The story takes place in the post apocalyptic time of Neville, but flashes back to how things go that way throughout. His theory is that when he was bit by a bat in Panama, he was injected with a small amount of the virus thus building his immunity before the plague that destroyed civilization. Neville seems to be the only person immune to the disease which he calls Vampirus. It is also the last piece of his old life that he can cling to, he wonders what it would be like if he were actually to finish the job and if he even really wants that to happen. Neville enjoys the thrill of hunting for Cortman, it is something familiar.

That of course, though, is my applying today's standards of the 'zombie apocalypse' trope to the work that many say began the genre. Cortman yells out his name during the night and taunts him, I found this detail strange because the vampires are so zombie like that I didn't expect them to talk. Most of Neville's days consist of gathering resources, driving stakes into the undead vampires, and hunting down his old friend and neighbor Ben Cortman.

He researches this virus and finds out that it is spread in the blood, he believes that he can create a vaccine for it. He is the only person left that he knows of, not a man, woman, or child has survived the virus that has spread. The story follows Neville on his terrible journey through an apocalyptic wasteland.

The only film adaptation I have seen so far is The Last Man on Earth starring Vincent Price, but I hope to watch the others when I am able. Of course it is not zombies, but zombie-like vampires in the story that are haunting our main character, Robert Neville. It is also thought to be an igniting force behind the zombie apocalypse genre. There have been three large film adaptations (to my knowledge), one of which I will be reviewing in the future. I Am Legend is Richard Matheson's masterpiece which has left a large mark on modern horror. But things as fragile as a thought, a dream, a legend, they can go on and on.' 'The unreal is more powerful than the real, because nothing is as perfect as you can imagine it, because it's only intangible ideas, concepts, beliefs, fantasies that last. First edition cover, published by Gold Medal Books.

Was i am legend monsters vampires