Reviews tagging 'Animal death'

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

27 reviews

mjones14's review

adventurous challenging dark slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

I much preferred the second half of this book and actually the ending is better than the film. That being said, this book is unfortunately a victim of its age. It's views on women are misogynistic at best, and doesn't have the best grammar. Gave a high rating due to the end

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Death, Sexual harassment, Grief, Injury/Injury detail, Misogyny, Alcohol, and Murder

Moderate: Cannibalism

Minor: War

authorannafaundez's review against another edition

dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

Weird book. Interesting ending.

Sometimes the book was sexual in a creepy, very uncomfortable way. The MC thinks about/considers sexual assault way too many times. The book treats sex as if it's entirely necessary for human male survival and that an adult has difficulty controlling himself, which . . . 1954 writing, I guess. It's not a good look. Didn't age well.

The science aspect is super far-fetched, which is sometimes OK. Suspension of belief is necessary for sci-fi and fantasy. But how fast Neville learns the science terminology is unbelievable with how specific the book gets. And that extreme specificity is where the problem is. Knowing words and general info is one thing, but true comprehension, study and experimentation is another. Either more mistakes needed to be made or more uncertainty about his theories would help that, I think. A simple time skip with a basic overview of what happened would have also been beneficial.

And then, when there finally was a time skip, it glossed over every single advancement/mistake/learning opportunity and ran straight for the plot, abandoning character growth.

Side note: I hope the movie I Am Legend (2007) said it was "inspired by" and not "based on" the 1954 novel. Because this book and that movie are different at their cores and by plotline.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Violence

Moderate: Blood, Suicidal thoughts, Death, and Murder

Minor: Gun violence, Rape, Animal death, and Child death

refrejarator's review against another edition

dark emotional informative mysterious reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.0

The science still holds up at some points which is pretty cool. Interesting take on vampires, but uncomfortably dated (views of the 50s in regards to women and POCs).

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Alcohol, and Blood

Moderate: Grief, Violence, Cannibalism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, Pandemic/Epidemic, Blood, Child death, Death, Misogyny, Murder, Racism, Sexual assault, Rape, Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Vomit, Animal death, Gun violence, and Medical content

POCs referred to as 'Negroes' and not named, only occurs in one chapter. Followers of Islam are referred to as Mohammedans. Jews and Judaism are also mentioned, but no derogatory comments made. Main character is tempted to SA/rape women, including comatose/sleeping/undead women. This is mentioned several times.

carolinebl's review against another edition

dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

Powerful. The exploration of the cause was an interesting angle

and both the dog and Ruth’s appearance and exit shocked me. The ending too… so much loss.

A quick and engaging read; I look forward to the film.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism

Minor: Grief, Animal death, Sexual assault, Death, and Violence

norwegianforestreader's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcohol, Confinement, Grief, Suicide, Terminal illness, Addiction, Alcoholism, Animal death, Blood, Cannibalism, Car accident, Chronic illness, Gore, Abandonment, Body horror, Child death, Gun violence, Murder, Pandemic/Epidemic, Police brutality, Fire/Fire injury, Violence, War, Colonisation, Death, Injury/Injury detail, and Mental illness

bearystarry's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

2.75

I didn't realize this was half I Am Legend and half short stories when I bought it. I Am Legend was way too bleak for me. Some of the short stories had really interesting premises but weak execution, or I would have liked to be expanded. My favourite part of the whole book was The Funeral;

just a fun little monster story!

I thought it was cute, tbh.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Genocide, Animal death, Grief, Toxic relationship, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, Ableism, Blood, Terminal illness, Sexism, Racism, Addiction, Alcohol, Cultural appropriation, Car accident, Injury/Injury detail, Body horror, Death, Physical abuse, Child death, Mental illness, Alcoholism, Violence, Misogyny, Pandemic/Epidemic, and Murder

Moderate: Drug use, Antisemitism, Cannibalism, Sexual content, Torture, and Car accident

Minor: Rape, Suicidal thoughts, Body shaming, Suicide attempt, and Fatphobia

sassmistress's review against another edition

dark reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.25

Very much not my usual speed, but I see why it's genre-defining. It must be a *really* early take on zombie apocalypse literature. It's a solid mix of psychological horror and zombie thriller, with a dash of that classic sci-fi introspection. Extremely gripping, at points, like The Walking Dead (sorry to relate it to something newer!) Choc-full of content concerns, though, so I can't rate it any higher. But I really enjoyed the read and want one for my classics shelf. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Mental illness, Pandemic/Epidemic, Alcohol, Alcoholism, Grief, Violence, Gun violence, and Misogyny

Moderate: Body horror, Injury/Injury detail, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Cursing, Medical content, Suicidal thoughts, Blood, Animal death, and Confinement

Minor: Death of parent, Child death, Drug use, Fire/Fire injury, Rape, and Self harm

- Very graphic depiction of alcoholism and heavy alcohol use, from the mind of the user. We're constantly watching strong drinks spill, smell, burn going down, numb emotion, etc.
- POV is regularly on the verge of a mental breakdown.
- Memories of his wife wasting away and dying, then having to dispose of her body. The grief is graphic. His child dies, too, though this is less prominent.
- Dog content:

He feeds the feral/traumatized dog and slowly befriends it. During this process, the dog is infected. He brings the dog inside, hoping to cure it before it passes, and it panics extensively. He calms it down, the dog licks him, he cries, and then says the dog died a week later.

- He is an atheist, but prays twice out of desperation. Religion is otherwise depicted as frenzied madness.
- Lots of lustful gaze and objectification. This is viewed as the inevitable result of a man's "deprivation" / isolation. One passionate embrace/kiss.
- Blood, obviously, and some violent "vampire" deaths, but most of it is kept at a moderate emotional distance. Most deaths are the MC bleeding out the sleeping "vampires", not described too graphically, but a few are more violent.
- Brief mention of rape, and a few suicidal thoughts.

paralanguage's review against another edition

dark reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.25

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal death, Suicidal thoughts, and Blood

Minor: Rape

oddreads_nicolestins's review against another edition

challenging dark sad tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Pandemic/Epidemic, Animal death, Body horror, Medical content, Self harm, and Suicidal thoughts

Minor: Sexual content, Grief, Fire/Fire injury, Cursing, Child death, War, Infertility, Cannibalism, Abandonment, Vomit, Domestic abuse, and Confinement

bookwormteacher's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional sad tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Misogyny and Sexism

Moderate: Alcoholism and Animal death

Minor: Sexual assault