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audreychamaine 's review for:
The Reapers Are the Angels
by Alden Bell
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.