I Am Legend's historical importance stems from its unique--and, for its time, revolutionary--portrayal of vampires. In contrast to the debonair aristocrat of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Matheson's vampires are for the most part grungy footsoldiers, slogging through muck and countless dangers to attack this short novel's protagonist, Robert Neville. Unfortunately, because the story is told entirely through Neville's point of view, we don't get to understand these vampires as much as we would like.

Indeed, much of the book is concerned with Neville's research into what makes the vampires what they are. In another contrast to Stoker, Matheson has constructed a scientific explanation for his blood-sucking creations, which Neville slowly uncovers.

Because much of the plot of the novel is centered around Neville's research, the story can at times be slow. However, the placid flow of the story picks up quite a bit by the end. Most impressively, throughout the novel Matheson constructs a convincing atmosphere of loneliness and dread--perhaps the most striking and compelling similarity between this book and its literary predecessors.

Copyright © 2001 Steven Wu