A review by wildeaboutbooks
Autumn, by David Moody
1.0
I did not enjoy this book. But before I bash it beyond recognition like a zombie hunter wielding a baseball bat, I’d like to say that I’ve heard that the other books in this series are very good. And Moody’s Hater trilogy was intriguing enough that the masterful Guillermo del Toro acquired the rights to produce the film which will be based on the first novel in the series (also titled Hater).
Ok, now I won’t feel so guilty when I say that this is the only boring zombie novel that I’ve ever read. I kept waiting for something really scary to happen but it just never did. In fact, no one of real import even dies in the novel, unless you count the poor stray dog that is devoured by zombies (which I thought was a particularly cruel and unnecessary inclusion).
Typically there are quieter, more introspective moments in zombie books and movies where the characters are either on a journey to find a safe place or battening down the hatches in whatever shelter they’ve found to keep the zombies from busting through the floorboards. These are necessary plot elements in that mundane moments make the loud and scary ones that much louder and scarier by contrast.
But here’s the breakdown for Autumn:
50% Talking about how much it sucks that everyone’s either dead or a zombie and general psychological drama between survivors
20% Trying to find some safe place to stay until “this all blows over”
20% Finding said safe place and living a boring existence, much like what would occur pre-zombie outbreak
9% Traveling to and from grocery stores
1% Actual scenes of death and/or destruction directly caused by the mysterious widespread disease or the resulting plague of zombies
I was shocked to discover that a movie had actually been made based on Autumn. I was thinking of giving it a try the next time that I have trouble sleeping.
I finished reading this book mostly because I was reading it aloud to my husband at night and he seemed more invested in the story than I did. But then again, he only had to waste time listening whereas I was wasting breath reciting the tale of what happens when nothing really happens to the lamest bunch of apocalypse survivors to ever accidentally make the cut.
Ok, now I won’t feel so guilty when I say that this is the only boring zombie novel that I’ve ever read. I kept waiting for something really scary to happen but it just never did. In fact, no one of real import even dies in the novel, unless you count the poor stray dog that is devoured by zombies (which I thought was a particularly cruel and unnecessary inclusion).
Typically there are quieter, more introspective moments in zombie books and movies where the characters are either on a journey to find a safe place or battening down the hatches in whatever shelter they’ve found to keep the zombies from busting through the floorboards. These are necessary plot elements in that mundane moments make the loud and scary ones that much louder and scarier by contrast.
But here’s the breakdown for Autumn:
50% Talking about how much it sucks that everyone’s either dead or a zombie and general psychological drama between survivors
20% Trying to find some safe place to stay until “this all blows over”
20% Finding said safe place and living a boring existence, much like what would occur pre-zombie outbreak
9% Traveling to and from grocery stores
1% Actual scenes of death and/or destruction directly caused by the mysterious widespread disease or the resulting plague of zombies
I was shocked to discover that a movie had actually been made based on Autumn. I was thinking of giving it a try the next time that I have trouble sleeping.
I finished reading this book mostly because I was reading it aloud to my husband at night and he seemed more invested in the story than I did. But then again, he only had to waste time listening whereas I was wasting breath reciting the tale of what happens when nothing really happens to the lamest bunch of apocalypse survivors to ever accidentally make the cut.