This is a short story, easy to read in one day.

Spoilers ahead!

The first thing I noticed about ‘I am Legend’ (the book), was how different it is to the film starring Will Smith.

Published in 1954, the story is about a vampire apocalypse. It features a curmudgeonly main character who is the last man alive.

I definitely found it gripping, and it helps that it’s an easy read. But it wasn’t horrifying to me. Rather it has a quirky sense of humour a lot of the time.

I didn’t really get the phrase ‘I am legend’ at the end. I think the idea is that before, vampires were the stuff of legends. But now, the regular man is the legend, since he is the last one remaining and will become mythologised as a monster in the new vampire society.

My favourite part was the relationship between the main character and his former friend turned vexatious neighbourhood vampire. This chubby nocturnal enemy comes each night to disturb the main character’s sleep by yelling at his house. Eventually the main character becomes habituated to this, and it turns into an almost comforting game of cat and mouse.

The book follows the usual lines of a typical male sexual fantasy in the apocalypse genre: An attractive younger woman conveniently becomes available and will surely repopulate the earth with the main character, regardless of his flaws. Yawn.

When the main character violently chases down a female character her breasts accidentally become exposed. How convenient and titillating. Shortly afterwards she can’t help falling in love with him. Ugh.

The main character is constantly considering how he can fulfil his sexual urges. Options include dead bodies and unconscious vampires. So I enjoyed the twist when he gets his head clobbered in by a love interest. How fun!

I would say I appreciated this story, but didn’t love it. The writing style needed a bit more bite for me.

So I’m going to give it a well deserved 2 out of 5 wooden stakes.

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Review: The Slizzers by Jerome Bixby

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