September 27, 2011

David Moody's Hater and Autumn Series

  —A book review of David Moody's Autumn series.

I've noticed a trend in my reading of David Moody's books. In both the Autumn and the Hater series I enjoyed the second book more than the first. This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy the first book in each series, just that the second books were better. This might be a good sign as Hater is a trilogy and there are five or six books in the Autumn series.


With the Hater series, I read Dog Blood first and then moved to Hater to get the background. Dog Blood was sufficiently different from other stories that I've read it was able to keep my interest without having read Hater. In the end, I read Hater for the background it provided on some of the characters in Dog Blood and because I enjoyed Dog Blood so much. It is worthwhile pointing out that Hater can stand on its own even if its not the first book that you read in the series.

I started reading at the beginning of the Autumn series. Autumn is a good story and Autumn: the city is a better story. The second book tells the story of a different group of survivors. There is similarity between both books but enough difference to justify reading each of them. I think the most striking difference between Autumn and Autumn: the City is that the beginning of Autumn is so abrupt. Almost everyone dies in the first few pages and the rest of the story is about coming to terms with what happened and surviving the aftermath.

Autumn: the city has a similar beginning but there is a significant difference that improves the story line. This difference is the focus on the reactions of the survivors in Autumn: the City and the changes to the dead seem to happen sooner in the story line.

All in all, I like all four books. In terms of ranking them I the following order is appropriate.

1. Dog Blood
2. Autumn
3. Autumn: the City
4. Hater