I am Legend and the Road are both post-apocalyptic fiction and both are so different that I can't really portray it in writing.
I did have a favourite. A very clear favourite. I may show signs of bias in the review due to the fact I do prefer one of them, but reviews are factories where facts go in and little packets of bias come out.
I am Legend is a book where everyone has been destroyed by an illness and come back as a vampire (apparently it's very early vampire fiction and trust me it's not Twilight). The Road is about a father and son travelling to the sea in a world where we've run out of oil. And oh my is it depressing.
I am Legend is something I enjoyed reading. Nothing much happens, I find, in post-apocalyptic fiction because books are about people and relationships, and the characters are the only ones who aren't dead. But Matheson deals with that quite well, with the vampires and all that.
The main plot is where the Robert Neville, the protagonist, tries to find a cure to the disease and spends time researching this. However, Neville gets drunk a lot of the book and is alone the rest of the time because of the trauma he went through which becomes clear through out the novel. I found the pacing a little too quick towards the end when things start to happen which I thought was a shame because overall the book is really quite good and really well pulled off.
The main plot is where the Robert Neville, the protagonist, tries to find a cure to the disease and spends time researching this. However, Neville gets drunk a lot of the book and is alone the rest of the time because of the trauma he went through which becomes clear through out the novel. I found the pacing a little too quick towards the end when things start to happen which I thought was a shame because overall the book is really quite good and really well pulled off.
The Road, however, is a massive juxtaposition compared to the glamourous world of the vampire. It's the most depressing book I have ever read. There are a lot of positive things about this novel. The writing style is ever so clever. There are no speech marks in the novel as there are only really two characters so if one person isn't talking the other person would be. The speech is very monosyllabic and simple and then the next sentence will be a Fitzgerald-like complicated sentence.
But the "good guys" thing was shocking, harrowing and utterly haunting. The Road is one of those books that you read but stays with you for a really long time afterwards. It's brilliantly written but it's so depressing I wouldn't recommend it. I'm sorry.
But the "good guys" thing was shocking, harrowing and utterly haunting. The Road is one of those books that you read but stays with you for a really long time afterwards. It's brilliantly written but it's so depressing I wouldn't recommend it. I'm sorry.
I am Legend trumps The Road. By a long way. The Road is just so depressing as a novel and I am Legend is quite enjoyable, but they're not my favourite books of the haul. Both are brilliantly written but easy to read which is unusual. If you want a beautifully written book, I'd recommend either.
I am Legend Links:
Book Depository Link: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/I-Am-Legend-Richard-Matheson/9780575079007?a_aid=SophieCharlotte
Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14064.I_Am_Legend
I am Legend Links:
Book Depository Link: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/I-Am-Legend-Richard-Matheson/9780575079007?a_aid=SophieCharlotte
Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/14064.I_Am_Legend
The Road links:
Book Depository Link: http://www.bookdepository.co.uk/Road-Cormac-McCarthy/9780330447546?a_aid=SophieCharlotte
Goodreads link: http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/6288.The_Road
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