Autumn: Purification (2004)

Part three of the Autumn series. Another frightening, nightmare inducer! The survivors from the first two books have come together and have escaped into an undergound military bunker in hopes of being safe from the walking dead. The reality of being trapped in an underground facility and not seeing the sun, breathing scrubbed air and not much room to live takes it toll. Eventually the dead clog the air intakes and force the military to leave their safe haven and try to clear the area. It goes wrong and the survivors are forced to run again.
I really enjoyed this story and was chomping at the bit waiting for the next installment! and Im still sleeping with the light on! ( )

Emma, Michael and a few others who survived the worldwide plague that spread like wildfire, barely make it inside an underground bunker before hoards of the recently re-animated could rip them to pieces. Now, they're trapped with a group of military personnel who can't comprehend what's waiting on the other side of the bunker doors. With supplies and tempers running short, and the air vents and other exits points steadily becoming blocked, the remaining soldiers decide -- disregarding the pleas of the survivors -- to fight the massing corpses. At first, the soldiers begin to make headway, but just as quickly, the tide turns. What once provided hope as an safe zone becomes a death trap, leaving the survivors with only one option if they want to live.

"Autumn: Purification" is the third book in author David Moody's "Autumn" series and provides a great continuation of the story of Emma and Michael and the other survivors. I like that Moody's "zombies" aren't traditional -- they aren't out to eat brains or to spread the infection. Instead, it's almost as if the re-animation has made them crazy and violent. Yet, as the weeks pass, the survivors begin to notice subtle changes in how the re-animated corpses respond to sound or to the presence of survivors. That quiet "becoming aware" makes these zombies even more dangerous -- a zombie learning how to think!

I also enjoyed following the survivors, seeing how they interact and how the fact they are still among the living has affected each of them. That little glimpse into the psychology of survival, how a life-altering affects the different ways people handle the aftermath. As the character Michael mentions at one point in the story, he doesn't know the names of everyone in the small group of survivors, only those that have taken an active part in doing something to help. The others who have shied away, determined to recede into their shells rather than face the changed world, become non-entities, almost as sad as the re-animated corpses.

The story is fast-paced and completely engrossing, and I found myself staying up much later than I should just to finish one more chapter. And being the third in the series, the story presents enough background information that it isn't necessary to have read the first two books -- but I highly recommend doing so. ( )

More exciting than
first “Autumn” books. Escape to
island fraught with fear.

The characters in the first book ran and hid from zombies. They met a some more characters in the second book who were running and hiding, and together they ran and hid. Purification (mis-labelled the last in the trilogy) offers little in the way of conclusion either. In fact the content is still composed of running and hiding, rinse and repeat. There is little in the way of character development from the survivors, a clear division exists between runners and fodder. That all said, Purification doesn't set out to be different, it's niche in the genre is to fulfil a bleak zombie-infested Britain and it does just that. Straight-forward and unsurprising Purification is an easy time-filler and stays true to the two previous entries. ( )

In this book, each chapter is told by the from the different POV of each of the remaining survivors. We follow their thoughts and see what they see through each of their eyes. He included some romance and lots of action. Even some moments you might be scared.

David Moody created a world lost of all life and those that remain are forced into fighting for their right to live. The ending gave the proper closure to the story. I enjoyed the rest of the series and I enjoyed the conclusion here. No spoilers for those that have not read the series yet, but believe me, you should. Don't take my word for it, go and check it out yourselves.

He even has a movie that's going to be coming out shortly for the first book in the series: Autumn. I've seen the trailer. The link here is for YouTube, but at least it shows the whole trailer. I would like to see the movie! Check it out and see what you think. :)

Ya know I was thinking. I know I do that sometimes....LOL. Anyway, I don't believe I have ever come across a book that I haven't liked. I mean, I know that I didn't like the ending of Infected, but it seems that if the blurb is good and the first chapters get me going, then I can read it. And probably even enjoy it. Hmmmmm.......... ( )