Zombies seem to be very popular these days. There are zombie is video games, zombies on TV shows, and even zombies in books. But one of the things I've noticed about this zombie comeback is that many of the things supposedly about zombies aren't really about zombies. Like The Walking Dead TV show, which is more about people trying to survive, rather than people trying to avoid being turned into zombies. Without the fear of zombiefication, and the loss of life and humanity that comes with it, zombies are really nothing more than attention-grabbing set pieces. Would The Walking Dead really be that much different if, instead of zombies roaming the landscape, the danger was gangs of cannibals or other post-apocalyptic human threats? In my opinion, a zombie story needs real zombies, and the focus of the horror should be zombie-related, not survival-related. In other words, the central conflict of a zombie story should be the struggle to avoid becoming a zombie. Alden Bell's novel, The Reapers are the Angels, follows the same pattern as some other recent zombie works, in that the central focus is general survival in a post-apocalyptic hellscape; zombies are just one of the problems the wannabe survivors face. That's not to say it's a bad novel, but it's disengenous to try and pass it off as a zombie novel.
The Reapers are the Angels tells the story of Temple, a fifteen-year-old girl trying to survive in a zombie-infested hellscape. The thing is, zombies are really a threat to Temple. She has a Buffy-like aplomb for killing, which means that she has little trouble dismembering and beheading the shuffling meatskins, as zombies are called in the novel. Her skill in killing makes the beginning of the novel somewhat hard to fathom. Temple is living in a lighthouse, catching fresh fish for food, and safely removed from society. She sees one zombie wash up on shore and she's all like, "Oh no! I have to run away!" Why not just stay in the lighthouse, which would probably be easy to defend, rather than go roaming around in the wastelands of Florida? It doesn't make any sense.
As Temple continues her travels, she meets people, easily kills zombies, and wanders around. It's not very interesting. It's actually a lot like a not very interesting imitation of Cormac McCarthy's The Road. About halfway through the novel, things start to pick up when Temple kills a man and that man's brother, Moses Todd, vows revenge. Of course, this doesn't make it any more of a zombie novel, because the antagonist is human and zombies are just ancillary background characters.
Things really start to pick up when Temple, still on the run from Moses, finds a mentally retarded man carrying his dead grandmother and a note reading:
Hello! My name is Maury and I wouldn't hurt a fly. My grandmother loves me and wishes she could take care of me forever, but she's most likely gone now. I have family out west. If you find me, will you take me to them? God bless you.
Temple, unable to turn her back on a helpless innocent, makes escorting Maury to Texas her primary goal. Moses is still following them, occasionally making an appearance, but the focus of the novel becomes Temple's efforts at defining herself. Is she a caring young girl capable of protecting and saving for Maury, or is she nothing more than a violent killing machine? In the final third of the novel, zombies become almost non-existent (although there are some mutants that pop in for some odd reason) and the novel becomes much more philosophical. Even the conversations between Temple and Moses concentrate on the nature of evil and Temple's morality. The also fight some mutants, and again, I don't quite understand why the mutants are there.
Although the novel wanders into strange territory for a brief spell, Bell redeems himself with the final showdown between Temple and Moses. It's during this showdown that Temple first seems vulnerable. Fighting zombies and mutants, there's never any question that she's going to win, but the showdown with Moses is brilliantly suspenseful. Bell's talents as a writer are on full display as Temple, facing down the barrel of a gun, evaluates her options and plans her last-ditch effort for survival. I won't reveal the Shakespearean-in-magnitude conclusion, but I will say that it surprised me to the extent that I actually went back and reread a page or two, just to make sure I hadn't misread something. The resolution is shocking, surprising, but not absurd or unbelievable.
It's a shame that the first half of The Reapers are the Angels isn't nearly as good as the second half. In all honesty, you could start reading this novel about ten before the start of Part 2 of the book and it would make perfect sense. It might even be a better novel. Although the novel drags at the beginning, The Reapers are the Angels picks up enough at the end to still be a worthwhile read.
