I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Rating: 4 out of 5

ISBN (edition I've read): 9780575081987

Read between: 24-02-2013 to 05-03-2013

Review:
Though the cover page of this edition and the title of the book resembles the Hollywood flick named the same, starring Will Smith, the story seldom similar.

Plot:
I Am Legend, though, was a trailblazing and later much imitated story that reinvented the vampire myth as SF. Without losing the horror, it presents vampirism as a disease whose secrets can be unlocked by scientific tools. The hero Robert Neville, perhaps the last uninfected man on Earth, finds himself in a paranoid nightmare. By night, the bloodthirsty undead of small-town America besiege his barricaded house: their repeated cry "Come out, Neville!" is a famous SF catchphrase. By day, when they hide in shadow and become comatose, Neville gets out his wooden stakes for an orgy of slaughter. He also discovers pseudoscientific explanations, some rather strained, for vampires' fear of light, vulnerability to stakes though not bullets, loathing of garlic, and so on. What gives the story its uneasy power is the gradual perspective shift which shows that by fighting monsters Neville is himself becoming monstrous--not a vampire but something to terrify vampires and haunt their dreams as a dreadful legend from the bad old days.

My take on the book:
This novel is altered out of recognition when filmed as The Omega Man(1971). If I am not wrong, it is very much likely to mistake this story to be the same as the story of the Hollywood flick, named I Am Legend, starring Will Smith (not to mention, my favourite actor).


Avoid the movie; read the book, says David Langford, referring the movie, The Omega Man.

The most striking attribute about the story is how the author draws a link between two distinct of genres - Horror and Science Fiction. Vampires are the subject of horror and fantasy, Richard Matheson had made a remarkable effort putting out the effort of putting forward scientific reasoning of Vampires and their fears - fear of gingers, crosses, etc.

The cover of the edition I read is a fairly misleading. First of all, the text at the bottom of the cover page - NOW A MAJOR FILM STARRING WILL SMITH - is a fake and the cover page, at the first place, is a wrong. The only connection between the movie, starring Will Smith, and the novel are the titles and both of them revolve around zombies (vampires) apocalypse. The book is a master piece. And so is the movie starring Will Smith.

The movie dealt with the surviving of the last man on the earth, searching and waiting for other survivors. But this novel's story is only about the survivor and his feelings of being the last man alive.

The feeling of the person are so well described that there were moments I cringed at the protagonist's loneliness.

Very well narrated. Easy language. Awesome plot line. Heart-touching narration. Amazing read.

Recommendations:
Every person who have watched and liked the movie, I Am Legend, starring Will Smith, should read this. Also the readers who have a lapping taste for horrors and sci-fi must give this book a try...

Zombiestan by Mainak Dhar

Zombiestan by Mainak Dhar

Rating: 4.5 out of 5

ISBN(edition I've read): 9789381626924

Review:

I am very glad that I came across this book.

It was completely impossible to come across this author, if not because of a reading group on Facebook. Mainak Dhar, I came to know, is a best-selling author on Amazon. In fact, he has already got thirteen best-selling ebooks on Amazon.

After reading this book, I was wondering why such a brilliant writer is not getting the lime light he deserved. Just consider my rating - 4.5 out of 5. It is not a normal rating! I rarely give any book 4 and scarcely above 4, save if the book touched the deepest of my heart. And this book did touch.

Plot:
A new kind of plague starts to spread around the world. It all started in a small village, in the outskirts of Afghanistan. Then start, it spreads faster than a fire could spread in a field full of hay. Just on the second day of the outbreak of the plague, there are reported spotting of humans turned into some creatures - with sores all over their skin, blood and pus spluttering out of their boils, their skin yellow in colour, with crooked teeth - when the infected bit them. All the zombies - thats what they seemed to the people - performed an act, immediately after transforming - typing a black turban around their heads, just like Muslim terrorists. After all, the whole idea of plan was create terror and avenge the loss of their leader, Osama.

Back in India, there are five key survivors - a US navy seal, trying to get back home, an old history professor, a guy in his late teens, a girl of just about his age and her brother who is three-years-old. They come to know that the key to survive the plague is hidden in the three-year-old kid.

During one radio broadcast, they come to know that high in the Himalayas, there was hope. Hope of surviving from the monsters. Then starts their journey to hope.

Will they get to the place, broad-cast on the radio? Is there really a place like that? Will they able to fight back the monsters? Does the kid really holds the keep for survival and stands a chance of hope?

My take on the book:
With all the interesting aspects, thrills, twists and action, Zombiestan takes you on a 'on the edge of the seat' journey, which will remain etched in your memory for quiet some time.

The biggest honor a book gets from me, is completing it in two days. Considering my snail-pace reading ability and meager amount of time I spend reading, it is handsome achievement made by any book.

The best thing about the story it is that it is very fast paced. The fight against the Zombies and the struggle starts even before the 40th page.

I felt, the author must have had a very imaginative mind to think of such a plot and transform into a story and then, into a book.

This is the second book - after The Road - that touched the deepest feeling of my heart, this week. It is an exaggeration to say that I cried, but when I was almost nearing the end, one scene made tears well up in my  eyes.

Recommendation:
Hmmm... Read this book, if you love fast-paced thriller. Others, also read this book. I am sure you will start loving fast-paced thriller, after reading this one....

Overall, a great read and 'hats off' to the author(also the second this week)...