Autumn (Autumn, #1) in Apocalypse Whenever

Jun 12, 2011 Rhiannon Frater rated it really liked it · review of another edition

First off, I would like to say David Moody is a very nice man who sent me copies of his first two books, which I greatly appreciated. He also started off self-publishing and landed a book deal, and I am very honored to have followed in his and J.L.Bourne's footsteps.

That being said, I had not had a chance to read his AUTUMN series since its original inception online. Back in the day I read the first chapter, but then swore off zombie stories until I finished my own zombie series, AS THE WORLD DI First off, I would like to say David Moody is a very nice man who sent me copies of his first two books, which I greatly appreciated. He also started off self-publishing and landed a book deal, and I am very honored to have followed in his and J.L.Bourne's footsteps.

That being said, I had not had a chance to read his AUTUMN series since its original inception online. Back in the day I read the first chapter, but then swore off zombie stories until I finished my own zombie series, AS THE WORLD DIES. Therefore, I was excited to dive back into the story and find out what happened after the world died.

First off, I can see why zombie genre fanatics may not like this book. Moody's zombies are NOT the traditional zombie. They do not chow down on the living, but they do become increasingly dangerous as the book continues. I have only read the first two books, so I don't know if the undead ever develop a taste for human flesh, but they do seem intent on squashing all life where they find it. For purists this may diminish the threat from the undead, and I will admit I did miss that element of the story, but Moody did a very good job making the undead dangerous when in vast numbers.

There was quite a few things I really enjoyed about this novel. First off, the death of the entire world is truly horrifying. I also enjoyed how the dead don't immediately get up and start attacking the living. The gradual build up to the undead becoming truly dangerous was enjoyable because it lulled the survivors into a false sense of superiority. Moody's descriptions are also quite vivid and one particular sequence dealing with a running generator and the response of the undead was very well done.

This Texan did have a little trouble with what I realized was a very British response to the events in the book. The folks in this book take the "stiff upper lip" stuff very seriously. At times they show very little emotion, which struck me as odd until I talked to two of my friends who are expatriates of Great Britain. "Oh, yes. That's a very English response," they assured me. This is actually one of the things I ended up liking about the book. It was interesting to see another cultural reaction to the world dying and the undead taking over.

As a post apocalyptic book, this story is very solid. As a "zombie" book, I can see where purists of the genre may get annoyed.

I only give this book four stars because the second book, Autumn: The City, was even better than this one.

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