I am Legend

Fantastic book, and agree with the posts below, the ending is slightly unexpected (to me at least!) but ultimately uplifting. Marries the SF and horror genres to perfection.

And on the film note, be interesting to see what the upcoming film version starring Will Smith will be like. Not holding out too much hope, but you never know...

If you can see it, the best version of 'I am Legend' is 'The Last Man on Earth' starring Vincent Price. It turns up a lot on the Horror Channel on satellite, because it's out of copyright.

It's a odd American / European co-production, with some out of whack dubbing in places for Ben Cord but is *the* precursor to Night of the Living Dead, and is a great adaptation to boot.

'I am Legend' is an excellent book. It's kind of existential horror, which starts from the logical premise of 'what would you do if you thought you were the last person in a world of vampires'.

It's a compendium of terrific moments, especially if you like to see what surviving an apocalypse might actually be like: dirty, unpleasant and, to a great extent, boring.

Most adaptations miss this, because it's not a story about triumph or saving the world, but a book that consistently asks the question 'Is it clever to survive when surviving is nothing but unpleasant?'

I'd second drew below in recommending 'The Incredible Shrinking Man', there's a lot of similarities.

Cheers,

Mark

The BEST book I have ever read. Totally engrossing from the first chapter.

I read it while on holiday with friends and it was so good all four of us read it before the week was over.

It's hard to believe they made such a mess of it with that Charlton Heston film.

M

Far better than the film.

Agreed and I don't hold out much hope for the new version either.

M

A really good cult book. And The Shrinking Man, also by Matheson is good too.

Gripping. What an ending!