from: Bantam
Type of bind: Mass Market Paperback
Label: Bantam
Manufacturer: Bantam
Page Count: 122
Printing Date: 1964
Publishing house: Bantam
Sale Popularity Level: 253949
Studio: Bantam
Other books you might be interested in perusing:
Editor's Notes and Comments:
Product Description:
I AM THE LAST MAN ON EARTH! i AM NOT INSANE! I DON'T KNOW HOW MUCH LONGER I CAN LAST OUT! Every night they surround my last stronghold, these vampires form another world. In the darkness, they screen obscenities at me. No matter how many I kill still they come at me. How long before they reach me?
User popularity level:
Rated by buyers -
Contrary to common belief, I Am Legend is not a vampire novel. What this book is in reality is a series a short horror stories written by Richard Matheson that range from the 160 page long story I Am Legend from which the book gets its name to a three page story called The Near Departed. Although I must admit that I Am Legend, the very first and longest of the stories, is far and away the best, only talking about that one part does a disservice to the other ten incredible stories that are collected here. I will do a short review on each story in this book.
I Am Legend, 5/5, 160 pages. WAY better then the movie.
The new movie I Am Legend, staring Will Smith, takes place in New York City after a "cure" for cancer mutates and turns the worlds population into flesh eating zombie/vampire mutts that can only come out at night. the movie was unimpressive, the book is outstanding.
Everyone knows the basic plot of this story, there is only one man left alive in a world full of vampires, but despite what you might expect from a plot like that this isn't an action novel. In fact there is very little in the way of action or suspense and for the most part in moves a slower pace. What makes this book amazing is the attention to detail that author Richard Matheson put into his post apocalyptic tale. Main character Robert Neville starts out about 3 months after last seeing another human being, held up in his house at night as thousands of undead vampires call for him to come out. every day is a rigid routine, fix the houses defenses, throw the dead corpses he finds on his lawn every morning into a fire, hunt for vampires, make stakes to hunt more vampires, and then back inside before nightfall and drink himself to death. As time goes by he starts to learn how to deal with the vampires, how they live and how they die; what they are and why the act the way they do. He conducts experiments, for instance why do vampires fear crosses? Why does garlic repel them? Why do only stakes kill them? Does said stake need to go though the heart to kill? These are all fascinating questions and we get answers to them all.
But what makes this story a true masterpiece is the ending. I will not spoil it for you who haven't read the book yet (and I encourage you to do so as soon as possible) but lets just say that it is truly amazing. If you've seen the movie, brace yourself for a shock. I am very confused as to why any writer would want to tamper with such an amazing ending, why would anyone touch this gold?
I Am Legend has been made into three motion pictures from the original The Last Man on Earth to The Omega Man to this years blockbuster I Am Legend. Not only that, but horror master George Romero said it was the inspiration for his horror classic Night of the Living Dead. Truly I Am Legend is one of the most influential horror stories in history.
Buried Talents, 4/5, 8 pages. An interesting story.
Right off the bat I expected another short story that takes place in the I Am Legend universe, but the rest of the stories are completely independent and have nothing to do with one another. Do not go into this story expecting to read more about Vampires and garlic.
Buried Talents is a curies piece indeed. At only 8 pages this story brings up a lot of questions but never answers them, allowing the reader to come up with their own conclusions. In this short, a carnival man runs a booth where players try to throw ping pong balls into a fishing bowl to win a prize. No one seems to be able to do it, until a mysterious man walks up and lays down his quarters. He hits every shot, making the balls go into the bowl without so much as bouncing on the bottom, and then makes the two others land right subsequent to them in the same fashion. He keeps this up for the whole story until the very end when the carnival man tells him to leave. Doesn't sound interesting right? Sound stupid? You'd be wrong. Once again, the ending is what makes this story good. Until the very last paragraph this story isn't anything special, but the last two lines make this a story to remember.
The Near Departed, 3 pages, 5/5. Short and to the point.
There really isn't a lot I can say about this gem of a story, not without giving away any spoilers. Think of this story as a joke, a three page joke and nothing more. Once again, the last paragraph of this story is simply amazing.
Prey, 15 pages, 5/5. Chuckey's inspiration?
Its inconceivable that one book, or rather a collection of short stories, could not only be the inspiration for Night of the Living Dead, but also for a little film called Child's Play this that might just be the case. Prey is a nail biting thriller about an African doll called "This is he who hunts" comes to life and starts attacking its owner. Although I don't know for sure whether or not this story inspired Childs ... Read More
Rated by buyers -
My husband is a Richard Matheson fanatic and when I said I wanted to see the Will Smith movie of the same title, he told me to read the book instead. So I read his tattered 40-cent Bantam paperback and now I won't see the movie. They can't do it justice (besides Will Smith is not a blonde of German descent). Richard Matheson is a master storyteller, I could not put this book down. With his words I could feel the suffocation that Robert Neville felt being alone all the time, fighting for his life. He drank a lot but still managed to be very productive and never feel sorry for himself. He was a hunter, doctor, scientist, judge, jury and executioner. He somehow avoided the infection that killed or mutated everyone else, but then that became his downfall because the others saw him as the danger. The ending is incredible, Robert Neville becomes legend. This book is a must-have for any sci-fi or suspense fan.
Rated by buyers -
What would you do, if a mysterious plague swept throughout the world, literally killing everyone off, but leaving in its place something new, something frightening, something downright horrible, while leaving you alive, immune and seemingly alone? What would you do, if the undead now walked the earth looking for you, the last man alive...the last vestige of the human race? What if what they wanted was the taste of your blood on their lips? Just what on earth would you do?
These are the questions that faced Robert Neville. It is he who is Legend. How he answers them is what makes this a book to remember and a classic within its genre. It is a book of profound hope and despair. It is a book which demands to be read. Read it. You will not be disappointed.
Find other books like this one:
