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Jim's Reviews > The Reapers are the Angels
The Reapers are the Angels (Reapers, #1)
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I can't get over the fact that I'm giving 5 stars to a zombie book. I loathe the entire zombie genre...the utter impossibility of corpses lurching around trying to snack on regular folks is laughable in the extreme. Even if zombies were real, six fat bald men with spiked clubs could wipe out the entire zombie nation without having to put down their beverages. The creatures are so slow and dull-witted that children can elude them without breaking into a trot...how scary is that? And there are so many writers riding the zombie and vampire wave right now that new ideas for story lines are pretty hard to come by.
In any event, I read a good review of the book on goodreads and decided to give it a bash, totally expecting to hate the book, and looking at it with a very critical eye. It's true that the author asks you to take a lot on faith: he asks that you believe that 25 years into the zombie apocalypse some abandoned gas pumps are still dispensing usable gas and that edible crackers can still be found on some store shelves. Some parts of the book are suspiciously similar to scenes from post-apocalyptic movies, such as a rolling bus barrier which seems to have been excerpted from the movie The Road Warrior. But hey, if you've suspended logic long enough to believe in walking corpses, long-storage gasoline and ultra-preserved foodstuffs shouldn't be much of a stretch.
Aside from those minor reservations, I loved this book to pieces, and it was all due to the introduction of one of the best heroines to appear in print in the last twenty years or so. Temple is only 15 but wise beyond her years, never having lived in a world that was free of the zombie plague. She is hard, a loner, but she has a soft spot in her heart for the underdog and a sense of awe for all things musical and beautiful. Temple kicks a lot of zombie ass in this book, but the zombie violence is just incidental; the salient part of the story covers her interaction with the humans she encounters in her travels. I don't want to say too much here and give anything away. Let's just say that when I started reading the book I was afraid it was just going to be the first in a series of books trying to cash in on the zombie craze; before I finished, I hoped it was the first book of such a series.
If you want to read a good review of the book, I recommend Jeffrey Keeten's review. Jeffrey has this review business down pat.
In any event, I read a good review of the book on goodreads and decided to give it a bash, totally expecting to hate the book, and looking at it with a very critical eye. It's true that the author asks you to take a lot on faith: he asks that you believe that 25 years into the zombie apocalypse some abandoned gas pumps are still dispensing usable gas and that edible crackers can still be found on some store shelves. Some parts of the book are suspiciously similar to scenes from post-apocalyptic movies, such as a rolling bus barrier which seems to have been excerpted from the movie The Road Warrior. But hey, if you've suspended logic long enough to believe in walking corpses, long-storage gasoline and ultra-preserved foodstuffs shouldn't be much of a stretch.
Aside from those minor reservations, I loved this book to pieces, and it was all due to the introduction of one of the best heroines to appear in print in the last twenty years or so. Temple is only 15 but wise beyond her years, never having lived in a world that was free of the zombie plague. She is hard, a loner, but she has a soft spot in her heart for the underdog and a sense of awe for all things musical and beautiful. Temple kicks a lot of zombie ass in this book, but the zombie violence is just incidental; the salient part of the story covers her interaction with the humans she encounters in her travels. I don't want to say too much here and give anything away. Let's just say that when I started reading the book I was afraid it was just going to be the first in a series of books trying to cash in on the zombie craze; before I finished, I hoped it was the first book of such a series.
If you want to read a good review of the book, I recommend Jeffrey Keeten's review. Jeffrey has this review business down pat.
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Reading Progress
February 18, 2013
–
Started Reading
February 18, 2013
– Shelved
March 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
fantasy
March 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
fiction
March 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
horror
March 6, 2013
– Shelved as:
science-fiction
March 6, 2013
–
Finished Reading
March 10, 2013
– Shelved as:
post-apocalyptic
Comments Showing 1-6 of 6 (6 new)
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Michael
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Mar 06, 2013 06:43PM
So you've gone over to the dark side. So not over zombies, but kickass teenieboppers in a postapocalptic scenario. One way of not going gentle into that good night. :-)
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No danger of that, Michael. I used to be interested in kickass teenyboppers, but I can't remember why.;)It's back to normalcy for me now.
Gotcha! haha you jumped the fence for a little foray into speculative fiction. I'm so happy Jim that you liked this book. I had numerous people recommend it and ask me to review it. I was one eye brow raised about the whole business. Then I read it and I had a real problem. How do I convince people to forget about this being a zombie book and just read the book? Proof is in the pudding when people like YOU, who don't read speculative fiction, like the book. Thanks for reading it Jim and thanks for the nod.
Great review, Jim. With that endorsement, I suspect I will also dip my toe into the dark side.
Jeffrey wrote: "Gotcha! haha you jumped the fence for a little foray into speculative fiction. I'm so happy Jim that you liked this book. I had numerous people recommend it and ask me to review it. I was one eye b..."My pleasure Jeffrey. The book was shockingly good, although I won't likely go rummaging around in the genre looking for another like it. You haven't steered me wrong yet.
Mike wrote: "Great review, Jim. With that endorsement, I suspect I will also dip my toe into the dark side."I know your tastes are similar to mine in a lot of regards, Mike. If you give this one a chance, I think you'll like it.
