Book review: I Am Legend by Richard Matheson

Buy from Amazon
Buy from B&N

Description:

Robert Neville is the last living man on Earth...but he is not alone. Every other man, woman, and child on Earth has become a vampire, and they are all hungry for Neville's blood.

By day, he is the hunter, stalking the sleeping undead through the abandoned ruins of civilization. By night, he barricades himself in his home and prays for dawn.

How long can one man survive in a world of vampires?

Rating: 4 stars (out of 5)

Review: 
I watched the Will Smith film adaptation of I Am Legend when it came out in 2007, but I haven't read the book until now. There are big differences between the movie and the book, and these comments apply only to the book.

I felt like I really got into the mind of Robert Neville, the last man on Earth, when I read this. I saw his daily routine, his fears, and his spirals into despair because he's alone. However, the problem with being the last man on Earth and having a daily routine that keeps you alive is that there isn't as much action as I would've liked. The first half of the book dragged a little, and I didn't regain interested until (spoiler alert) he met the dog. The second half was a little better. Overall, like the movie, this book was good but somewhat boring at times.

The end was a bit of a surprise to me, considering what happened in the movie. I'm not saying that it's better or worse, but if you were expecting the movie to be a faithful adaptation of the book, you should look elsewhere.