9780805092431The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell, also known in real life as Joshua Gaylord, is an illustrative and introspective tale of one girl’s zombie apocalypse survival.  Temple, or Sarah Mary, was born into this world and while she does not understand what the modern world around her was once for, she understands clearly at fifteen years old what her world is at her present and in each unique moment.

This is not your ordinary zombie story, emphasized by the fact zombies have been renamed slugs, and should absolutely be read by even those not yet in love with the bloody zombie realm.  While still an action packed tale, with guns wielded, punches thrown and weathered and even starring Temple’s own gurkha blade, the zombie world is a background setting for highlighting our main character’s reflections, simplicity and growth in a grey world streaked with red.

Bell’s zombie tale is not the scientific apocalypse story I usually indulge in.  What often appeals to me are descriptions and predictions of what the world would be like in a truly end of world scenario.  I definitely had to get over that search while reading The Reapers are the Angels as this takes place 25 years after the supposed end and yet electricity is often found still active and gas still available at the pumps.  Is this a likely situation based on scientific or probable facts?  No, but the story is not about the specifics of society crumbling.  Rather the story is Temple’s, more focused on her travels, her inner dialogue and particularly her simple survival based perspective and emotions.  Understanding and accepting this took me a little while, as I really had to let go of my analytical mindset I carried into reading this book.  However, once I let go and jumped into the current of Temple’s story and thought process, the specifics stopped distracting me and I got caught up in her story.

The format of the novel illustrates Temple’s story in a poetic manner, accomplishing a spiritual and metaphysical undercurrent and theme that would not have been possible had the story been written in a more straightforward way.  Not only are the words themselves lending to this process, but also the unique format of not utilizing dialogue punctuation.  The lack of rigid formatting helps create the sensation that the reader is actually privy to Temple’s thoughts, as the text comes across more as free thought process than an outlined story telling.

In that same sense, The Reapers are the Angels is not only Temple’s story told to the reader so that the reader may understand from their own perspective, but rather it is told so that the reader understands from Temple’s perspective.  The descriptions of the world fallen apart around her, of the small but majestic miraculous moments she encounters on her journeys as well as the reflective more spiritual thoughts, are all expressed through her own eyes.  Her descriptions are a little off to our own eyes because she sees the broken world through unpracticed and uneducated eyes, not truly understanding necessarily what the old world was for, what our buildings, actions and purposes were.  Her assumptions appear innocent with a lack of current knowledge but also jaded in how her own perspective differs so greatly towards a simple survivalist mindset.

Throughout the story I wondered who the angels were and who the reapers were and why they were considered the same.  I believe that has to be taken from Temple’s perspective there again to make any sense.  Perhaps Temple is a reaper for her surprising and confident skill in slaughtering the slugs but perhaps this also makes her an angel, putting the poor souls out of their misery.  Perhaps she sees death as a relief and therefore the reapers who take both the living and the undead are angels in her self-taught eyes.

This thought reminded me so much of Season 5 Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s vision that death was her gift and I wondered throughout the book if that wasn’t what Temple was doing, just fitting in as many adventures and miracles before she is relieved of her duty of being alive and can in the future be reaped by the angels.  Temple believes she has destructive and evil tendencies, also felt through her miraculous and self-feared aptitude in violence.  I think perhaps she may therefore see both angels and reapers outside of her realm of possibilities, since she has lived through so much she should not have and all due to her inclination towards violent solutions.

I highly recommend reading The Reapers are the Angels to anyone who like to read.  Zombie aficionados can appreciate a new take on a classic idea.  Young adults and adults alike will cheer our young main character’s rebellious spirit and the gratuitous violence.  Literary fiction lovers will enjoy both the prose and reflective qualities of the tale.  Alden Bell created an unique post apocalyptic world where hoards of putrefying slugs coexist with the awe inspiring miracles of nature and our Temple knows how to appreciate it all, whether she recognizes that fact or not.

 

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