Jarrod Alberich @yardsaleartist
First and foremost a very hearty thanks to Mr Alberich. I put my name in the hat when he asked over Twitter (that's his handle up there in the pic caption btw) who would like to get a copy of this baby and read it over. Not only did he send it, but it came signed. Insta-bonus!
So what'd I get?
For starters the design of the book is perfect. We're dealing with the historical characters Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton. At the very least you know these names from THAT got milk? commercial where the poor sap misses out on answering the radio trivia question. Most of you know that there was a rather heated rivalry between the two and a rather (in)famous duel. Long story short, their bitter rivalry was at the forefront of a larger back and forth between their respective political parties. The end result was a duel that saw the sitting Vice President of the United States shooting and mortally wounding the former Secretary of the Treasury. The book itself is like holding parchment and we're left to feel as though we could be reading a time period account of this tale. It's a nice added touch to the historical nods on offer.
Alberich takes this real life historical rivalry and delivers a Greek tragedy-esque love story with an animalistic twist. Burr's early life was harsh, in part due to essentially not ever having his parents. Bits of historical fact (his parents both died before by age 2) used but twisted by the Werewolf side of things puts yet another layer on the overall tale. We're given Burr's rise from his terrible early years to a young aspiring political figure. Lo'and behold .... love enters the fray. Elizabeth Schuyler (real life wife of Hamilton) crosses path with Burr again due to the political arena that her husband shares with Burr. In Alberich's version they were close and "fast" friends in their youth. Clearly there's history between the two and Hamilton take's notice. In real life it was Burr's successes and seemingly personal interests against Hamilton and his family that sewed the seeds of hate. Here though, we've got good old fashioned love triangle blood boiling. BUT, Hamilton's got a bit of a secret ... and hint hint it deals with a full moon. Not to fret though, because Burr is all too familiar with that scene.
Over the course of the book Alberich gives us a nice mix of classic love story, fantasy, horror, and historical facts. The intertwining of all of these leaves us with a very fast paced and very fun trounce through a very real rivalry. When we get to the duel we get Alberich's take on the debate of what Hamilton actually did at the duel (shoot straight up or flat out miss). From there the conclusion to the story is ...
... well we get a great comic book A HA moment that you need to read for yourself!
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