Unholy Night

By: Seth Grahame-Smith

Narrated by: Peter Berkrot

Length: 9 hrs and 47 mins

Publisher's summary

From the author of the New York Times best-selling 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.

©2012 Seth Grahame-Smith (P)2012 Hachette Audio

Not his best work but entertaining story

SGS is a great storyteller. If I told you the plot of this or some of the situations you'd probably not want to listen but it's told in a way that keeps you engaged. You can forgive some of the clichés and predictability. This would be a terrible movie but worth a listen because it's SGS.

Decent story.

Decent story, loved the narrator. It was not what I expected but the narrator was so good that I just kept on listening anyway.

Narrator putting me to bed

Overall story was very interesting and original.

However, the narrator is so monotonous and not able to make it interesting

Good but reads like a screenplay

Stating the obvious that this is a fictionalized account of the birth of Jesus Christ. It doesn't delve into theology though for which I am personally grateful. Instead it focuses on the story of Balthazar and how he (fictionally) fits into the story. There's a lot of action, there's some really gruesome scenes which are pretty disturbing and graphically described. There's so much description of action that it almost reads like a screenplay and knowing that he is a screenplay writer and his previous books have been made into movies it felt, at times, like he was writing it for a movie rather than writing it to be read as a novel. For example, there's a lot of beheadings - a lot - and they're done so effortlessly and cleanly, at times by pretty feeble people that it seems very movie-ish because in reality, it's not easy to slice through a spine. Peter Berkrot as the narrator was spectacular.

very descriptive

I understand he wants us to hate the bad guys but man it was hard to hear about his little brother's death. at least we can be pretty positive the centurion had a bad ending.

great book, very entertaining

The author's imagination is amazingl to come up with this story.The story is well written.

Amazing tale!

Don't be afraid about this being religious propaganda, this is simply a great story.
People who never heard of Christianity could get just as much enjoyment out of this.
Great book and flawless performance by the narrator.
Small note if you're squeamish: there is some violence and torture, but it serves a purpose.

WOW!!!

I was completely amazed at how wonderful this book is. Not my normal genre to listen to but I gave it a chance and am very glad I did. So entertaining and interesting!!! Loved it.

"Wise guy" swashbuckles Judea; Jesus supervises.

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

This book is only good for escapist entertainment. And even then, there are better choices. So .... no.

Would you listen to another book narrated by Peter Berkrot?

He is a good character-reader. Meaning I would listen to him read something with extravagant characters. He voiced Herod in an over-the-top fashion and I can't decide if that was a good thing or if it made the story sillier than it should have been. Thinking back on it, I'm not sure he had a choice. The character is written as a depraved, raving lunatic. Yeah. I'd give Berkrot another shot.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

It feels like it was written to be filmed, actually. And no, I wouldn't.

Any additional comments?

Unholy Night is basically a sword-and-sorcery (or maybe a swashbuckling) version of the story of the three wise men (not wise men at all, BTW) who attended Christ's birth. From the book blurb I expected something a bit more historical and a bit more irreverent, but the story contains very few historical detail and actually treats the source material with a good deal of respect (which is certainly fine with me). It wasn't a bad yarn, and had flashes of solid/poignant writing, but overall it was just kind of a pot-boiler adventure. Not a lot of food for thought.

I'd be biased but for the fact....

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Absolutely. Seth Grahame-Smith is an incredibly unique spinner of what we've become accustomed to. Y'know - Abe Lincoln is a vampire hunter; lovely Elizabeth Bennet on a quest to end a zombie plague in a retelling of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice; and most recently in his The Last American Vampire, sequel to Abraham Lincoln - Vampire Hunter. Tucked in among these beauties is Unholy Night. In the tradition of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are dead, Grahame-Smith tells about the Three Wisemen from the Bible - Balthazar, Melchior, and Caspar. And at the risk of exposing my inner heathen, they're bad-asses.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Balthazar - Peter Berkrot plays him perfectly. Charismatic, endearingly arrogant, full of dry wit, and extraordinarily cunning.

Which character – as performed by Peter Berkrot – was your favorite?

Balthazar - Peter Berkrot plays him perfectly. Charismatic, endearingly arrogant, full of dry wit, and extraordinarily cunning. Berkrot has the perfect delivery for this book. He's eloquent yet seedy. He has a rich 'drive' (so-to-speak) to his voice that lends heavily to it's subject matter; bordering on regal while making you feel as though you're very lucky to be in on this "true" story about the Three Wisemen that many people don't know.

Any additional comments?

My subject line refers to the fact that I know Peter Berkrot personally. So while I'm more than inclined to sing him praises even if he were terrible (LOL!), this is actually the first book of his that I listened to. As a human being, he's such a pain in the *ss, but as a narrator he's blown me away. I asked him to recommend one of his faves that he's narrated over the years and he told me Unholy Night. I can see why. It's an outstanding story made all the more so with perfect casting. I can't recommend Unholy Night enough. As for his other books. Meh. We'll see. LOL! If you happen to read this, truly impressive, Peter. Truly impressive.