The Reapers Are the Angels - DNF Book Review

The Reapers Are the Angels
by Alden Bell

What is it about:
Zombies have infested a fallen America. A young girl named Temple is on the run. Haunted by her past and pursued by a killer, Temple is surrounded by death and danger, hoping to be set free.

For twenty-five 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 on a personal journey toward redemption. Moving back and forth between the insulated remnants of society and the brutal frontier beyond, Temple must decide where ultimately to make a home and find the salvation she seeks.

What did I think of it:
I tried really hard to like this book.
It's got zombies, a dark view of the future and there's one really cool character in this book.

But I had to put it down about half way through, because I couldn't take it anymore.

First there's the writing:
Present tense and in a way that kept dragging me out of the story. Add the fact that there's no use of quotation marks or colons when someone is speaking to that and I can tell you the writing really annoyed me.

Then there's Temple.
I did not like her!
And as she's the main character there was a lot not to like. She also isn't very bright. She didn't give her real name to people, but instead she kept giving the same fake name everywhere, hence nullifying the disguising effect the fake name could have.

No positive things?
Well....
There is one really cool character who I liked from the moment he was introduced. Guess what: he turned out to be the bad guy of this story.....

In the end I just wasn't able to get through this book and if I ever see a book by Bell that sounds interesting, I will make sure it's not in present tense and has proper quotation marks before I decide to give it a try.

Why should you read it:
It has zombies and an intriguing bad guy.