31 Days of Halloween { review } The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell
The Reapers Are the Angels by Alden Bell. © 2010 Henry Holt and Company. ISBN 9780805092431. Trade Paperback. Horror. 225 pages. Source: I received an ARC from Henry Holt, but this review is based off a finished copy I won. The unread ARC will be given away in one of our Halloween prize packs.
Synopsis: Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.
For twenty-five years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can’t remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.
Review: Temple was born into a world of chaos. In all her 15 years, she has never known anything more than the dilapidated cities, ruthless citizens fighting to survive and the zombies that are the cause of it all–and how to kill both. Armed with her Gurkha blade, a childlike-faith in God and haunted by her inner demons, The Reapers Are the Angels follows Temple on a journey through a post-apocalyptic American South, where there’s more to fear than meatskins, there’s thugs, rapists and just plain crazy people. This is not a happy story—think The Road meets The Walking Dead—but it is so absorbing.
Alden’s writing is amazing (and I think this is the first story ever that I have read that did not include one single quotation mark). His power of description is stunning, and he somehow made a novel about zombies … beautiful. The psychological depth of the novel is fantastic and realistic. Temple may not be book smart, but she is a soulful poet and is deeply haunted by the mistakes of her past.
If you are looking simply for a book with gore and walking dead people, I’d suggest looking elsewhere. The book has that, but it’s really a book for those who like a little, pardon the pun, meat alongside their horror. I’m giving this a 4/5.
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