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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
This book has devastated me in the best possible way. What even is the world?! How will I move on from this? What can I possibly read next that won't utterly disappoint and frustrate me? The only other book that has done this to me was To Kill a Mockingbird. I will never forget Temple or Moses.
I borrowed this from my local library and am extremely glad I did!
Temple is a 15-year-old girl born into a post-apocalyptic world of the undead, travelling the United States alone with no other goal than simply to stay alive. Until she meets the helpless Maury - a giant of a man who cannot communicate, has no understanding of the world around him and has nothing but a note with a Texas address in his pocket. And so, Temple begins her mission to travel across country to deliver Maury safely back to his family, while trying to avoid the zombies and desperately trying to shake off a hunter with a score to settle.
Temple is a contemplative soul who finds beauty in small quirks of nature that defy the devastation around her while at the same time being capable of cold brutality in order to ensure her survival, causing her to question whether she is truly evil and bound for Hell. The book is beautifully written (considering it's subject matter), reminiscent of the style of Cormac McCarthy and gripped me from the very start. I hope in years to come it becomes regarded a classic of the genre.
Temple is a 15-year-old girl born into a post-apocalyptic world of the undead, travelling the United States alone with no other goal than simply to stay alive. Until she meets the helpless Maury - a giant of a man who cannot communicate, has no understanding of the world around him and has nothing but a note with a Texas address in his pocket. And so, Temple begins her mission to travel across country to deliver Maury safely back to his family, while trying to avoid the zombies and desperately trying to shake off a hunter with a score to settle.
...And that's when she saw it, a school of tiny fish, all darting around like marbles in a chalk circle, and they were lit up electric, mostly silver but some gold and pink too. They came and danced around her ankles, and she could feel their little electric fish bodies, and it was like she was standing under the moon and in the moon at the same time. And that was something she hadn't seen before
Temple is a contemplative soul who finds beauty in small quirks of nature that defy the devastation around her while at the same time being capable of cold brutality in order to ensure her survival, causing her to question whether she is truly evil and bound for Hell. The book is beautifully written (considering it's subject matter), reminiscent of the style of Cormac McCarthy and gripped me from the very start. I hope in years to come it becomes regarded a classic of the genre.
I could not get into this book. I tried really hard to like it. The beginning seemed promising, but the writing style began to become annoying and daunting in my opinion; it was hard for me to distinguish between thought and dialogue, too.
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Such a bummer. I really wanted to like this. I'm a big fan of post-apocalyptic novels. I loved the idea that this was written from the perspective of someone born in that world without any experience with prior civilization. So the first few chapters did it for me in that respect. I didn't mind the vernacular writing once I got used to it and didn't even mind the use of no quotation marks - the author did a good job of making it obvious who was speaking. The world building is where it started to crumble. I absolutely couldn't wrap my mind around what type of world this was when the main character somehow has easy access to junk food and bottled water 20+ years after the end of the world. I couldn't suspend my disbelief that entire cities like Houston were essentially untouched. Not rebuilt, just perfectly fine and deserted. But where it really fell apart for me is in the plot. I just didn't buy it. Any of it. The whole familial revenge cat and mouse chase mechanic is obvious and tired. I hate that the absolutely bizarre introduction of mutant humans hopped up on drugs made from zombie brains (seriously, what?) bears any importance on the plot whatsoever when it was just a few pages of exposition that made very little sense. But most of all I hate that the entire plot essentially starts because of a sexual assault. Authors please just stop with this tired out trope, we're over it.
One bright shining star of all this: Maurie. Best character ever. If the book had just been about him and Temple traveling around meeting people and hanging out, I would have been on board and much more likely to forgive the weird 'is this or isn't this a post apocalypse situation' details.
One bright shining star of all this: Maurie. Best character ever. If the book had just been about him and Temple traveling around meeting people and hanging out, I would have been on board and much more likely to forgive the weird 'is this or isn't this a post apocalypse situation' details.
Temple has wandered America, a vast land emptied of most people by the zombie apocalypse that took place 25 years earlier–10 years before Temple was born. Still, she is able to find beauty in the world that surrounds her, and doesn’t begrudge the “meatskins” for doing what it is their nature to do. However, when Temple accidentally kills a man who attacks her, she finds herself on the run from his brother: a large man who has found his new singular purpose in life. On the way, Temple befriends a developmentally disabled mute, who she comes to need just as much as he needs her. As she runs from the man who is hunting her, she also works to discover herself and the good she believes she has lost.
The Reapers are the Angels is a strikingly beautiful, poetic novel of a young woman finding her way in a world rife with both danger and beauty. What’s remarkable about Temple is the way she views the world. She finds miracles in the nature that surrounds her, and, although she could be angry that she was born into a world full of the walking dead, she takes life as it is for what it is, without wishing for it to be otherwise. Her way of speaking is old fashioned and has a rhythm to it, like the dialog in the Coen brothers’ True Grit. This book is a pleasure to read for the writing alone.
Temple’s antagonist, Moses, is a mesmerizing character himself. He sees avenging his brother’s death as something he must do, something he is fated to do like an actor in a script. However, he’s honorable to Temple, and respects her even while wanting to kill her. I found his relationship with Temple to be surprising, and not at all like the usual vengeance-driven villain.
The Reapers are the Angels isn’t a young adult book–it’s an adult book that will most likely appeal to a wide audience including young adults. It is horror, containing violence (mostly involving the living), sexual content, and questions of good and evil. However, for all of its darkness, this is still a hopeful book that has a strangely uplifting quality to it. I highly recommend it to zombie lovers, horror aficionados, or anybody just looking for a smart, well-written story.
The Reapers are the Angels is a strikingly beautiful, poetic novel of a young woman finding her way in a world rife with both danger and beauty. What’s remarkable about Temple is the way she views the world. She finds miracles in the nature that surrounds her, and, although she could be angry that she was born into a world full of the walking dead, she takes life as it is for what it is, without wishing for it to be otherwise. Her way of speaking is old fashioned and has a rhythm to it, like the dialog in the Coen brothers’ True Grit. This book is a pleasure to read for the writing alone.
Temple’s antagonist, Moses, is a mesmerizing character himself. He sees avenging his brother’s death as something he must do, something he is fated to do like an actor in a script. However, he’s honorable to Temple, and respects her even while wanting to kill her. I found his relationship with Temple to be surprising, and not at all like the usual vengeance-driven villain.
The Reapers are the Angels isn’t a young adult book–it’s an adult book that will most likely appeal to a wide audience including young adults. It is horror, containing violence (mostly involving the living), sexual content, and questions of good and evil. However, for all of its darkness, this is still a hopeful book that has a strangely uplifting quality to it. I highly recommend it to zombie lovers, horror aficionados, or anybody just looking for a smart, well-written story.
Wow, I really enjoyed reading this, I fell asleep trying to finish it. I don't read books about zombies, but I loved the character in this book. I usually read "pop" urban-fantasy and not too much "literature". I loved this book for the WAY it was written and how the author handled the other characters and the subject (so yes, for me, there are a lot of fancy words in it, but that made it all the more lyrical for the subject matter). Not the best way to describe it, but that's as good as gets.
adventurous
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
This contains some spoilers and is a bit of an ‘all over the place’ type of review. I had a hard time gathering all of my thoughts into an organized review.
The world that Temple lives in is the only world she’s ever known. She never lived in a world where there weren’t any zombies, a world where everyone was peaceful and didn’t have to wake up and fighting to survive each and every day.
"The world, it treats you kind enough so long as you’re not fightin against it."
Temple is a great character. She somewhat reminds me of Saba from Blood Red Road, but Temple seems to have a better grasp of the English language. She’s a survivor and definitely far beyond her years; I never would have pegged her to be 15. This is obviously due to the world she’s had to live in, the things she’s had to do to survive, and the things she’s had to experience. She’s a very emotional character and it’s quite sad how she keeps it all inside.
She ends up on the run from Moses Todd after accidentally killing his brother. I was a bit upset at that whole aspect of the story because it lacked a purpose. He became intent on killing Temple as retribution for his brother but there seemed to be another reason entirely that was never explained and something I never ended up understanding. I really wish the ending had been different… it ended up being an awkward piece that didn’t quite fit the rest of the puzzle.
High Points
The author’s writing is outstanding. Even though this seems to be your typical end of world/zombie novel where it’s not another person out there trying to survive… it’s not. It’s another book where I would say it’s not even a zombie novel per say, it’s a novel about survival (not just from zombies) and about living.
Temple is the main focus and what a great character she was; definitely a multi-faceted character with each new facet a new surprise. Don’t take her at face value – she’s more than meets the eye.
Low Points
I enjoyed this book. That said I love books that have fabulous world building that manage to completely absorb me into the story. This book lacks any sort of world building so that was kind of disappointing for me. When reading a new dystopian novel I always find it interesting to see how the author decides to create the world and how the world came to be how it is. A lot of things weren’t exactly explained and I ended up questioning a lot of it: how she’s able to stop at several gas stations and there are peanut butter crackers, how she’s also able to stop at several gas stations and be able to fill up her car, how do people have electric fences set up around their property, and where did they get the chicken, peaches, and everything else for dinner?? And will somebody please explain to me the tracker used on Temple’s car?
Like other reviewers, I had a big problem with the lack of quotation marks. At times the author would get so into describing things and situations that when someone would start speaking I’d have no clue and be so confused I’d have to backtrack to figure out what the hell was going on. At first I thought that it was an issue with my ebook, but apparently others had the same issues.
My main issue didn’t even have anything to do with the book or the story itself; I loved the story. I have a huge problem with books that are tagged as YA that I would never let my children read in their teens. Just because the main character is a 15 year old girl does not automatically make it YA.
The Reapers are Angels is a sad, very moving and emotional read but still highly enjoyable.
”And the beauty he looks over is fathomable only by a girl who would have felt the measure of it as deep as to her dazzled soul.”
Interested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog!
The world that Temple lives in is the only world she’s ever known. She never lived in a world where there weren’t any zombies, a world where everyone was peaceful and didn’t have to wake up and fighting to survive each and every day.
"The world, it treats you kind enough so long as you’re not fightin against it."
Temple is a great character. She somewhat reminds me of Saba from Blood Red Road, but Temple seems to have a better grasp of the English language. She’s a survivor and definitely far beyond her years; I never would have pegged her to be 15. This is obviously due to the world she’s had to live in, the things she’s had to do to survive, and the things she’s had to experience. She’s a very emotional character and it’s quite sad how she keeps it all inside.
She ends up on the run from Moses Todd after accidentally killing his brother. I was a bit upset at that whole aspect of the story because it lacked a purpose. He became intent on killing Temple as retribution for his brother but there seemed to be another reason entirely that was never explained and something I never ended up understanding. I really wish the ending had been different… it ended up being an awkward piece that didn’t quite fit the rest of the puzzle.
High Points
The author’s writing is outstanding. Even though this seems to be your typical end of world/zombie novel where it’s not another person out there trying to survive… it’s not. It’s another book where I would say it’s not even a zombie novel per say, it’s a novel about survival (not just from zombies) and about living.
Temple is the main focus and what a great character she was; definitely a multi-faceted character with each new facet a new surprise. Don’t take her at face value – she’s more than meets the eye.
Low Points
I enjoyed this book. That said I love books that have fabulous world building that manage to completely absorb me into the story. This book lacks any sort of world building so that was kind of disappointing for me. When reading a new dystopian novel I always find it interesting to see how the author decides to create the world and how the world came to be how it is. A lot of things weren’t exactly explained and I ended up questioning a lot of it: how she’s able to stop at several gas stations and there are peanut butter crackers, how she’s also able to stop at several gas stations and be able to fill up her car, how do people have electric fences set up around their property, and where did they get the chicken, peaches, and everything else for dinner?? And will somebody please explain to me the tracker used on Temple’s car?
Like other reviewers, I had a big problem with the lack of quotation marks. At times the author would get so into describing things and situations that when someone would start speaking I’d have no clue and be so confused I’d have to backtrack to figure out what the hell was going on. At first I thought that it was an issue with my ebook, but apparently others had the same issues.
My main issue didn’t even have anything to do with the book or the story itself; I loved the story. I have a huge problem with books that are tagged as YA that I would never let my children read in their teens. Just because the main character is a 15 year old girl does not automatically make it YA.
Spoiler
Between the scene in the beginning with Abraham pulling his pants down and the description of what he looked like and between the COMPLETELY RANDOM sex scene between a 15 year old girl and a 25 year old guy that she barely knewThe Reapers are Angels is a sad, very moving and emotional read but still highly enjoyable.
”And the beauty he looks over is fathomable only by a girl who would have felt the measure of it as deep as to her dazzled soul.”
Interested in more of my reviews? Visit my blog!
This was more of a 2.5 star book for me. I think I just had the wrong expectations going into this book. This book is about a girl who is aimlessly traveling and makes the wrong guy angry. She ends up on the run from him as he chases her across the country trying to kill her. I really didn’t like any of the characters in the book and the world didn’t seem too disjoined for my taste. Oh, yeah and there are zombies.