BOOK REVIEW: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson ★★★★★

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth... but he is not alone. Every other man, woman and child on the planet has become a vampire, and they are hungry for Neville's blood. By day he is the hunter, stalking the unread through the ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for the dawn.

How long can one man survive like this?

Vampires? Now when we think of them we think of the handsome daredevils like Damon Salvatore (The Vampire Diaries), Lestat De Lioncourt (The Vampire Chronicles) and even the sparkly vampire Edward Cullen (the Twilight Saga’s). So what do these vampires have in common? They’re prestige and good looks make you want to be part of the immortal and beautiful lifestyle.

But Matheson vampires do not bring such desires. They bring back the nightmare, the true essence of vampirism, the dead who feed on the living. They’re not glamorous incarnate, they are ugly, dead, pale, cruel with razor sharp teeth, a face that will bring you absolute horror.

I Am Legend is a post-apocalyptic tale following Robert Neville, the last man on earth after an airborne virus has raised the recent dead. The vampires have one need, the need for Rob’s blood. So for many months (a total span of January 1976 to January 1979) Rob works on his house during the day and by night barricades himself in his home, away from hungry infested vampires and prays for the morning light. Every day is the same.

Though his daily activities seem mundane; fixing his house and gathering food, Matheson describes these orders in such a way that it doesn’t feel mundane, rather every step ensures Rob’s survival. Also, Rob has not met a human being in nearly three years so to see him conversing with his conscience about morality and the disease makes you pity him. His loneliness and desolation have made him into an alcoholic. He fights alone and the people he once knew are just memories or worse vampires.

Essentially it is a story about survival, being the last of your kind against a vast majority of bloodthirsty, hideous and immoral vampires. As I read the pages of this 160-page novel, it makes you realise how vital human contact is. Rob has lost his wife and child to this disease and the only way he can go on living it to have a purpose. He investigates the cause and cure for vampirism. I would have suspected that Rob would have tried to commit suicide (after all how can one man go on for that long) and at times he does contemplate that idea but his willingness to come back every time really touches the reader's hearts.

This story explains solitude and despair and yet it inspires and uplifts. I Am Legend makes you think ‘what if that was me? Would I have the endurance to survive?’ When Rob sees an injured dog after many months, he becomes the opposite of miserable, he finds hope, a companion. Yet such things are short lived.

I won’t spoil the tragic ending as it did leave me crying and sad that making you the only man alive in a world of vampires will indeed make Robert Neville a legend.

A highly recommended book: full of suspense, tragedy, horror, wit, edge gripping drama and Rob’s journey to find out the truth but most importantly learning to stay alive.

Rating 5/5
Publishers: Gollancz
First published: 1954
Second date: September 1st 2011
Genre: Horror/Science Fiction