Title: Autumn: Purification (#3)

Author: David Moody

Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin 2011

Genre: Zombie

Pages: 336

Rating:  5/5 stars

Reading Challenges: Zombie; Support Your Local Library; Read Your Name - A

How I Got It: Library loan

In Autumn: Purification, the heroes from the original Autumn novel and Autumn: The City work together to survive in this horrifying new world.

Without ever using the ‘Z’ word, the Autumn series offers a new perspective on the traditional zombie story. There’s no flesh eating, no fast-moving corpses, no gore for gore’s sake. Combining the atmosphere and tone of a George Romero film with the attitude and awareness of 28 Days Later, this horrifying and suspenseful novel is filled with relentless cold, dark fear.

OMG!! This series gets me every time.  It's uber scary, but with so much introspection and characterization.  This volume picks up just weeks after Autumn: The City.  We're thrown right into the situation with little exposition.  I like this.  I don't want to read three chapters getting readers up to speed.  Very clearly this is part of a series.  I love when authors assume that the readers actual read the previous books and remembered them.  It saves a lot of time and unnecessary words.  And Moody does not disappoint.  We're thrown in assuming we know the situation and the main characters.

The characters are greatly expanded in this volume.  We get to know Michael, Emma, and Cooper even more.  And we get to meet more interesting characters.  I'm really rooting for the main three.  I still think Cooper is my favorite characters.  He's strong, determined to survive, but we get glimpses of something underneath, a bit of personality, heartbreak, bitterness, a little sliver of hope.

The action keeps going throughout.  You never know where Moody will take you next.  I appreciate the little bits of calm in between action.  I felt as if I were right there with the survivors dreading what's coming but still grasping onto the little bits of hope.  I can't wait to find out what happens to the survivors in the next installment.  In fact, I think I will start that one next...

Autumn:

1. Autumn
2. The City
3. Purification
4. The Human Condition
5. Disintegration
6. Aftermath