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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
Summary: A young girl, grown up in a post-apocalyptic zombie world; travels America meeting its inhabitants and finding her own brand of philosophy.
Things I liked:
Style: The style is a bit like the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, very lyrical (possibly purple prose at times), but a refreshing contrast to the violent world of zombies and survival. The style underpins the beauty that the girl, Temple, sees in the world despite her survival driven existance.
Story elements:
I liked Temple and the Dummy; Temple and the Mose; Temple and the Cowboy. Great character pairings. I liked the choice to make this a road trip story with significant stops along the way.
Pace:
The story moved at a good pace, not slow, not frenetic, the style helped with this. It just made the character seem really laid back.
Ending:
Bold choice it felt right, but wow, did not really see that coming in the way that it did.
Things I thought could be improved:
People seemed a bit to nice: Maybe I'm a big fat cynic, but everyone they meet seems to be basically come on in and share my food and shelter and they're all, sure thanks for having us. I didn't really buy it. But it eased off as the story went on.
Some of the language of the woman/child temple (who supposedly had been born post-zombie-disaster seemed to be strongly referenced to pre-zombie-disaster concepts (like beautiful women spending heaps of time putting on makeup for example). This seemed misplaced and I found it distracting from both the character and the story.
Highlight:
Probably the final show down. I also really liked the bit when the .
Things I liked:
Style: The style is a bit like the Adventures of Tom Sawyer, very lyrical (possibly purple prose at times), but a refreshing contrast to the violent world of zombies and survival. The style underpins the beauty that the girl, Temple, sees in the world despite her survival driven existance.
Story elements:
I liked Temple and the Dummy; Temple and the Mose; Temple and the Cowboy. Great character pairings. I liked the choice to make this a road trip story with significant stops along the way.
Pace:
The story moved at a good pace, not slow, not frenetic, the style helped with this. It just made the character seem really laid back.
Ending:
Bold choice
Spoiler
killing the narratorThings I thought could be improved:
People seemed a bit to nice: Maybe I'm a big fat cynic, but everyone they meet seems to be basically come on in and share my food and shelter and they're all, sure thanks for having us. I didn't really buy it. But it eased off as the story went on.
Some of the language of the woman/child temple (who supposedly had been born post-zombie-disaster seemed to be strongly referenced to pre-zombie-disaster concepts (like beautiful women spending heaps of time putting on makeup for example). This seemed misplaced and I found it distracting from both the character and the story.
Highlight:
Probably the final show down. I also really liked the bit when the
Spoiler
train shows up, I think trains in Zombie land is a great idea
Well, this is certainly one book that I couldn't really decide on in the end. Is it a wonderfully written, heartbreaking and at times allegorical story of a post-apocalyptic world, or is it a novel lacking punctuation, but full of plot-holes and rip-offs?
I liked the characters. Temple is a kick-ass character, who saw the beauty in a world full of terror because it was all she knew. Moses is a contradiction, an enemy to Temple, yet a kindred spirit at heart who understood her better than anyone else she'd met. There was a host of interesting supporting characters, as well.
Add to that the language, the fact that the descriptions were so well-done and Temple's voice was a wonder to read, and you have the makings of a very good story. I'm guessing the choices to put the speech throughout without the correct punctuation was to highlight Temple's upbringing and lack of education, but I don't know for sure. It annoyed me at first, but I got used to it.
The bad things? Well, we could start with the plot holes. How was the electricity working, or the water still running? How was there still trains and cars running on diesel? How could someone drink cans of coke twenty-five years old and not get poisoned? How come the infrastructure wasn't over-run with plants and weeds and just nature in general? How did the "slugs" manage to survive without food? How did Temple drive so many miles in a car and not have to fill up? How were the cars still running after standing still for years (as most with a car will know, you have to start them up frequently if they are off the road for a while, or the batteries run down)?
Then there's the fact that some of the plot (and characters) seems to be inspired by other books and movies of the same genre. At the end I was struck by the similarity to 28 Days Later (if you've read to the end of The Reapers Are The Angels and gotten to that part, you'll know what I mean). I kept thinking, this is Jim's story if he'd been brain-damaged by the accident and some kind soul took him back to his family. I've read other reviews that note the similarity to another well-known post-apocalyptic novel. The fact is, any novel of this genre is going to sound familiar in some ways, as there are only so many things you can do with such a plot-line, I guess.
Other than that, the story was good. I read it in the space of three days. I would probably recommend it to others, but with reservations. I imagine there are better novels of this genre to start with.
I liked the characters. Temple is a kick-ass character, who saw the beauty in a world full of terror because it was all she knew. Moses is a contradiction, an enemy to Temple, yet a kindred spirit at heart who understood her better than anyone else she'd met. There was a host of interesting supporting characters, as well.
Add to that the language, the fact that the descriptions were so well-done and Temple's voice was a wonder to read, and you have the makings of a very good story. I'm guessing the choices to put the speech throughout without the correct punctuation was to highlight Temple's upbringing and lack of education, but I don't know for sure. It annoyed me at first, but I got used to it.
The bad things? Well, we could start with the plot holes. How was the electricity working, or the water still running? How was there still trains and cars running on diesel? How could someone drink cans of coke twenty-five years old and not get poisoned? How come the infrastructure wasn't over-run with plants and weeds and just nature in general? How did the "slugs" manage to survive without food? How did Temple drive so many miles in a car and not have to fill up? How were the cars still running after standing still for years (as most with a car will know, you have to start them up frequently if they are off the road for a while, or the batteries run down)?
Then there's the fact that some of the plot (and characters) seems to be inspired by other books and movies of the same genre. At the end I was struck by the similarity to 28 Days Later (if you've read to the end of The Reapers Are The Angels and gotten to that part, you'll know what I mean). I kept thinking, this is Jim's story if he'd been brain-damaged by the accident and some kind soul took him back to his family. I've read other reviews that note the similarity to another well-known post-apocalyptic novel. The fact is, any novel of this genre is going to sound familiar in some ways, as there are only so many things you can do with such a plot-line, I guess.
Other than that, the story was good. I read it in the space of three days. I would probably recommend it to others, but with reservations. I imagine there are better novels of this genre to start with.
I liked Temple as a character (even if she was a little unrealisticβ¦like a young adult version of the ass kicking Alice from Resident Evil, lol), the writing at first was pretty decent, and the start of this book had me hooked, however, I quickly grew bored with the meandering plot, kinda lame dialogue, and sloppy world building.
However, my main problem with the book, was with the main story line, which includes grown adult Moses stalking Temple through multiple zombie infested cities and states because he has a grudge against her, a literal child, for killing his brother, who he readily admits is a bad person, during his attempted rape of herβ¦like, what the actual fuck? This is not a good or believable reason to follow a young girl across the country, seeking vengeance and threatening cold blooded murder. Who does that? I just could not take this reasoning seriously and was annoyed throughout the story by this characterβs motivations. And then by the end weβre supposed to want to connect with this character and be interested in following their origin story in book 2, no thanks, count me out.
However, my main problem with the book, was with the main story line, which includes grown adult Moses stalking Temple through multiple zombie infested cities and states because he has a grudge against her, a literal child, for killing his brother, who he readily admits is a bad person, during his attempted rape of herβ¦like, what the actual fuck? This is not a good or believable reason to follow a young girl across the country, seeking vengeance and threatening cold blooded murder. Who does that? I just could not take this reasoning seriously and was annoyed throughout the story by this characterβs motivations. And then by the end weβre supposed to want to connect with this character and be interested in following their origin story in book 2, no thanks, count me out.
adventurous
emotional
reflective
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
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In this post-apocalyptic novel set 25 years after a zombie outbreak, we follow Temple, a 15-year-old girl navigating a world where the undead are a common part of the landscape and the real dangers are the humans left behind.
β¨Holyβ¨Crapβ¨Iβ¨Lovedβ¨Thisβ¨Bookβ¨
We travel with Temple on her journey through various communities and landscapes as she tries to outrun not only the trouble following her but also the past that haunts her. She makes new enemies as well as friends, and along the way, you experience so much humanity, kindness, cruelty, and emotion through the lyrical prose of Bellβs beautiful writing.
The horror of this story has nothing to do with the undead in the background, and everything to do with the nature of survival and loss of innocence/humanity of the world around Temple. The themes of the story are deeply rooted in redemption and belonging. Itβs such an emotional story, and I seriously was not expecting it to hit me as hard as it did. This story is short, but incredibly impactful! I canβt explain much without giving too much away.
Overall, this story was perfect. I need every story to be just like this one. It has action, compassion, high stakes, and (of course) zombies!
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
fast-paced
There are barely any other female characters besides the main character. That said, it's a perfectly fine book. The story is pretty much what one would expect and want for a zombie book, and I'm perfectly content with it. The ending is sad, but what else could it be.
5 Stars
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
This story of a young girl named Temple. Temple and her demons; imagined or not; move us through this desolate landscape and her repeated torturous memories. All of this, while being pursued by one man's sense of what is right and what is deemed wrong.
Truly powerful, dark, tragic and gritty. Not your average zombie story; the zombies, or slugs; are only background. This hearkens to the Autumn series by David Moody; in how poetic the story is; as well as, The Road by Cormac McCarthy with such a dark and almost hopeless tale.
Highly recommended.
The enemy that sowed them is the devil; the harvest is the end of the world; and the reapers are the angels.
This story of a young girl named Temple. Temple and her demons; imagined or not; move us through this desolate landscape and her repeated torturous memories. All of this, while being pursued by one man's sense of what is right and what is deemed wrong.
Truly powerful, dark, tragic and gritty. Not your average zombie story; the zombies, or slugs; are only background. This hearkens to the Autumn series by David Moody; in how poetic the story is; as well as, The Road by Cormac McCarthy with such a dark and almost hopeless tale.
Highly recommended.
I wanted so badly to enjoy this after hearing so many great reviews, but I just didn't. DNF'd during chapter 9.
dark
reflective
sad
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes