REVIEW: Autumn by: David Moody

After 99 percent of the population of the planet is killed in less than twenty-four hours, for the very few who have managed to stay alive, things are about to get much worse.

Animated by phase two of some unknown contagion, the dead begin to rise. At first slow, blind, dumb and lumbering, quickly the bodies regain their most basic senses and abilities: sight, hearing, locomotion, as well as the instinct toward aggression and violence. Held back by only the restraints of their rapidly decomposing flesh, the dead seem to have only one single goal- to lumber forth and destroy the sole remaining attraction in the silent, lifeless world: those who have survived the plague, who now find themselves, outnumbered one million to one.

Okay, I have wanted to read this book for a long time now. I have heard a lot of good things about this book and I understand that this book has quite the fan base. I also understand that this novel has been adapted into a film of the same title.

Plot: The plot is well proposed and I enjoyed the story itself. David Moody developed a good story line in this novel. He avoids a lot of the old clichés but still keeps true to some of the customs that comes with writing zombie fiction. What I did not read anywhere in this book was anybody saying “You must kill them by destroy their brain” which is a staple phrase in all zombie novels. But this novel isn’t about the zombies; it’s more about the human condition than anything else.

Now would people consider the creatures in this novel ‘zombies?’ Well of course yeah, they fit under all the categories of what makes a zombie, despite the fact that never at any point does anybody use the word ‘zombie’. Somebody also told me that in the Night of the Living Dead, the word Zombie is never used. (I haven’t seen the movie in quite some time so I cannot deny or confirm this allegation, but it sounds familiar) and maybe when the author never uses the word zombie, maybe he is giving a respectful nod to George A Romero. The ending I felt was a little lackluster, almost disappointing. I was expecting some philosophy and significance to the title but it wasn’t utilized, which again, disappointed me a little.

Pace: The pace of this story would be considered slow in the eyes of many readers. The author takes his time between pivotal scenes to establish a setting and to help further inoculate the reader with the psychological horror of the story. Now this choice of pace does have its pros and cons. By slowing down the pace of the story, he can lose the interest of many American readers. The average American reader wants a fast paced action story, and by writing in the pace he does, he may lose the interest or attention of many readers. But the great thing about writing with a pace like this is that he can project a much more beautiful piece of writing. By slowing down the pace, he was able to delve into the minds of the characters and into a little philosophy. So, He seemed to do this well and I applaud him for taking the more artistic route of slowing down the pace, pieces like this help the genre’s image.

Gore: These pages aren’t overloaded with gore and this is good. I am not a fan of reading a piece where nearly every page is gore bound, but when he does describe the gore, he does it with a grotesque touch that is admirable. He is also to keep an image of the undead that will resonate with the reader, and he does it appropriately.

Realism: This is perhaps the most realistic horror novel I am ever read. The characters are real and how they act is realistic. Like I always say “Realism is one of the most important elements to horror” This book keeps it real in all regions whether it be Psychological or just plain logical. He also displays fear very well in this story, and with a realistic and dismal tone laced with it. When it comes to stories about Fear itself concerning the undead, this is one of the top ones.

Characters: The characters seemed very weak at the beginning of the story but they evolved at a good pace as the story progressed. I was a little worried at the beginning of the story because the foundation of which he set his characters was weak, but he managed to climb out of that hole and he was able to give the characters life. He portraits their different personalities fairly well and how it affects their judgments as individuals and as a group.

Writing: The writing was well done. His use of words is very appropriate and they are well placed. Sometimes I found the odd word here and there that just didn’t fit, but this was Moody’s first novel and that is understandable, but overall the language was coherently presented.

Overall, this was a good read. The characters were relatable and they presented real emotion which went hand in hand with the realism of the story. The gore was not overwhelming because it was not the main concern of the story, but it was well conceived when it was introduced. I was expected a lot more of Psychological depth when it comes to the fear itself, but it was still done well, and he takes a good approach to the life of people trying to live in an undead world.

This is one of those milestone zombie books, one of those books that helped the genre move forward in a big way, because this book has inspired a lot of other people to write zombie novels themselves. David Moody presents a great novel, and I would recommend this book to all zombie fans and aspiring zombie novelist, cause it is an inspiring piece of horror.

Available at Amazon