The Reapers Are the Angels
A Novel
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4.4 • 72 Ratings
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- $12.99
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- $12.99
Publisher Description
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.
“Alden Bell provides an astonishing twist on the southern gothic: like Flannery O'Connor with zombies.” —Michael Gruber, New York Times bestselling author of The Book of Air and Shadows
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
Born into a crumbling society plagued by zombies, all 15-year-old Temple knows is to kill or be killed. When she is assaulted at a safe house, she murders her human attacker, Abraham Todd, and runs from his vengeful brother, Moses. Temple soon acquires a traveling partner, a slow mute by the name of Maury, and begrudgingly takes responsibility for his care, remembering a young boy she swore to protect but couldn't save. Fleeing Moses, the "meatskins," and her own battered conscience, Temple still finds moments of simple joy in the brutal world. Bell (a pseudonym for Joshua Gaylord, author of Hummingbirds) has created an exquisitely bleak tale and an unforgettable heroine whose eye for beauty and aching need for redemption somehow bring wonder into a world full of violence and decay.
Customer Reviews
Zombie Prose
Like the Blood Meridian of zombie apocalypse!
Don’t waste your time
Slow, pointless, unbelievable and utterly boring.
Surprisingly good
The prose is barebones, in the way that Carmac McCarthy is. But it's my opinion this is a author who speaks in a similar voice, not trying to imitate someone else's. The way this novel is written suits the story, and the narrator's voice, though everyone won't enjoy it as much as others.
For me, I was so gratefully surprised at how fantastic this book is - I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, I almost wish I hadn't just so I could go through the experience of reading it again for the first time.
For fans of this genre that are craving more depth and quiet substance in between the hack and slash, I'd highly recommend it.