Review: The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell

I received this book for free from Publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not affect my opinion of the book or the content of my review.

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.

It seems that paranormal/horror is becoming so incredibly popular, that even the literati are getting in on it. First, there was The Passage, a literary tale of vampires and the downfall of society. Now, there is The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell, a much more formal take on zombies, than the urban fantasy and YA fare that I am used to.

The Reapers Are The Angels by Alden Bell takes place 25 years after the zombies have risen. Society has completely degraded. People now live in isolated enclaves. Temple, a 16 year old girl, has many secrets. As she roves the land of the living dead, she tries to outrun her past as well as out run a very real foe.

You would think with the countless incantations of zombies, that nothing original can be added to the genre. I mean, how many takes can you have on dead people rising and eating brains? Most of the time with Zombie books you get an insane amount of death, infection, and some gore along the way. It’s typically a lot of action, some questions on society, the end. I have no complaints on that. I quite enjoy those types of stories. The Reapers Are The Angels is different in that there is a literary flavor to the prose, sprinkled with deep meaning, which totally flew over my head.

The style in which this story is told is very similar to The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I guess it is me, but I much prefer stories of apocalypse told in the Stephen King style than in this sort of sophistication. I just connect better with the characters when the writing is less formal.

I rather liked this quote:

“It was a powerful sight and spoke of ingenuity and human pride and the deathless specter of evolution — a thing of mightiness that cast its shadow far out past the road, and beyond that to the fertile plains of America. A country of foolishness and wonderment and capital and perversity.” pg. 88

Other Reviews:

Fishmuffins of Doom

Escapism Through Books

The Discriminating Fangirl

Purchase The Reapers Are The Angels here.

This book read as part of the (R)eaders (I)mbibing (P)eril Challenge.

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April (Books&Wine)

April is in her 30s and created Good Books And Good Wine. She works for a non-profit. April always has a book on hand. In her free time she can be found binge watching The Office with her husband and toddler, spending way too much time on Pinterest or exploring her neighborhood.

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