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I Am Legend (Gollancz) (Paperback)

by Richard Matheson (Author)
4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
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Product details

  • Paperback: 176 pages
  • Publisher: Gollancz; Round cornered ed edition (1 Aug 2006)
  • Language English
  • ISBN-10: 0575079002
  • ISBN-13: 978-0575079007
  • Product Dimensions: 19.2 x 12.8 x 1.8 cm
  • Average Customer Review: 4.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (118 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.co.uk Sales Rank: 81,616 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

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Product Description

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 --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Review
"Sci-fi fans will be spoilt for choice as Gollancz brings out 'the ten greatest sci-fi novels of all time' beautifully packaged in stylish covers with new introductions by contemporary writers. Every one is a winner." (Lisa Tuttle THE TIMES )

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Customer Reviews

118 Reviews
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Average Customer Review
4.7 out of 5 stars (118 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
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30 of 36 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars The original "Blade"?, 5 Oct 2002
By David Caton (Westcliff on Sea, Essex England) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   
This review is from: I Am Legend (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)
I know it sounds like a bunch of cliches but this book gripped me so much I couldn't put it down and read it in just a few hours. A sometimes bleak study of the human condition it is also engrossing, thought-provoking and moving. It is also one of the few "horror" novels out of hundreds I have read that have genuinely scared me.

Basically it is the story of Robert Neville, the lone survivor of a plague that sends its victims into a coma, followed eventually by death and vampirism. By day Neville hunts sleeping plague victims and vampires and disposes of them in the traditional manner. By night he locks himself away while hordes of vampires attack his well-defended house. Eventually he seeks scientific explanations for the causes of vampirism and tries to find a cure. In that respect I think the story must have been an influence on the Blade comics and movies (just don't expect hi-tech weapons, martial arts and cool shades!!).

As Neville becomes more resigned to his situation, and gradually gets used to the nightly attacks of vampires on his well-defended house, so does the reader. The vampires become almost incidental and the writing focusses more on Neville's thoughts and preoccupations. Until, that is, Neville loses track of time and gets caught outside, miles from home at nightfall. It is a testament to Matheson's writing that at this point the thought of being in Neville's position and having to run the gauntlet of vampires waiting for him outside his only safe haven is truly terrifying!

The pseudo-scientific explanations for the characteristics of vampirism seem a little silly, especially the "body glue", but these are really incidental to the story, as is the futuristic 1970's setting, and you shouldn't let these put you off.

I would recommend this book to anyone.

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47 of 58 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars In the footsteps of the master, 18 Feb 2006
By Sally-Anne "mynameissally" (Leicestershire, United Kingdom) - See all my reviews
(TOP 100 REVIEWER)   
This review is from: I Am Legend (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)
Bram Stoker took a similar 'scientific' approach to his vampire horror story. And he made a pretty good job of it, using the science and psychology theories that were fashionable at the time. Richard Matheson follows the master, setting his hero to hunt, not just for vampires, but for scientific answers to the problem of vampirism and, if possible, a cure. If you happen to know anything about biology, medicine, bacteriophages etc, there are parts of the book you will need to skip swiftly past in order to maintain your suspension of disbelief. But the science is not the main point of the story, so it's quite safe not to pay overly close attention to the more dodgy elements of Robert Neville's scientific discoveries about the vampires. Robert Neville is utterly alone in a world where creatures that look like humans torment him by night and he has to hunt them down by day. He dare not go far from his fortress home because he cannot be caught outside at night. As he finds and eliminates sleeping blood-suckers in his immediate neighbourhood, more pour in from surrounding areas. They skulk around his house. One of his old friends is out there too, calling for him to come out, reminding him of his old life. He stays indoors from dusk until dawn, drinking whiskey, growing his rage, dwelling on his losses, trying to understand what happened and why? He turns to scientific investigation as much to occupying his mind and avoid insanity as to find any real hope of solving the problem of vampirism. His anger, impotence and loneliness are pushed out of his mind by the pursuit of knowledge - answers to the how and the why. Fear and isolation can be forgotten while he's absorbed in his studies. But will he also forget how to be human and how to be humane?

Excellent story. I recommend it to anyone who enjoys horror stories and also to those fans of sci-fi who aren't too critical and demanding about the sci in their fi.

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15 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars Just left me with more questions............, 20 April 2008
This review is from: I Am Legend (S.F. Masterworks) (Paperback)
For anyone that hasn't seen the film or read the book........the book is nothing like the film.......and the film is nothing like the book.. Normally, when a film is based on a book I love the book so much more. But not this time. I have to say that I'm liking the film more this time.

The book is good, don't get me wrong. I was scared in parts. However, it's nothing like the film. If you're looking for similar, but better, read 'Salems Lot' by Stephen King.

The only thing the book and the film have in common is that they both involve a man who is probably one of the last few survivors after a virus strikes the population.

With both though, I'm left with lots of questions that aren't addressed and it's frustrating to be 'almost' at the point of knowing it all, but not quite having enough information. I read the book thinking that the unanswered questions from the film would be answered, but all it's done is given me more questions.
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5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing, and original - even if vampires aren't your things - they will be
Yet another of the sci fi masterworks collection that has grasped my full attention from front page to last - and straight back through again. Read more
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5.0 out of 5 stars Why No Genuine Film Adaptation?
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