I Am Legend by Richard Matheson Summary and Reviews
|
List Price: Our Price: $1.98 You Save: $12.97 (87%) Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days Buy Used: from $0.01 (click here) Category: Book See more book details and other editions |
|---|
Book Reviews of I Am Legend
Book Review: Don't waste your money!!
Summary: 1 Stars
I Am Legend
The book's namesake provides a mediocre story at best. The short stories that accompany it are ridiculous, lackluster, and unintelligible. Don't waste your money!!!
Book Review: Fantastic
Summary: 5 Stars
I am Legend is an amazing short novel. I listened to the audio book and I felt like I was in the book. This book is a classic and there is a reason so many movies have been made based on the book itself.Book Review: Forget the Movies, Read the Novella
Summary: 4 Stars
Richard Matheson's horror novella, "I Am Legend" is a finely crafted novel which mixes vampire horror, survivalist end-of-the-world themes, and questions of morality in a world turned upside down. Will Smith's pretentious, overblown film version completely missed the point of this beautifully written and generally frightening novella. Both Vincent Price's "The Last Man on Earth" and Charleton Heston's "The Omega Man" were far closer to this book in both story and tone. The protagonist, Robert Neville, is the only survivor of a plague that either kills its victims, or turns them into a flesh-eaten vampires. When Neville begins to kill the vampires in his quest to stay alive and find a cure, he fails to understand the depth of their remaining humanity, and therefore he becomes the monster, he becomes the legend of their nightmares. This is the point that the Will Smith version completely missed. Read the book and then see Price's and Heston's films. You decide which is best.Book Review: Four Stars for "I Am Legend," Two Stars for the Rest
Summary: 3 Stars
"I Am Legend" is not a novel, but rather a short novella that, due to the recent release of the film, has been advertised in this edition as 300-page novel. The synopsis on the back of the book describes the story "I Am Legend" and nothing more. After you complete about 150-pages of the novel, you realize "I Am Legend" is over and the rest of the book is a compilation of short stories. Unfortunately, most of these stories suck. "I Am Legend" is good, about a man named Robert Neville who is the last man on Earth. By day, he goes and gets supplies from empty stores and by night he fights off the vampires that surround his house. Than he discovers a young woman and realizes that maybe there is hope for humanity. The story inspired Stephen King, reportedly, more than any other book. "I Am Legend" is no masterpiece, but it's short and entertaining enough. The next story "Buried Talents" is short, but rather pointless and not too interesting. "The Nearly Departed" is about three pages and is terrific. The next 4 or 5 stories are rather tedious (especially the dreadful "Dance of the Dead" and overly long "Mad House"). In fact, this collection doesn't pick up until the final story "Person to Person" which is (almost better) than "I Am Legend." You know, this book is cheap...But is it really worth buying? I don't think so. I think you're better off hitting up a local library or something. It's decent, but hardly a masterpiece.
I Am Legend: B
Buried Talents: C
The Nearly Departed: B-
Dance of the Dead: F
Mad House: D
ALL THE OTHER STORIES, EXCLUDING "PERSON TO PERSON": D
Person to Person: B+
Book Review: Go see the movie...
Summary: 2 Stars
I wouldn't call this a novel, it's more of a novella with additional short stories. The book was a bit of a let down and the "buzz price" of $11 was not (IMHO) worth it. Save your money and go see the movie..