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I Am Legend (S.F. Masterworks) | 
| Author: Richard Matheson
Publisher: Gollancz
Category: Book
List Price: £6.99
Buy New: £4.44
You Save: £2.55 (36%)
New (27) Used (11) from £2.00
Avg. Customer Rating:  101 reviews
Sales Rank: 880
Media: Paperback
Edition: New Ed
Pages: 160
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.3
Dimensions (in): 7.6 x 4.8 x 0.7
ISBN: 1857988094
Dewey Decimal Number: 813
EAN: 9781857988093
ASIN: 1857988094
Publication Date: January 21, 1999
Shipping: Eligible for Super Saver Shipping
Availability: Usually dispatched within 24 hours
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Amazon.co.uk Review
It seems strange to find a 1954 vampire novel in Millennium's "SF Masterworks" classic reprints series. 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. I Am Legend was altered out of recognition when filmed as The Omega Man (1971), starring Charlton Heston. Avoid the movie; read the book. --David Langford
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| Customer Reviews: Read 96 more reviews...
 5/5 Not my typical read August 18, 2008
I read this short book after seeing all the reviews (thank you) and thought I must give it a go. I have tried lots of 'horror' novels over the years and they have never really engaged me. I read this over two evenings and found it totally absorbed me. The text races along wonderfully.
This is not my typical read - favourite books include: Papillon, Hamlet, Great Gatsby, To Kill a Mockingbird, Grapes of Wrath and The Old Man and the Sea. I assume it is because having read them they stay with you and insist on being read again. Though my wife prefers to suggest I am simply a bit weird.
As for the new 'Mr Smith' film, which I enjoyed, they follow the same theme but to compare them would be like comparing a Mars Bar and a Snickers (I still prefer to call them Marathon).
Not sure how helpful my waffling will be but having been persuaded to read this after all the positive feedback I felt I should add something myself. I am sure this book will in time insist on being read again.
Hair raisingingly good stuff August 3, 2008
This is a brilliant book, that manages to transcend the boundaries of Science Fiction or Horror genres. It was way ahead of its time.
I think its impact is down to its focus- rather than a overblown description of a post-apocalyptic world where everyone has turned into vampires, it concentrates on the experience of one man. You feel the claustrophobia of Neville as he shuts himself in his house every night, and you sympathise with his loneliness as the last normal man on earth. Even if you're not someone who normally enjoys SF books, this is so well written you can't help but love it.
The ending was so good it made all the hairs on the back of my neck stand up. This isn't just a SF classic, it deserves to be an all-time classic novel.
Come out Neville! July 19, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I read this book in just a few hours and it was compelling right to the end. It's better than the film too, although it would've been nice for the pooch to survive and be Robert's companion.
As you probably know, it tells the story of the last man on Earth after a vampiric plague sweeps through the world. Robert Neville is alone and hell bent on survivng. There are a few twists and turns here too, one of them being in the form of Ruth, a woman that Robert sees wandering in daylight one afternoon. I won't give it away though!
This is truly an awesome story and well worth the read. Especially since it's only 160 pages long. Do yourself a favour and buy it now. If you enjoy this try Stir Of Echoes too, that too is better than the film. Sit back and take the phone off the hook and enjoy!
A great read May 30, 2008
I thouroughly enjoyed this book and would recommend that you watch the film before reading the book so you can enjoy both as I did. As mentioned there a plenty of differences between film and book but in my opinion the ending in the book is far better, more haunting. My horror reading normally revolves around Richard Laymon and Graham Masterton this was a refreshing detour of style. Buy, read, enjoy.
Great book - got me back to reading April 29, 2008
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
I'm quite a fussy reader, I can give up on a book at any point for seemingly random reasons so when I find a book that I can't stop thinking about even when I'm not reading then I know it's a good un!
I don't think I can really do this book justice in a review...it just sucked me in and I couldn't stop reading it until it was finished...then I wanted to keep going!
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