The Reapers Are the Angels

By: Alden Bell

Narrated by: Tai Sammons

Length: 7 hrs and 25 mins

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)

Summer Reads

Would you listen to The Reapers Are the Angels again? Why?

I think a second reading of this book is a must. I did follow the whole plot the first time around, but by the end I was wondering if I missed some clues for the ending.

What did you like best about this story?

I like the premisses of the story, from the point of view of one that have only know the world with zombies and not real history of what was before.

Which character – as performed by Tai Sammons – was your favorite?

Temple was my favorite character.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There no crying in Zombie books. Some parts were sad but not crying.

Any additional comments?

Someone, anyone, should have explained how the world got infested with zombies. I want to know what to look for before the world get eaten by all the zombies. Though the survival techniques were very good.

Favorite book

This is my favorite novel of all time & I loved it! I originally read it years ago & fell in love with the story & characters. I'm so glad I got to revisit it in audio form & revamp my love for this book.

It's ok.

I really liked the first half of this story. But after a point the theme changes and it becomes less of what I was lead to believe from the synopsis. The voice acting was ok I thought the reader's draw was a little awkward but other then that it was a decent story. I still give it 3 because of the tangent the story took and I personally felt the ending leads the reader to believe that there is a greater meaning without bringing it to fruition.

Hemingway McCarthy zombie classic

Would you listen to The Reapers Are the Angels again? Why?

Absolutely. This book felt like poetry. It warmed my soul and chilled my spine.

What did you like best about this story?

description and dialog

What three words best describe Tai Sammons’s voice?

Bit too southern. Excellent narration with the exception of the main character. If the poisonwood bible made you feel at home you will be ok. If you are from up north it might hurt a little.

Was this a book you wanted to listen to all in one sitting?

I could not put this book down. I had to see if Temple would be ok.

Any additional comments?

Did you enjoy Hemingway? Do you think Cormac McCarthy is the bomb? Are you a sucker for descriptions that make you forget your surroundings? Do you like the end of the world books with the occasional zombie thrown in to spice things up? Yes? Then this book is for you.

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.

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.

alden bell pulls it off!

Any additional comments?

Reapers is well written and unique, thrilling and provocative. the characters are engaging and absolutely human. proof there is still some bite left in zombie fiction.

I did not want this to end.

I did not want this to end. 5 stars all the way. Fantastic story. Fantastic reading and performance!!

So Shall It Be in the End of This World

What did you love best about The Reapers Are the Angels?

Bell’s narrative is wonderfully lyrical. He describes the ravaged landscape with a hypnotic merging of beauty and horror. It is a rare thing to want to find the description of a world teeming with living corpses so achingly beautiful, but Bell accomplishes this in spades.

There is a degree of social balance in Bell’s post-zombie-apocalypse not frequently found such stories. Our main characters frequently find people willing to offer selfless assistance. This realism serves to heighten the tension and in no way lessens the horrors we encounter.

And I absolutely LOVE the main character. What a heroine (villain?) Temple reminds me of Hailee Steinfield’s Mattie Ross from True Grit…after Mattie would have progressed so far down a road of loss and revenge that the prospect of personal salvation is no longer visible. Part mindless warrior, part innocent teenager, part mother and protector, Temple is one of those rare characters who defy easy attempts to categorize them. She is a character who isn't sympathetic simply because she is a girl. The author doesn’t spare this “little girl” out of any assumption that her gender makes her either more or less capable…or vulnerable.

After my second experience with this book, I’m convinced it will remain very high in my list of favorites. This book elevates itself out of a simple “zombie” or “apocalypse” genre consideration. It has echoes of McCarthy’s The Road, King’s Dark Tower Series and True Grit.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Reapers Are the Angels?

The scenes with the "Inheritors of the Earth" are as terrifying as anything to be found in horror genres anywhere. Truly (and wonderfully) difficult to read about.

What does Tai Sammons bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

Ms. Sammons made me “see” Temple. She brought out all of the nuances in her character…strengths, weaknesses, doubts, certainties. She nailed Temple’s uneducated, backwoods, long-ago-time accent. Wonderful narration!

If you could take any character from The Reapers Are the Angels out to dinner, who would it be and why?

I have a lot of questions for Moses Todd and need to know so much more about him. We'd have to make sure he wasn't carrying any weapons though.

Any additional comments?

"Doggone it, she says. Why do livin' and dyin' always have to be just half an inch apart." A common zombie-apocalypse theme, the definition of living and dying among the survivors in Temple’s world has overlapped to the point of obscurity.

This theme runs over every element of the story. The world is both glorious and damned and the defining line between the two no longer provides any tangible separation. In the same way, Temple struggles with knowing whether she is a good or evil person. How can a person remain good when mere survival requires such inexact savagery? She is in a constant search for a life not filled solely with survival, death and killing, but, believes she is fundamentally incapable in participating in such a life if she found it.

zombie novel without teenage angst

nicely done. good compact story meant to be complete in a single work. well worth the listen.