Customer Reviews

I Am Legend

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I am Legend is a compelling, suspenseful story that draws the reader into the nightmarish world of Robert Neville, the last man on earth, as he battles vampires and struggles to understand the cause of the vampire epidemic through research and experimentation. The unpredictable ending provides a shocking twist. Screenwriter and novelist Richard Matheson reinvented the vampire story in I am Legend, but his apocalyptic vision of legions of the undead also inspired dozens (if not hundreds) of zombie novels, comics, and movies (including three based on the novel itself).

This particular edition includes a bonus: ten short stories.

i am legend is horrifying and brilliant a must read but it will haunt you for weeks.
This is no will smith save the world story!!!!

If you are interrested in this book, and you liked the film, buy it!!! The movie adaption totally slaughtered this book. From the Zombies to the Dog even his location in the U.S. It's deep and enlightened. My only issue is that the main story is only half of the book and the rest are short stories that don't even pale in comparison.

Pros: Alright, so this guy can write. He can even write well, most of the time. Good. He can even write well and manage not to contradict established scientific facts. Great. He writes well, pens good action sequences, and creates witty dialog. Amazing! But is he among the best? Man, there are a few short stories in here that are nothing short of gold, just gold. He spares not the details nor the mood, and the characters are seductively real. He has sympathy for the feminine persona that is dynamic and believable. He sticks to the story as opposed to weird tangents that have nothing to do with anything. Yes, he's really really good.

Cons: The "weakest" section of this collection is the novella "I am Legend." Yes it is worthy of the title of classic as it does vampires right yet again (Twilight, this ain't) with a fresh perspective that is necessary when you reuse a classic image like the vampire. Its weak point is its main character. Perhaps realistically, he fumbles about quite a bit and has deep emotional problems that prevent him from taking care of things until crisis is inevitable. This is a little more distracting that I would've liked, for I was fascinated by the vampire plague the author masterfully constructs and with a flawed lens, there are some things that we never get around to. Fortunately, this isn't the only story with the undead in it.

Summary: These days, we take horror survival techniques for granted, but in the 1950s when this was written, they'd only just passed the golden age of film horror. Goth subculture predecessors like the Munsters and the Addams Family hadn't hit the scene yet. Horror was presented by the likes of Bela Lugosi, Boris Karloff, and Vincent Price. For its time, this survival-horror genre book, with accompanying short stories featuring so many psychic and apocalyptic visions, is a real rarity and genuinely good despite its age. It stands well above most of its contemporaries, such as Psycho by Robert Bloch or The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson. And, not to be a spoiler, none of the movies do it credit - NONE.

Richard Matheson has never been lacking in imagination, and his signature novel I AM LEGEND is solid proof of that. The last living human on earth, Robert Neville, eeks out an existence in a post-apocalyptic world by day, then barricades himself in his fortified house by night while under attack by snarling vampires. If that's not a powerful, frightful premise for a grand spook tale, I don't know what is. Yet I AM LEGEND disappoints on several levels, often getting in its own way. Here's why.

The story itself is confusing; the reader is informed there are infected humans who eventually become the Undead, and apparently the infected lay for months, then years, in a comatose state before becoming vampires. That the bacterial infection causing the deadly transformation/mutation accelerates faster in some people than others is believable--Neville's investigation as he tries to defeat the germ is not; it meanders, is uneven, confusing, with several subplots ultimately abandoned. I found myself continually going back in the story in an attempt to reconcile numerous inconsistencies (until I finally, in frustration, gave up). Matheson's ending is wholly ingenious, and very fitting, for such a dark, sad tale, yet overall it couldn't overcome how disappointed I was in the overall read.

Then there's Matheson's style, which is often problematic: reliance on too many words and/or phrases (wish I had a nickel for every time I read "his throat moved"), combined with awkward, ineffective adverbs by the cartload. I've read several of Matheson's titles and it is what it is: the author just writes this way, and as a reader you either like it, or you don't. Alas, I don't.

Extras. If you purchased the Orb edition of I AM LEGEND (the cover you see on this product page) you also get the extra treat of thumbing through several Richard Matheson short stories. Some of them I enjoyed, such as "Prey" (which I immediately recognized as the basis of a Seventies made-for-TV movie starring Karen Black) and "Person to Person"; some were absolutely silly, including "The Funeral" and "Dance of the Dead"; and some annoyed me to perdition, especially "Mad House." Regardless, you will get a grand glimpse of the inner workings of Matheson's vast, albeit bizarre, imagination--imagination I appreciate, even if the writing fails to match.
--D. Mikels, Author, The Reckoning

Richard Matheson is one of the greatest writers ever. Every single story in this book is haunting. "I am legend" is a terrific view into a post-apocalyptic survivors life from day to day and his struggles to survive and find companionship. "Hell House" is one of the best haunted house stories that will have you turning pages long into the night. Mathenson is wonderful!

Fast paced. I couldn't put I Am Legend down. Hell House is my favorite haunted house story. It is not appropriate for young adults, or children. Both stories far outshine the movies based on them, and the movies are great for that era.

I didn't realize that the story "I am Legend" actually only takes up about the first 150 pages of this book. I was, therefore, quite surprised when I turned the page, thinking I'd simply come to the end of the chapter, and found instead a bunch of short stories. It just didn't feel like it should be the end. I didn't expect the main character to give up so easily, after everything he went through up until that point.

But it was dark, and I quite liked that.

But, unfortunately, overall the book wasn't that great. I found it very slow and difficult to begin with. It got a bit more interesting when there was some actual dialogue (even if it was just with a dog) but that didn't last long...

I found sometimes the narrative a bit confusing. Seemed a lot of sub-plots were dropped and never mentioned again. Sometimes the use of flashbacks confused me, because it wasn't quite clear that they were flashbacks.

The main character wasn't really all that likeable or interesting, but at least I did feel that I could sympathize with him somewhat.

The book didn't have the atmosphere of the movie; in fact, it didn't really have all that much atmosphere at all, never mind the movie!

I wanted to like it a lot more than I did. I was surprised when I reached the end, because I was thinking something finally interesting had happened and maybe the plot would pick up a bit from then on. Instead, it's just THE END and a bunch of short stories!

I haven't read all of the short stories yet. I read the first two. I thought the first one was a bit boring and pointless. I kinda liked the second because of the dark implication at the end of it. The third, I am reading at the moment, seems okay. But nothing so far has been particularly special. But, it adds a bit of value to a book that would otherwise have seemed very high price for only 150 pages of story, so I guess I won't complain too much at that.

This is a book that's worth reading if you're a fan of the movie, just so you can compare. I liked the movie more, which is quite unusual for me - typically I prefer the books.

I fall into that large category of "saw the movie first" crowd. Definitely loosely-based on the novel. To be honest, I liked the movie better. The book left me wanting much more. More details - I wanted to see/feel my surroundings better - little details that haunt the imagination. Still a great read

When I ordered this, I wasn't sure what the contents would be, since the reviews only referenced I am Legend and the book is only 301 pages. I consequently purchased Hell House separately and now I have it twice. My review is primarily to help others who may be interested in more than just I am Legend. As horror literature goes, both of these titles are essential reading. They are classics. The included stories are also very good. I respect the author very much. If you like Hell House and haven't already done so, read Shirley Jackson's "The Haunting of Hill House".