Wednesday, November 3, 2010

The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell

If I were still a member of the Alex Awards committee, I'd be nominating this adult novel as soon as possible! It's creepy and deliciously good. It's suspenseful, but not choppy. It's beautifully written (a little too verbose for me in parts) and very, very descriptive. And it's about zombies.

Temple is on her own wandering around (think The Forest of Hands and Teeth) and she reminds me of River Tam from Firefly. Temple can kick some booty, especially dead booty. But her internal struggle is like that of River's. Sure, Temple can kill and protect the weak. But she's still killing zombies, and even some alive humans in the process. She's searching for salvation, wandering across America searching for a reason to live.

Now, why didn't I give it 5 stars? I'm sorry, but no paragraph should ever consist of one sentence that is 16 lines long (as seen on page 177). I don't care if I'm reading a fun novel or high-fa-luting literature, that just isn't necessary.

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