The Great Geek Manual

Book: The Reapers are the Angels
ISBN-13: 978-0805092431

Author: Alden Bell (Joshua Gaylord)
Publisher: Holt Paperbacks
Genre: Horror / Suspense
Release: August 3, 2010
Length: 240 pages (Paperback)

Rating: A (100 / 100)

Verdict

The Reapers are the Angels is a deeply moving character study of a young girl surviving on her own in a relentlessly bleak post-apocalyptic landscape as she grapples with her own darker nature. Bell weaves a haunting tale that packs an astonishingly powerful emotional punch for just over two hundred pages.

This is easily the most literary zombie novel you’ll ever read, and it’s certain that it will come to be regarded as a classic of young adult literature. Go buy it.

Pros: Beautifully written. Highly literary. Plenty of suspense.

Cons: Too short.

Synopsis

In Brief: A young girl with a hard attitude and a soft heart travels through a post-apocalyptic landscape populated by the walking dead and pursued by the brother of a man she’s killed.

Official: 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.

Review

The most important thing to understand about The Reapers are the Angels is that, even though it contains all the grotesquery a horror fan could possibly ask for, it isn’t a zombie novel. It’s a character study of a girl who has come to regard herself as a monster for the mistakes she’s made while trying to survive in a world turned upside down. And, while that may strike some readers as a dull proposition, it is anything but.

The Reapers are the Angels is an incredible novel that concerns itself with the motivations of the human heart rather than the vulgar violence of the average Romero film. Yes, it’s gritty, suspenseful, and brimming over with violence of every sort, but the violence that threads its way through the novel never becomes the point of the story. Instead, Bell keeps the zombies (“meatskins”) in the backdrop of his tale, the better to concentrate on the internal conflicts of his sixteen year-old heroine. But make no mistake, from page one, The Reapers are the Angels is nothing short of mesmerizing.

Written in a very simple, straight forward style highly reminiscent of John Steinbeck’s best work, The Reapers are the Angels is a poetic, almost dream-like voyage of introspection set against a savage world revealed in small, masterful strokes. Bell tells his story in the authentic, home-spun southern dialect of his uneducated, highly intelligent heroine, never straying into narration or exposition and never wasting a single word. The economy with he tell his tale is astonishing, and yet, despite it’s simplicity, Bell still manages to pack a world of meaning into every page. Every observation and reflection of Bell’s characters is laden with the quiet weight of classic literature.

Bell’s prose is matches by a strong talent for breathing life into believable and compelling characters with very distinctive voices. The protagonist of The Reapers are the Angels, a girl named Temple, follows is cast in the long tradition of strong young heroines such as those of The Girl Who Owned a City, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and even To Kill a Mockingbird.

Temple makes her way through life haunted by her past, constantly on the move, always struggling with her own guilt. She’s more afraid of herself than she is of the walking dead, and her growing self-loathing and introversion leads her to shun the others. Through this outsider’s eyes, readers shown the empty, hopeless desolation of a zombie-infested world and reacquainted with the small wonders in life.

Bell’s intriguing use of dialog without quotes or explicit narration places readers into scenes with the characters, as if they’re hearing, rather than reading the dialog. The effect adds a delicious immersive quality that will alternatively raise the hairs at the back of your neck and lull you into a contemplative dazes right along with the protagonist. By the time you’ve set The Reapers are the Angels down, you’ll be exhausted from the experiences you’ve had

All in all, this a spectacular bit of young adult reading worth picking up if you’re a fan of horror or just strong female protagonists. If you enjoyed this summer’s break-out hit, The Passage by Justin Cronin, The Reapers are the Angels is a worthy encore.

Blogger’s Note

Though it is marketed as a Young Adult fiction, the emphasis here is on “adult.” This is not a children’s book. Despite it’s deceptive brevity, The Reapers are the Angels contains adult violence and sexuality.

Disclaimer

The Great Geek Manual received an advance review copy of this title from Holt. However, the free copy did not influence the opinion of this reviewer.

Similar Books

If you enjoy this book, you may also enjoy these similar titles:

• The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan
• The Passage by Justin Cronin
• The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Further Information

• Read an excerpt from The Reapers Are the Angels. [More at Google Books]
• Read an interview with author Alden Bell.
• Visit the publisher’s official website for the book.