The Reapers are the Angels

Unable to rate. That ending ...sucked balls..

Iblīs Affliction is a dark, intense, and violent story. Nero Seal takes his characters down paths others would probably fear to tread with the exception of maybe Stephen King. I am not even sure how to label this story other than it a brilliant tale of obsession, bdsm, and discovery. Seal creates so many levels that someone might get lost in the obvious surface level violence, but there is so much more.

This book might be a trigger for some people due to the number of issues it addresses, but it also looks head on into a relationship between Dom and sub. It takes on the issue of coming out or even the idea of sleeping with a man in their society. Choices made and not made. Then the question: what will we accept or not accept for love? Do or not do?

Seal makes you think - well Seal made me think. I have an advantage over some readers as I have experience in the BDSM world so I was not taken aback by the scenes where others might be. It was other areas that made me hit the “pause” button and think and is that not what any good book is supposed to do?

Seal you can take to the dark anytime for the ride might be scary, but damn what a ride.

I received an ARC of this book and I am writing a review without prejudice and voluntarily.

So,I gave this book 5 stars so I feel like I need to write something about it.

This is an amazing novel. And definitely among my top zombie apocalypse stories.

Something that the author managed to keep in mind (that a lot of authors in this category forget) is that the zombies can only ever be the environment of a story, and never a character. This is a human story that happens to be set in a world full of the walking dead.

It's written in third person present tense which was a little off-putting for me at first but the style really lends itself extremely well to the story. It felt like the entire novel was one long sentence (in the best possible way).

I absolutely loved this novel - and, whether you're into apocalypse-stories or not - you should definitely read it.

I picked up this book almost for the express purpose of washing The Forest of Hands and Teeth out of my mind. Same principle - young girl in a zombie-infested world, fighting to survive - but a vastly different story. And man did it accomplish the task.

Actually, The Reapers are the Angels ran counter to a lot zombie stories that I've been exposed to lately. Last night, as I watched The Walking Dead and characters snapped at eachother over nearly getting killed during a run for medical supplies, I could hear Temple in my head, saying something like “It's just the way the world is now, ain't nobody's fault.” I couldn't help but imagine Temple as Rick and Lori's unborn child, grown up alone in a harsh world like Lori predicted, but still meeting good people and seeing beautiful things. Her complacency, her complete adaptation to her world is fascinating in its simplicity and gorgeously portrayed. Temple is friendly and noble at times, but also brutal and occasionally scary, though mostly to herself. I think she's bad ass and has got nothing to be ashamed of, but that's easy to say when its just your post-apocalyptic fantasy rather than your life.

This book is mostly episodic - Temple wanders, meets people, and gets herself in and out of dangerous and sometimes just odd situations. The central storyline though is that of a man, Moses Todd, who is hellbent on executing her for killing his brother, Abraham (yes, those are really their names). Their relationship is bizarre - there's little animosity between them, only a sense of duty, locked in a duel of fates all due to Abraham's stupidity in thinking he could have his way with Temple. As the chase continues they both seem to recognize they may be the only people in the world capable of understanding eachother, but still neither of them lets up. Meanwhile, Temple picks up a mentally handicapped mute and attempts to take him back home, and along the way comes across zombie-eating hunters, hillbillies-turned-mutant junkies, and even kind of falls for a handsome, brooding guy and dresses up in taffeta gowns with his grandmother.

Temple is just incredibly real, so the book doesn't try to go any further than that, but it also doesn't lock itself into a kill-or-be-killed dystopia. Its about not just survival but staying a whole person and staying sane, enjoying the tiny moments of wonder in a world of darkness.

Zombies seem to be very popular these days. There are zombie is video games, zombies on TV shows, and even zombies in books. But one of the things I've noticed about this zombie comeback is that many of the things supposedly about zombies aren't really about zombies. Like The Walking Dead TV show, which is more about people trying to survive, rather than people trying to avoid being turned into zombies. Without the fear of zombiefication, and the loss of life and humanity that comes with it, zombies are really nothing more than attention-grabbing set pieces. Would The Walking Dead really be that much different if, instead of zombies roaming the landscape, the danger was gangs of cannibals or other post-apocalyptic human threats? In my opinion, a zombie story needs real zombies, and the focus of the horror should be zombie-related, not survival-related. In other words, the central conflict of a zombie story should be the struggle to avoid becoming a zombie. Alden Bell's novel, The Reapers are the Angels, follows the same pattern as some other recent zombie works, in that the central focus is general survival in a post-apocalyptic hellscape; zombies are just one of the problems the wannabe survivors face. That's not to say it's a bad novel, but it's disengenous to try and pass it off as a zombie novel.

The Reapers are the Angels tells the story of Temple, a fifteen-year-old girl trying to survive in a zombie-infested hellscape. The thing is, zombies are really a threat to Temple. She has a Buffy-like aplomb for killing, which means that she has little trouble dismembering and beheading the shuffling meatskins, as zombies are called in the novel. Her skill in killing makes the beginning of the novel somewhat hard to fathom. Temple is living in a lighthouse, catching fresh fish for food, and safely removed from society. She sees one zombie wash up on shore and she's all like, “Oh no! I have to run away!” Why not just stay in the lighthouse, which would probably be easy to defend, rather than go roaming around in the wastelands of Florida? It doesn't make any sense.

As Temple continues her travels, she meets people, easily kills zombies, and wanders around. It's not very interesting. It's actually a lot like a not very interesting imitation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. About halfway through the novel, things start to pick up when Temple kills a man and that man's brother, Moses Todd, vows revenge. Of course, this doesn't make it any more of a zombie novel, because the antagonist is human and zombies are just ancillary background characters.

Things really start to pick up when Temple, still on the run from Moses, finds a mentally retarded man carrying his dead grandmother and a note reading:

Hello! My name is Maury and I wouldn't hurt a fly. My grandmother loves me and wishes she could take care of me forever, but she's most likely gone now. I have family out west. If you find me, will you take me to them? God bless you.

Temple, unable to turn her back on a helpless innocent, makes escorting Maury to Texas her primary goal. Moses is still following them, occasionally making an appearance, but the focus of the novel becomes Temple's efforts at defining herself. Is she a caring young girl capable of protecting and saving for Maury, or is she nothing more than a violent killing machine? In the final third of the novel, zombies become almost non-existent (although there are some mutants that pop in for some odd reason) and the novel becomes much more philosophical. Even the conversations between Temple and Moses concentrate on the nature of evil and Temple's morality. The also fight some mutants, and again, I don't quite understand why the mutants are there.

Although the novel wanders into strange territory for a brief spell, Bell redeems himself with the final showdown between Temple and Moses. It's during this showdown that Temple first seems vulnerable. Fighting zombies and mutants, there's never any question that she's going to win, but the showdown with Moses is brilliantly suspenseful. Bell's talents as a writer are on full display as Temple, facing down the barrel of a gun, evaluates her options and plans her last-ditch effort for survival. I won't reveal the Shakespearean-in-magnitude conclusion, but I will say that it surprised me to the extent that I actually went back and reread a page or two, just to make sure I hadn't misread something. The resolution is shocking, surprising, but not absurd or unbelievable.

It's a shame that the first half of The Reapers are the Angels isn't nearly as good as the second half. In all honesty, you could start reading this novel about ten before the start of Part 2 of the book and it would make perfect sense. It might even be a better novel. Although the novel drags at the beginning, The Reapers are the Angels picks up enough at the end to still be a worthwhile read.

Zombies seem to be very popular these days. There are zombie is video games, zombies on TV shows, and even zombies in books. But one of the things I've noticed about this zombie comeback is that many of the things supposedly about zombies aren't really about zombies. Like The Walking Dead TV show, which is more about people trying to survive, rather than people trying to avoid being turned into zombies. Without the fear of zombiefication, and the loss of life and humanity that comes with it, zombies are really nothing more than attention-grabbing set pieces. Would The Walking Dead really be that much different if, instead of zombies roaming the landscape, the danger was gangs of cannibals or other post-apocalyptic human threats? In my opinion, a zombie story needs real zombies, and the focus of the horror should be zombie-related, not survival-related. In other words, the central conflict of a zombie story should be the struggle to avoid becoming a zombie. Alden Bell's novel, The Reapers are the Angels, follows the same pattern as some other recent zombie works, in that the central focus is general survival in a post-apocalyptic hellscape; zombies are just one of the problems the wannabe survivors face. That's not to say it's a bad novel, but it's disengenous to try and pass it off as a zombie novel.

The Reapers are the Angels tells the story of Temple, a fifteen-year-old girl trying to survive in a zombie-infested hellscape. The thing is, zombies are really a threat to Temple. She has a Buffy-like aplomb for killing, which means that she has little trouble dismembering and beheading the shuffling meatskins, as zombies are called in the novel. Her skill in killing makes the beginning of the novel somewhat hard to fathom. Temple is living in a lighthouse, catching fresh fish for food, and safely removed from society. She sees one zombie wash up on shore and she's all like, “Oh no! I have to run away!” Why not just stay in the lighthouse, which would probably be easy to defend, rather than go roaming around in the wastelands of Florida? It doesn't make any sense.

As Temple continues her travels, she meets people, easily kills zombies, and wanders around. It's not very interesting. It's actually a lot like a not very interesting imitation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. About halfway through the novel, things start to pick up when Temple kills a man and that man's brother, Moses Todd, vows revenge. Of course, this doesn't make it any more of a zombie novel, because the antagonist is human and zombies are just ancillary background characters.

Things really start to pick up when Temple, still on the run from Moses, finds a mentally retarded man carrying his dead grandmother and a note reading:

Hello! My name is Maury and I wouldn't hurt a fly. My grandmother loves me and wishes she could take care of me forever, but she's most likely gone now. I have family out west. If you find me, will you take me to them? God bless you.

Temple, unable to turn her back on a helpless innocent, makes escorting Maury to Texas her primary goal. Moses is still following them, occasionally making an appearance, but the focus of the novel becomes Temple's efforts at defining herself. Is she a caring young girl capable of protecting and saving for Maury, or is she nothing more than a violent killing machine? In the final third of the novel, zombies become almost non-existent (although there are some mutants that pop in for some odd reason) and the novel becomes much more philosophical. Even the conversations between Temple and Moses concentrate on the nature of evil and Temple's morality. The also fight some mutants, and again, I don't quite understand why the mutants are there.

Although the novel wanders into strange territory for a brief spell, Bell redeems himself with the final showdown between Temple and Moses. It's during this showdown that Temple first seems vulnerable. Fighting zombies and mutants, there's never any question that she's going to win, but the showdown with Moses is brilliantly suspenseful. Bell's talents as a writer are on full display as Temple, facing down the barrel of a gun, evaluates her options and plans her last-ditch effort for survival. I won't reveal the Shakespearean-in-magnitude conclusion, but I will say that it surprised me to the extent that I actually went back and reread a page or two, just to make sure I hadn't misread something. The resolution is shocking, surprising, but not absurd or unbelievable.

It's a shame that the first half of The Reapers are the Angels isn't nearly as good as the second half. In all honesty, you could start reading this novel about ten before the start of Part 2 of the book and it would make perfect sense. It might even be a better novel. Although the novel drags at the beginning, The Reapers are the Angels picks up enough at the end to still be a worthwhile read.

A pretty good yarn here. Like The Road, something has gone dreadfully wrong, and now there are, well, zombies to contend with. Not a fantasy-type book, but good, solid science fiction. I found this book in a ‘recommended by the librarians' bin at the library, and it was a great surprise