rating onrating onrating onrating halfrating off

ONE LAST AUTUMN

A colorful experiment in the internet medium

Member: Frances Gonzalez
April 16, 2009

This story is large in scope, and takes advantage of the possibilities of posting a story on the internet, playing with fonts, colors and photos to create an atmosphere rich with tension and to balance what would otherwise be a very hard-to-follow, multi-linear story.

It starts off as standard military fare in a post-apocalyptic world, and the action and characterizations are quick and well-written. I would advise readers to stick through the at-first annoying font colors, though I wonder if colors other than eye-searing orange-on-black could have been possible. As James’s psyche begins to deteriorate and the past and present mix, it becomes evident that the font colors are integral to determining when something is happening. It’s an excellent experiment, though the bright alternating color schemes may understandably turn some readers off.

The historical newsreels and prologues to each chapter are noteworthy. Those and the flashbacks to James’s past are what drew me into the story and kept me reading, more than the scores of action scenes that seem to follow a fairly traditional trajectory. It’s James’s backstory that will keep readers truly interested, and will keep me coming back for updates.

I would encourage readers to endure through the colors in order to appreciate what this story is—one of the few action-oriented SF works that doesn’t forget about character, and an internet experiment in storytelling that should be followed, if only to see what the end results are.

3 of 3 members found this review helpful.
Help us improve!  Register or log in to rate this review.

screen capture