I Am Legend - Richard Matheson

The paranoid futurism of the last man alive...

I picked this up for such a bargain price, £2 simply could not be passed up. Especially as it's in a fairly good condition and of the SF masterworks range, it was mine. I'd often gazed with lust at this book, yet far to often it's been stupidly overpriced, and for precious little in that its only a mere 160 pages long. This overt grumble aside, i've got it at last and that's all that counts.

This is a book that spans science fiction and horror in equal measure. Written in 1954, Richard Matheson sets the story in the seventies, at a time when the world has been plunged into degradation and decay. Riven by the threat of vampires, humanity is no where to be found, exept for the last human left, Robert Neville.

The strength of this book is simply the main character, reader's looking for something else will not really find it within, as quite simply Neville is an immense and brooding force. Living alone in his barricaded home, by day he makes repairs to his shelter, and stalks about his neighbourhood putting an end to any 'coma' induced vampires. Yet it's at night that his deep frailties are revealed, shackled by the memory of his losses and taunted by the creatures of the night, Neville battles with himself.

The extraordinary thing about this is the tightness of the whole book, it's a very small perspective we get, and as a consequence it's very claustrophobic and gritty. It's also quite hilarious in places, the constant presence of an old friend turned vampire calling 'Come out, Neville' in various chapters worked well to relieve the gloom of Neville's predicament.

As it's so short you don't really get time to explore any of the minor characters, but it didn't detract at all, in fact I didn't really care as the plight and eventual fate of Neville had me on tenterhooks throughout. This is easily the best vampire novel i've read, it also through the use of Science strips the Vampire of its myths in a way that makes them if anything more scarier.

Paranoid and powerful, this book has lots to offer. And what about that ending, it sent ripples of pleasure all through me, wonderful in a word. Read it.

I Am Legend - 10 / 10