Customer Reviews
Brilliant! - By: Margaret, 04 Jan 2009 
After watching the movie I just had to read the book, I'm a sucker for that. If I love the movie I have to find out if there was a book, & I go & get it. I have to say I totally love the movie, love Will Smith, he's great actor &in 'I Am Legend' he is brilliant!
So, I've read the book & I was not disappointed.
I was expecting it to be the same story as the movie, after all the book came first, but it isn't. It is like reading about a totally different story. A really good one at that. In the movie they took the basics & created a movie for modern day. However, I thought the book was so good I don't see why they don't make a movie that is true to the book.
In this book there's no Zombies, but Vampires, who are hunting Robert Neville & he must do whatever he can to survive. I won't say more than that. It's a short book of just 160 pages & can easily been readin a day, if you have the time to sit & read it.
I loved the authors style of writing &in some parts of the book I was taken backin memory to when I read The Fog by James Herbert & Pet Sematary by Stephen King. I saw some similaritiesin the style of writing. I was well & truly hooked. I loved it. :)
If you know the film, you dont know the book - By: Lark, 21 Dec 2008 This is an amazing book, I confess to it being my first encounter with the sci fi masterworks range (I'm now a total addict), that I found the cover totally intriguing & the idea that vampires could featurein a sci fi tale even more so.
Since reading the book I've seen all the movie adaptations, the Will Smith movie has nothing to do with the book & you could only say its loosely inspired by the book (no surprise to fans of Asimov), The Omega Man similarly isnt that great an adaptation either but The Last Man on Earth, a black & white movie featuring Vincent Price, does much better.
The story is that of Neville, lone human survivorin a world overtaken by vampires, it interestingly charts his existence & survival strugglesin a way that couldnt fail to entertain any apocalypse or catastrophe reader but also fans of the survival horror genrein movies & games. With the full passage of time Neville adopts a scientific perspective on the vampires, what makes them tick, what is the origin of the vampire plague etc. The ensuing experiments have all sorts of angles involving social psychology, mania, psychosomatic illness & finally the viral transmission of "intelligent" diseases. While he does so to make himself a better slayerin the process he tries to answer questions about his lone survivor status.
Then one day Neville encounters another survivor & a fantastic twist is introduced into the plot, the title makes sense & the story even takes on the character of a political dystopia, Neville's plight isnt that different from that of Winston Smith, George Orwell's Last Man In Europe from 1984.
Matheson never wrote a bad book & this is no exception, I have no reservaions about recommending this to anyone, horror fans, sci fi fans, fantasy fans or just casual readers.
A Genuine Legend.. - By: Karel Bata, 21 Nov 2008 Steven King's introduction identifies Matheson as a major influence & virtually credits him with re-inventing the modern horror genre. And rightly so.
I've only just read this (shame on me) & am amazed! It really is the granddaddy of the modern zombie genre. And of much vampire fiction too. Added to that it has several twistsin the tail that are completely unexpected which put its imitators firmlyin the shade (including the film).
An extraordinary achievement. A must read. It will surprise you.
Superb. - By: J. D. Aspinall, 17 Sep 2008 Justifying killing - or trying to - is a more pointed argument when takenin the individual; governments cloud the simplicity with rhetoric, propoganda & patriotism; but, keep the numbers down & the subject is raw & demanding attention.
Matheson strips the numbers down to onein this book, & one has no problemin coming down on the side of Robert Neville - the book's lead, & almost only, character.
One feels his panic when he discovers his watch has stopped & cannot get back to his safe-house before sun-down; & when he smacks his car into a crowd of Vampires like a macarbre game of skittles, one feels his elation.
Matheson recruits the reader from the outset & the reader becomes an observer, living one dimension down from the physical earthbound, able to see & hear all he does - even hear his thoughts - yet is unable to intervene or advise, & that gives the work more power. It frustrates the reader; but Matheson, after sucking the reader in, turns the tables on Neville & strips him of all the moral altitude he has taken for himself, & plunges him into the role of bad guy, of the hated terrorist, & makes him an outsider, a pariah.
Matheson has no mercy for his protaganist.
I have read short stories of greater length than this novel, & the prose is thin, which is not to say it is bad, but it deals only with the here & now of the story; back-story & poetic flourishesin the prose are kept to a minimum as far as the former go, & are non-existent for the latter. It makes for a story where 99 per cent is actionin the present tense, & the book could be readin one sitting, I think.
This is considered a classic of genre fiction, & rightly so.
A VERY QUICK READ! - By: H. Greenan, 16 Sep 2008 I just couldn't put this down & it isn't typical of my preferred reading. I was completely drawnin as soon as I started it & my life went on hold until I finished it.
A very enthralling book
