I Am Legend

The absolute coolest vampire concept ever! My friend recommend I read telling me how the ending left him speechless, and now having read it myself I can definately say it is the best ending of any book Ive ever read. The concept is that Nevelle is the last man alive due to a virus that changed everyone else into vampires. The book starts with him making repairs to the outside of his, which he does every day due the damage the vampires do trying to get in at night. His house has become his fort, the only thing that protects him each night from them. He cant stray too far away during the day cause he needs to have enough time to get home and seal himself up at night, which removes any hope of him finding any survivors beyond a certain radius. By day he wonders out for supplies when he needs them and reinforces his house, and by night he locks himself in and tries to ignore the vampires outside trying to get him to come out. The book is mostly about this one remaining man whos all alone, researching and trying to figure out what the virus is and how it works. At the end he is in a situation which explains the title of the book. The book is very short, I was disappointed when I Am Legend ended after only 100+ pages with the rest being short stories. But for such a short story it is still incredibly powerful and intresting, and the other short stories are worth a read too.... Dont let the movie ruin it for you, while it follows the same concept as the book it leaves out all the things that make the book so good. They should be punished for changing the ending to the way they did.... BOO Hollywood...... LATE

Reviewing a classic is rather strange for me. Its like reviewing Oliver Twist, when almost everyone knows what its about, due to movies, TV show references, and most recently in commercials urging kids to use manners. When people think of I Am Legend , they usually dont know its a book, and just know its a post apocalyptic movie where most of the population has been mutated into vampires, and Will Smith is the last man standing, blah, blah, blah. The movie was great, I admit it. But that was before I read the book. And like every other movie supposedly based on I Am Legend, like The Last Man On Earth and the very horrendous The Omega Man, the movies seem to exclude many of the main points that make the novel so great. I hope they actually make an accurate movie based on the book someday. Richard Matheson deserves a better movie adaption. Ok, now enough about the movie and on to the book. The book is set in the late 1970s. The world was decimated by a horrible virus, that turns men and animals into vampires. Robert Neville, the last man, as far as he knows, is fighting to survive. The book deals mainly with Roberts internal struggle with insanity, which Matheson handles beautifully. I dont want to spoil the main points, so I urge you to read the book. :) Overall, I give the book 5 out of 5 stars! Available in most eBook formats and in print.

A plague has wiped out humanity and left vampiric creatures in its wake. Robert Neville, a former factory worker, is the sole surviving human being as far as he knows. He spends each night barricaded in his home with vampires outside his door calling for him to come out. During the day, he fortifies his home, kills vampires, and even researches the cause of the plague. Neville is obsessed with explaining what has happened in rational, scientific terms and discovers a bacteria that appears to be the root of the problem. His struggles to stay alive and find a purpose for his life form the crux of the story. I Am Legend has been cited as influential by virtually every horror writer, but you should not expect to find a classic horror story here. The first third actually conforms pretty closely to the norm with some harrowing moments, but then the book focuses much more on Nevilles research, his attempt to befriend a dog, his state of mind, etc. The ending is more of an ironic social satire than it is a climax to the story. None of this is to suggest that the novel is not worth reading, it certainly is. Just dont pick it up expecting a thrill ride of scares because youll be severely disappointed. For those who have seen the movie

So the biggest thing to know before you buy is that only the first half of the book is I Am Legend. The other half is a collection of short stories. Just keep that in mind because it’s not really promoted correctly. That being said, I Am Legend is a harrowing tale of survival and the fragility of the human psyche when met with absolute isolation. I highly recommend for fans of horror and sci-fi alike. The writing also felt surprisingly modern for having been written in the 50’s.

This book came across my email when Kindle was having a sale and I thought, Why not? Written in 1954, it hits the vampire genre far before Twilight romanticized it. The books main character is Robert Neville, who very well may be the last man on earth -- other than the half-dead and full vampires who try to lure him out of his home every night. The book only lightly touches upon WHY there are vampires. Apparently, there was a plague or virus or something unknown that created a world of vampiric entities. Robert thinks hes been immune because he was bit by a vampire bat while he was in the war. Its interesting to see how Robert handles being alone. I personally would go stark raving mad, but Robert handles the madness and frustration by trying to figure out just what causes a person to become a vampire. He discovers a potential reason, but the irony is its just too late. The ending Ill leave to you to read. Its faster paced than the rest of the book (which in and of itself is a short book and a quick read) and the ending leaves you wondering about what if. People who are in love with the romance of vampires will hate this book. People who loved Van Helsing will likely enjoy this book. Either way, its a classic and worth the time.

Listen- if you could take away the corny vampires wiggling outside the house, Robert Neville’s almost annoying horniness, and the “I was loving you bit.” I would’ve said this was a great book. Upon re-read, I can say I no longer HATE it as I did the first time. However, I just cannot get past the vampires and their seduction~

I found it funny that some of these reviews called this suspenseful. This must be the first book theyve ever read because it is anything BUT suspenseful. I gave it 2 stars only because of the concept, not the actually story line and how it was written. You can sum this whole book up on a single page, double spaced, probably less...so Ill try. Neville barricaded himself in his house after everyone turned into vampires ***SPOILER*** by bacteria ***END SPOILER***. He worked on his house for a lot of the book, making it sound proof, etc., he ate through a lot of the book, and drank for even more of the book. He fought with himself and his thoughts (obviously since he was alone). He found a dog that wasnt affected by what was going on and had survived the vampires, so he lured it in for what seemed like an eternity ***SPOILER*** and then for it to die immediately after he brings this companion in to live with him ***END SPOILER***. The last chapter was the only one of any interest and I wont even include that in my summary because I hate people that ruin books by writing about how it ends (the rest of the spoilers Ive written are just from the front half of the book). It is interesting the thoughts and psychology behind the last chapter, and how the book came to be titled I am legend. It was the only good part, but when compared to other suspenseful books and thrillers, this ranked dead last for that. If you were a fan of the Will Smith movie I Am Legend, if you liked all the concepts in that and were looking for a book that was similar to that theme, definitely PASS ON THIS BOOK. There is only one chase scene where he gets a scare by being outside when it is getting dark and the vampires all come out (not even that late in the book either). There is next to no suspense, even with that chase scene. All he did was ride around the block, accidentally forget his keys in the car, have to run and get them as the vamps were getting closer, then get them and get inside. All this happened on what seemed like 2 pages on my kindle touch (so probably about a page long in the real book). I love scifi thrillers/suspense and this was anything but that. Definitely one of the worst vampire books Ive read so far...Id say it ranks worse than Twilight in terms of story line about the vampires (minus the teen love story in Twilight). I was bored with it and couldnt wait to finish it...luckily it was pretty short. This coming from a guy that read vampire books when he was younger (around 20 years ago, way before the vamp fad we see now days). This is anything but a vampire book IMO. It talked about blood sucking 1 time...ONE TIME. I cant even go on without spoiling it...the vampires were just stupid in this book...please, just find a different book to read. Idk what these other reviewers are smoking, but I want some if it can take a bad book like this and turn into something interesting.

Many reviewers have described the greatness of this story and its influence on modern writers. I wanted to offer my viewpoint as a reader who had seen the movie first. I initially avoided the book because I felt that the movie, while entertaining, was shallow with an uninteresting story. However, the positive reviews finally convinced me to give it a shot and I am glad that I did. The character portrayed by Will Smith is a brilliant man who is the cause of the epidemic and also the eventual savior of the human race. The character from the book is a much more interesting and relatable one. He is just an average man who struggles to survive. Not only with the vampires, but also to motivate himself to complete the menial tasks required for his daily survival. The vampires portrayed in the movie are superhuman killing machines completely devoid of any perceivable intelligence. In contrast, the books portrayal of the vampires is much more interesting. They retain many of their human qualities, including their intelligence, personalities, and physical capabilities. This allows for interactions far more interesting than those found in the movie. The conclusion found in the movie is very unsatisfying. It serves as a confirmation of the womans belief that God had directed her actions, portends the rebirth of human civilization, and illustrates the triumph of the human spirit against all odds. All very common themes that deliver a boring result. The books conclusion deviates drastically from the movies. I dont want to ruin the ending, but I will say I found the final realization the main character is forced to accept very interesting and thought provoking. I encourage anyone to read the book regardless of their feelings on the movie. The book provides a deeper story and a much different take on the vampire genre than the one presented in the movie.

I Am Legend is an amazing story describing a plague that turns the entire world into Vampires, with the exception of one man, who spends the rest of his life simply existing and fighting to maintain his life by killing vampires. It is a very interesting story and I was intrigued by the day to day events the protagonist goes through and the effect the plague has on his sanity. The storytelling is not chronological and jumps right into things, with the protagonist recalling how the plague started and events that happened before it became full blown. The story is amazing and I was very intrigued at how Mattheson can make simple day to day chores interesting. Its an amazing concept and doesnt seem dated at all, even though the story was written over 50 years ago (it takes place in the future of 1970). My main problem with this book was that it ended halfway through. Apparently its a collection of short stories, and I Am Legend only takes up about 170 pages. I read about half of the other stories and they are okay, but nothing too good and I lost interest quickly. Some are a few pages and some are several chapters. I got bored with them quickly and theyre pretty much your typical science fiction from the 50s, although some were written later. I do think the I Am Legend story alone is worth the price of the book.

This book suffers from what I like to call Fake Science-itus. The Martian had a similar issue, where the book would spend pages go on and on and on about how their sci-fi science & chemistry works. Bruh, I dont need a lecture on how your fake science works, youre putting me to sleep here.