Autumn: The City [Paperback]

In David Moody's follow-up to the acclaimed zombie novel, Autumn, we are introduced to several new characters. Donna Yorke is an office worker who went in early on that fateful morning when all the world seemed to collapse into utter desolation. Paul Castle was also at work when everyone around him died horrible deaths. Jack Baxter was coming home from work when the apparent disease hit. After hiding out in his home for several days, he ventured out into the vastly changed city where he meets up with Clare, a young girl who helplessly sat and watched her father die and has endured alone on the street while watching the dead rise again. Meanwhile, Doctor Croft and several others have found some comfort and safety hiding within a university accommodation block.

Cooper is a member of the military who has spent weeks in a secret base, hidden from the goings-on of the outside world. When he is ordered to emerge from the base to obtain a status report along with several others, what he finds is more appalling than anyone from that tucked away sanctuary had surmised. When Cooper's military reconnaissance troop leaves him behind, he eventually meets up with the group living within the college dormitories and they all quickly turn to him for some semblance of hope.

However, Emma and Michael, from the previous novel, also make an appearance. Since leaving the farmhouse, the two have been on the run in a motor home, seeking safety. When they come across the military vehicles entering and exiting the nearby hidden base, they decide to find a way into the shelter. It should be noted that these two do not show up until almost halfway through the novel.

Though still just as intriguing as the previous novel, I found many parts to be rather slow. In addition, it was both interesting and tedious to read about the whole ordeal all over again. I found reading about the death and disease from different viewpoints to be a fascinating way to begin the novel. Yet, it also seemed rather redundant in many respects for those who have read the previous novel to have to re-hash the previous occurrences. That does, however, enable people who have not read the novels predecessor to pick up this book without having missed much at all. Furthermore, Moody's zombies don't seem to have evolved much more in this book than they had in the previous one. Throughout the first novel, the risen dead are in constant flux, becoming more and more attuned to their surroundings and evolving ever-so-slightly with each passing day. In Autumn: The City, there seems to be little progression in this respect. Autumn: The City doesn't take the opportunity to build very much off of the foundation laid by it's predecessor.

It should also be noted that this is not a series in which you will find lots of action and gore. The scares and drama found herein are much more subtle. However, that is not to say that these books are any less worthy of a read. They are simply geared less towards the in-your-face splatter horror audience.

Though I didn't find this novel as enthralling as the first, I will still go on to read Autumn: Purification. Despite some minor qualms, I still highly recommend this series to anyone who is a fan of zombie fiction.

David Moody, Autumn: The City (Infected Books, 2003)

David Moody's Autumn Quartet continues on with The City, a book that starts out concurrently to Autumn. Don't expect to see your dysfunctional heroes from that book for a while, unfortunately; you've got a new crop of characters to think about here.

This is an ensemble piece, more than the last book was; there can't be said to be any real main character. There's a ragtag band of survivors who start off apart, mostly, but come together piece by piece. There's also a military installation who sally forth now and again to try and assess the situation, two of whose members get left behind during one mission. And, eventually, a few folks from the first novel show up, so we come full circle.

The book suffers a bit from middle-novel syndrome (Autumn was, remember, originally envisioned as a trilogy); we have new characters, but the basic situation is the same, and this isn't helped by the fact that we know what's in store for the first half or so of this book, having read the first novel. It picks up once the timeline merges with the end of the first book, and the ending was the strongest section of the book (it got me to pick up Purification immediately to find out what was coming next). So the series flags a bit, but a slow start leads to a strong finish. Don't give up halfway through. ***

I was a fan of the first Autumn book so I quickly bought this and the 3rd book Purification. I figured that the first book was basically a setup, a quiet before the real storm. Perhaps my expecations were too high for blood and gore and gruesome deaths because this series really isn't about all of that. Sure, its descriptive when it comes to the decaying zombies and what the world has become. But if you're looking for some Romero-style attacks, gore, killings, this series comes up a little short.

The City introduces us to some new characters since the first book, which is cool as you get to experience the zombie rising all over gain from completely different perspectives. Thankfully, our heroes from the fist book reappear, even if as a subplot.

What's good about City is the descriptive outlook of the city and the surrounding areas. Reading various people's reactions is interesting and things move at a solid pace.

What's not as good is that Moody loves to bog down the story in generic reactions (How many times can a character react the same, angry way to the situation?) and the story grinds to a halt at times as we wait for the characters who will fight to weed through all the whining and complaining of those who won't. Certainly its necessary to show all the reactions, but we got the point the first 7 times someone said "What's the point?"

If you enjoyed the first book, you're probably going to go for this one as well. And if you go that far, you'll want to find out what happens in Purification (a decent, if not thrilling, conclusion).