• The Reapers Are the Angels

  • By: Alden Bell
  • Narrated by: Tai Sammons
  • Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins
  • 4.1 out of 5 stars (396 ratings)

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The Reapers Are the Angels  By  cover art

The Reapers Are the Angels

By: Alden Bell
Narrated by: Tai Sammons
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Publisher's summary

For 25 years, civilization has survived in meager enclaves, guarded against a plague of the dead. Temple wanders this blighted landscape, keeping to herself and keeping her demons inside her heart. She can’t remember a time before the zombies, but she does remember an old man who took her in and the younger brother she cared for until the tragedy that set her off on her personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulted remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.

©2010 Alden Bell (P)2010 Blackstone Audio

Critic reviews

“Bell (a pseudonym for Joshua Gaylord, author of Hummingbirds) has created an exquisitely bleak tale and an unforgettable heroine whose eye for beauty and aching need for redemption somehow bring wonder into a world full of violence and decay.” ( Publishers Weekly)

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What listeners say about The Reapers Are the Angels

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Overall
  • 4 out of 5 stars
  • 5 Stars
    169
  • 4 Stars
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  • 3 Stars
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  • 2 Stars
    26
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Performance
  • 4.5 out of 5 stars
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  • 4 Stars
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Story
  • 4 out of 5 stars
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    145
  • 4 Stars
    117
  • 3 Stars
    53
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    12

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  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Literary Limbo-ing

A GOOD dystopian read, including some of those inhabited by *reconstituted beings*,the zompirepocalypse reads (i.e. I Am Legend, World War Z, The Strain,only book one--) is one of the hardest books to find, in my opinion, and one of the most fun. I loved The Road; Dog Stars will always be my favorite, there's Alas Babylon, Brave New World, Hunger Games, The Handmaid's Tale,...take me away dystopia. But I draw the line pretty sharply between GOOD and HOKEY ( a few hokey limbo-ing under the pole/line occasionally).

This book was suggested to me, I took one look at the cover and muttered to myself, "yeah, sure." But then I scrolled through my library and saw the jacket for Patient Zero, which I liked something awful. We never judge books by their covers....Reapers was a great surprise -- not so much about the *reconstituted* (aka *zombies*) at all, but more of a philosophical survival story western style, with a heart. Young Temple is anything but polished, born into a time that has always known the *meatskins*, danger, survival, and almost self-raised, or feral. Her survivalist nomadic life is interrupted when she saves a lumbering gentle giant that is mentally challenged and unable to speak. The narrator handles these one-sided discussions aimed at the wall of a man with warmth and heart--Temple talks about her own moral judgements, memories, and losses during her brief but difficult life, as the two of them embark on a quest Temple feels honor bound to see to the end. One of the bigger surprises was the quality of writing--really nicely done with some touching insights. Personally, I enjoyed this more than Cronin's Passage books (and it's only 7 hrs. long - and $9 on sale!) *but will refrain from final judgement on that until the series wraps. Whether you are looking for a little diversion before diving into Moby Dick (couldn't pass it up at $9.66), or tired of looking up pictures of cute puppies while you anxiously await the re-release of the expanded World War Z, you just might find this a pleasantly unpleasant book to spend time with. (BTW check out the Tibetan Mastiff puppy!)

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25 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

I wish this book was three times as long

We've been inundated with zombie stories over the past few years, and I've read a lot of derivative, not especially interesting stuff. So I give Alden Bell credit for putting together a well-written story with a couple of fantastic characters. This book sucked me right in, and I enjoyed the heck out of it.

I understand the complaint that the world of this book is not entirely sketched out. Clearly the author didn't set out to write that particular story, though I wish he would have. The story is instead focused on a young girl who has grown up in this zombie infested world and kind of accepts it as her reality. If you want some long, epic book about the end of the world, you can always check out Stephen King's THE STAND or Cronin's THE PASSAGE.

If you've read THE HUNGER GAMES or any of that trilogy and enjoyed it, I would recommend this book to you. The main character reminds me some of that book's heroine. Although fair warning, this is not a YA title and has some graphic, gruesome stuff in it.

This is probably really a four star book in my opinion. But I thought the only other review on here was so wildly off base, I wanted to give it the full five stars and encourage people to check it out. I was pleasantly surprised how good this was and really wished it would have gone on longer.

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24 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

AMAZING

I suspect those who will dislike this book, and the reviewer who panned it, are looking for the typical zombie action story - with loads of gore and action and maybe a bit of medical/scientific explanation of what zombies are... Hasn't that been thoroughly explored and enacted though in loads of other zombie fiction? It is troubling how "zombie" seems to imply all kinds of required stereotypes and expectations that limit what the story can be.

Fortunately, this, like many other great stories featuring zombies, is not a slave to those expecations and stereotypes. It has its share of action and intrigue and mysteries and it is an amazing survival story, but more than that, is a deeply philosophical tale, and a psychological exploration of hope, loneliness, alienation, grief, loss and perserverance. The characters are truly compelling and well explored and developed, and some of the relationships are truly profound. There are no easy, simple, predictable good guys and bad guys, but rather complex human beings in an inconceivable scenario making what htey can of it. It is a very intriguing and intelligent exploration, but at the same times, a very entertaining and fast moving tale. The main character is absolutely amazing.

I was riveted to the story, and think it is a real accomplishment. It moves along very nicely too, is never boring, never gets bogged down, and progresses with purpose toward an amazing resolution. I highly recommend it.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    1 out of 5 stars

horrible

This is the worst audiobook I've listened to since joining audible. If you are looking for a zombie tale, don't get this book. If you are looking for a suspensefull thrill, don't get this book. If you are looking for a harrowing story that examines the human condition, don't get this book. If you are looking for stong characters and a cohesive story, don't get this book. I hate to be so harsh, but this is the first time I have reacted so strongly to having wasted a credit.


The story line is so thin that it should be condensed into a short story. The world of the story is not fleshed out at all, almost no details about how the world has changed since the zombie uprising. The fact that the story takes place after the apocolypse seems to be an afterthought. The characters are incredibly flat and boring, there is no internal conflict whatsoever. The pacing is slow and monotonous. And the dialogue was stodgy, and clumsy.


Not only is this book poorly written, but the narration is horrible, almost laughable at times. I kept thinking, 'Am I supposed to be taking this seriously?' The narator read with no feeling whatsoever, and her dialect work was atrocious, if not insulting. I don't expect narrators to be dialect experts, but, at the very least i expect them not to make one demensional characatures of the characters they are supposed to be protraying. And what's worse, every character sounded the same, she made no effort at all to distinguish them. She did an incredible diservice to a novel that was already in trouble.


I was expecting an exciting zombie story, with an unusual heroine. Instead I got not only a wasted credit, but a wasted 7 hours and 25 minutes. If I could give this less than one star I would.

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10 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

More Than Just Another Zombie Tale

Turns out zombie stories can be more than gory 2D character, plot-driven action or parody add-ons to classic tales. Bell has written a story where the living dead are both real and metaphor. If you???re looking for action or parody, you can miss the richness of the metaphors and the mirrors: life and death, male and female, civilized and uncivilized, rule-bound and chaotic, care-giver and cared-for, father and daughter, god and godless.

Temple is a 15 year old girl who cannot remember her parents. She remembers living in an orphanage for awhile, but then it was overrun by zombies. For a long time she lived in the wild with a younger boy who may have been her brother. They lived with a kindly man for a few years until he was bitten by a zombie. Now the younger boy is gone and Temple wanders post-apocalyptic North America with a dignity and morality so often missing in stories of survival and the decay of civilization.

Sadly, for all the good Temple is and does, she thinks herself evil and seeks redemption. Temple is able to take care of herself against the best of enemies with all the skills heroes possess. She still has a vulnerability, a child-like quality, an innocence that caused her to be vulnerable to self-retribution that pained me and invited me to worry for, care for her and feel protective of the zombie slayer.

The richness of this story is not just in contrast to the usual thinness of these stories. It is a stand alone masterpiece that will mostly go unappreciated only because of the genre to which it???s been relegated. Too bad. It???s a rich emotional adventure described by Publishers Weekly as ???an exquisitely bleak tale and an unforgettable heroine whose eye for beauty and aching need for redemption somehow bring wonder into a world full of violence and decay.???

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7 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Not really about zombies at all...

It's a zombie novel that isn't really about zombies at all. It's about a girl trying to find a way to live in a world by herself. Or maybe it's about a girl trying to find some meaning in the world in which she finds herself alone?

There was a bit of "right versus wrong" but it was hardly preachy at all (very well done). There was no justification or explanation for the zombies, they just were - and this was believable within the story because it was realistic that Temple would not know the history that led to the world being the way it was.

I think the end was a bit of a let down because I had expected Temple to be something more than she was. Not that the ending was bad, but I had it in my head that Temple was not just human. But anyway...

It was a very thoughtful adventure story, with a female main character (usually these types of novels have male protagonists) who was technically only 16ish but was written maturely enough that it didn't feel at all like a young adult novel. I don't recall any swearing or graphic sex (but it is possible that I am desensitized to both and just didn't notice it being there). The narration was also very good.

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5 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Not your grandma's zombies

I was very pleasantly surprised by this story. First, the narrator was perfect. The story, against all logic moved right along and held my interest. I'm an avid fan apocalyptic/post-apocalyptic/dystopian/speculative fiction. The angle this author chose was challenging and inspired. I am NOT, as a rule, a fan of zombies in general; (I find there are too many of them in public office of late) but, if you, too, aren't fan, don't let that put you off this title. It's unusual and thought-provoking.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Amazing Book

This book dives heavily into the ideas behind a population dealing with an absurdist reality, and those people trying to find meaning within it. It's beautiful and heartbreaking. I highly recommend The Reapers are the Angels.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Zombies meet fallout

Not your typical zombie novel...it had feelings of the video game Fallout about it. Narrator did a great job.

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1 person found this helpful

  • Overall
    3 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    4 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    3 out of 5 stars

Post Apocalyptic (with a zombie here and there)

Matthew 13:

"His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

He answered, “The one who sowed the good seed is the Son of Man. The field is the world, and the good seed stands for the people of the kingdom. The weeds are the people of the evil one, and the enemy who sows them is the devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and THE REAPERS ARE THE ANGELS..

“As the weeds are pulled up and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age. The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will weed out of his kingdom everything that causes sin and all who do evil. They will throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears, let them hear."

Not sure what this title has to do with the rest of the book. ?

Other than an occasional nod to Christianity, this book is in no other way representative of Christ or Christians. Honor killing/revenge seem to be the underlying emphasis, while the primary thrust of the story seems to be only to survive in a messed up world without losing one's moral compass; The problem I have with that idea, is that the two main characters who illustrate this notion, have their own individual idea about morality. The dichotomy of Individual morals and Christian morals seems irreconcilable. If the author hadn't insisted on creating a connection to Christianity, and then departing from it, it might have carried more weight.

Performance was Tai Sammons solid and entertaining.

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1 person found this helpful