Fans of post apocalyptic lit should check out The City series by Sarah Lyons Fleming, a look into the lives of people in NYC as the zombie apocalypse spreads.

With autumn right around the corner, I’m always looking for slightly creepier and thematic reads and Sarah Lyon Fleming’s knack for post apocalyptic lit is the perfect segue into fall.

The City series follows Sylvie Ross, who finds herself trapped in a hospital during the rapid collapse of society, and Eric Forrest, who will do anything to get to his sister in the heart of NYC, even die.

As a fan of The Walking Dead and 30 Days Later, when I saw the first The City book on sale on audible last year, I was intrigued. The books themselves have odd names, which is explained within the books, so it stood out as I quickly scrolled through audible’s sales.

Always on the lookout for not only new sci-fi/fantasy, but books written by women, I stopped and looked up what exactly Mordacious could possibly be about. With an eye catching cover and unique title, it was an automatic buy for me. I listen to a massive amount of audiobooks due to my job, so sales are my playground with finding new authors and series to read.

I couldn’t put Mordacious down. Or, rather, I couldn’t pause it, I had to know what happened! Engaging from the get go, Mordacious, to be quite blunt, is everything I wish The Walking Dead was.

Bold statement, I know, but hear me out.

I found the character decisions to make more sense than some of the decisions made on The Walking Dead, and the actual post apocalyptic problems of fresh food and water runs consistently through the books because in reality that would be one of the utmost concerns besides safety.

The intrapersonal relationships between characters is one of my favorite things about The City series. The main character, Sylvie, is untrusting and distant, making it difficult for her to put herself out there to not only help others, but be helped in return.

Eric is self sacrificing, an all around good dude who is so nice that at the beginning he’s dragging his ex into the city with him to get her to her new boyfriend before setting out to find his own sister.

The books aren’t just about the zombie apocalypse, but found family. In searching for their actual families amidst the chaos, this group of characters become a family themselves in a way that the reader feels emotionally invested in the characters not only surviving, but finding peace in the world around them in the midst of an apocalypse.

Going back to survival for a minute, one of the details that stuck out most with me while reading was the fact that in order to get fresh water they raided buildings’ hot water heaters, draining them. It blew my mind, not having read many post apocalyptic literature.

I recalled in The Walking Dead that while they did spend some time searching for food, it wasn’t a main concern for them. In The City series, though, it is in the forefront of the characters minds. Between finding places well stocked, to scavenging apartment buildings and stores, there are even turf wars regarding food which is super realistic.

There are terrible people in the books, the villains in a way, though the zombies themselves hold the crown for the end all be all of evil in the series. People are selfish, exploitative, and will do awful things in order to survive, and these books don’t hold back in showing the vindictiveness of some while also highlighting the goodness in others in the worst of times.

The characters are eclectic with not only their personalities, but their abilities themselves. From first aid to survival, each character brings something different to the table. Eric is used to camping and hiking and has a lot of survival skills which is useful when it comes to things like making a solar cooker.

There is definitely a trial and error within the books in regards to what works and what doesn’t as they are fighting to survive in NYC that Sarah Lyons Fleming deals with superbly by having her characters fail, but keep trying because if they stop trying, they die. All it takes is one simple mistake and it could mean death.

As I mentioned before, the titles of the books stand out because while real words, they are far from well known or used ones. They are actually a plot device within the books. A Word a Day calendar helps keep both Sylvie and Eric sane, and to be honest, I never thought that I’d be emotional about a Word a Day calendar but here I am, sighing as I think about it.

The Word a Day calendar is a small part of the books, but is actually one of the most poignant things about the series. It is the small things that are important to hold onto, especially in times of turmoil. Normalcy is hard to come by, with the loss of electricity and safety, something as small and insignificant in the normal world such as a silly Word a Day calendar is not only a form of escapism for the characters, but a reminder of life before the zombies.

There is still time before the third book, Instauration, comes out later this month to catch up on this page turning series. I listened to the first book, whose narrators were amazing and fit the two main characters perfectly. When I listened, the second book hadn’t yet made it onto audible so I ended up reading it. It was just as addictive as listening had been. Both Mordacious and Peripeteia are on audible!

They are also both on Amazon. If you have Kindle Unlimited, then you can check out not only both The City books on there, but her other post apocalyptic series, Until the End of the World, as well.