, where his aunt was greeting Henry with a hug.
Vlad jumped out from behind the separating wall and held his cheap cape out with both arms. "I vant to suck your blood!"
Henry doubled over, roaring with laughter. When he straightened he slapped Vlad on the shoulder. "That's a sweet costume. Check me out. You'll just die." Henry placed his fists on his hips in a pseudo-Superman pose, and when he turned his head, Vlad's jaw dropped at the sight of two small holes on Henry's neck.
"No way." He stepped closer to inspect Henry's bite marks. They were flawless. Vlad had only seen one actual vampire bite on a human before, and Henry's handiwork was very close to the real thing. "What did you use?"
"Silly Putty and raspberry jam."
"Seedless?"
"Well, duh. Can't have seeds in my wound. Might get infected."

See you next Saturday!
~Sea-Solo out! :)

To learn more about Vladimir Tod, go here:
http://www.vladtod.com/