I Am Legend

Inhoud

Introduction by Stephen King.
'The most clever and riveting vampire novel since Dracula' Dean Koontz,
Robert Neville is the last man left alive on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire. Neville spends his days scavenging for food and supplies, and hunting down the undead in their lairs in the ruins of civilization. At night he becomes the hunted and barricades himself in his home, waiting and praying for the dawn.
I Am Legend was one of the first, and certainly the most briljant, fusions of horror and science fiction. Its powerful and disturbing reworking of the vampire myth has made it a classic and enduring novel that has had a profound impact on generations of writers.
'The very peak of all paranoid SF' The Encyclopedia of Science Fiction.
'An inspiration to me' Stephen King.
'A thoughtful, meditative exploration of solitude and despair... scary, thrilling, tragic, witty and - ultimately - uplifting' James Lovegrove,

Bespreking

A milestone of post-apocalyptic fiction

Robert Neville is the last man left alive on Earth. At least that is how he looks at his precarious situation. Those soulless vampiric creatures outside are clearly not alive but simply undead. Each night is for Robert a battle for survival. But each day he finds it more and more difficult to obtain enough energy to go out to find food and supplies. Being an academic he is capable of investigating the cause of this worldwide apocalypse, but more importantly finding a way to finish the evil outside. Lately his investigations are not delivering any conclusive results. On the verge of giving up all hope Robert meets a seemingly uninfected women, Ruth, abroad in the daylight.

With I am Legend Richard Matheson has created a milestone of post-apocalyptic fiction that has set the standard for many works that followed. The utterly concise and measured narrative is showing its sharp edges when describing the desperation that the main character of Robert feels. As a reader you get sucked into the experience of dread from page one. On top of that the author adds excellently crafted suspense scenes that makes you want to turn the pages faster than you can read. But the best part is definitely the denouement, where the build-up of the story delivers one of the best final chapters of any horror novel. I am Legend is not only an immensely scary novel, but has a profound sociological and visionary message that we should take at heart now more than ever in times where living together with other people is often seen more as a thread than an opportunity.