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A review by zodwallop
Autumn by David Moody
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.5
Autumn is... slow. The book starts with a great evocation of the plague that causes this particular zombie uprising. The initial outbreak is handled really well and moody has some unique ideas with his zombies. Ideas that work and don't break what makes Romero-style zombies work.
But man. For the first half of the book, a group of survivors gather and then... sit around and mope. Perhaps it's a difference between US culture and UK culture. But I just kept waiting for the survivors to get up off their asses. Gather some supplies. Figure out how they are going to take care of themselves. Something. The first half just went on without momentum. Which could work with a lot of solid character work. But David Moody, while not a bad writer, just isn't Stephen King.
In George's zombie movies, the living dead were an omnipresent background threat, but the source of real tension was always toxic combinations of survivors. However in Autumn, all those nice British people were just too agreeable for this to work. So we have low tension and no forward momentum with characters that aren't especially engaging.
The book picks up some momentum in the second half. But even then, the speed goes from a slow walk to a moderate trot.
In the end, Autumn was okay. But I really have problems seeing how such slow paced book where nothing much happened spawned a nine book series.
But man. For the first half of the book, a group of survivors gather and then... sit around and mope. Perhaps it's a difference between US culture and UK culture. But I just kept waiting for the survivors to get up off their asses. Gather some supplies. Figure out how they are going to take care of themselves. Something. The first half just went on without momentum. Which could work with a lot of solid character work. But David Moody, while not a bad writer, just isn't Stephen King.
In George's zombie movies, the living dead were an omnipresent background threat, but the source of real tension was always toxic combinations of survivors. However in Autumn, all those nice British people were just too agreeable for this to work. So we have low tension and no forward momentum with characters that aren't especially engaging.
The book picks up some momentum in the second half. But even then, the speed goes from a slow walk to a moderate trot.
In the end, Autumn was okay. But I really have problems seeing how such slow paced book where nothing much happened spawned a nine book series.