KDL Recommends

Unholy Night

ISBN: 0446563099

Title: Unholy Night

Author: Seth Grahame-Smith

KDL Description:

Tale of the birth of Jesus the Christ, where the Magi are not “wise men” or astrologists/astronomers of their era following the star-in-the-east…but instead are two thieves led by the “Antioch Ghost”, another thief who avoids capture by any one or any ruling entity. The thieves just happen to run into Joseph, Mary and child and so their collective stories blend into one. I wasn’t sure if this would be just an irreverent twist to a “sacred” story, but I can see why Grahame-Smith has his “faithful followers” too. If one can read through the grit and gore of what was probably more realistic to the folks living in that era instead of what we see through our lens of today, there is even a satisfactory ending.

-Laura at KDL’s Plainfield Township branch

Amazon Description:

From the author of the New York Times bestselling Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter, comes UNHOLY NIGHT, the next evolution in dark historical revisionism.

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 Hunter and 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.