Review: The Reapers are the angels - Alden Bell

Genre: Fiction, dystopian, futuristic
Pages: 225
Published: August 2010 Holt Paperbacks

 Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.

For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can't remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.

Oh yes, zombies, you read it right, my biggest nightmare. Still I watch those movies, but this is actually only my second book about them.

25 years ago they started to emerge, humans tried to fight back, and fought for years, but now the land is dead. People hiding behind barricades, and hunters on the road, fighting one zombie at a time. Among theses are 15 year old Temple, all on her own. All she ever has know has been death and destruction. She moves from place to place, hiding, running, fighting, and soon running from more that just zombies.

I liked Temple, she was kick-ass for sure. But then she grew up in a world that had slowly lost the fight. She is a good with a knife, she says what she thinks, and she remembers those that have fallen. She also feels that there is a darkness within her, but growing up like that who can blame her.

It is not a scary book, there is no real zombie action. She avoids them the best she can, she knows their tricks, and they are pretty slow and stupid. The danger here is more from other humans. When society falls so does everything. You learn about those that prayed on other humans, raping, killing and then the most scary of them all show up, hillbillies, you'll see. But there are also nice people, just trying to get by, and helping each other.

The book had this strange and nice flow to it. It was like it was happening, and like it had happened, and would happen. I liked it, he has a talent. It was a good book, and a sad one.

What do I think, well if people just manage to survive, then they will outlive the zombies, or this world will become a barren wasteland. I do wonder, since I do not get that answer.

This was a different sort of zombie book. It reminded me a bit of The Road, I have only seen the movie, but it had the same hopelessness to it, and at the same time that glimmer of hope. It is a story about a young woman on the road, aged far beyond her years.

Blodeuedd's Cover Corner: Not a fav, but fitting

Reason for reading: From the publisher

Final thoughts: I sure hope we don't get a zombie plague, and if we did, then I hope I could be so calm as she was.

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