The Passage (The Passage, #1) in Around the Year in 52 Books

Jan 16, 2016 Jen Ifer's Inklings rated it it was amazing

Shelves: library, audio-books, popsugar-2016-reading-challenge, read-in-2016, 5-star-reads

My only complaint is that this book took forever. There is a lot of detail and a lot of backstory. None of which are bad things in a story, but I felt like this book would never end. This is a series, and I'm not sure if I'll continue it or not. ...more

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Apr 05, 2015 Krissy rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, buddy-read, pgs-600-or-more

I just could not get into this book. I tried. I really did but it just wasn't happening for me. The author kept throwing a crap ton of characters at you all at once. Some are important and some aren't. Then after only a few scenes you are supposed to remember these specific characters several hundred pages later. Needless to say I had a difficult time remembering who was whom.

The pacing was all kinds of whack also. But that is kind of expected with such a long book. It just seemed worse during ...more

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Dec 06, 2012 Jaime rated it liked it

Shelves: horror, scifi-postapocolyptic-dystopian, read-2012

This is a book that has been on my “to read” list since it came out and left a plethora of stellar reviews in its wake. So I’m very disappointed to say… I didn’t love it.

Two years past its release, is it a victim of too much hype? Perhaps.

There were certainly parts of the book I liked. You don’t make it through an 800-900 page book without finding something redeemable about it. I thought all of the characters were interesting, even if I didn’t always understand their purpose. Probably 10% of the This is a book that has been on my “to read” list since it came out and left a plethora of stellar reviews in its wake. So I’m very disappointed to say… I didn’t love it.

Two years past its release, is it a victim of too much hype? Perhaps.

There were certainly parts of the book I liked. You don’t make it through an 800-900 page book without finding something redeemable about it. I thought all of the characters were interesting, even if I didn’t always understand their purpose. Probably 10% of the characters could be cut completely out of the book with absolutely no impact. I liked Wolgast, and one of my favorite parts of the book was when he and Amy were living in the mountains. I also liked Peter, except in his most maudlin moments. My favorite character was actually Sarah, although her role is relatively minor until late in the book.

I also thought the concept was good, if a little extreme. Very apocalyptic. I would have loved to have more information about what happened in-between Wolgast’s time and Peter’s, but I guess that’s what the second book is for. I don’t really agree with its initial characterization as a “vampire” novel, but I guess if you break it down to its simplest form, you can call it that. I enjoyed Cronin’s imagining of a new way of life, where light means life, and government no longer exists.

So what didn’t I like? THE PACING. This book was soooooooooooo slooooooooooow. I’m not a speed reader, but I’m not slow either. I started this book on my Kindle in mid-August, and around the third week of September I hit the 50% mark. At that point, I was so tired of reading it that I knew I had only two choices – give it up, or try to finish it with an audiobook. Turns out, even the audiobook narrator was sloooooooow. Two things saved the rest of the book for me – the ability to play it on double speed on my iPhone, and the fact that things actually started happening in the book. I wish that 90% of the book had been about their journey to Colorado, instead of 25-33%.

So my overall impressions are that I didn’t hate it, but I’m not that excited about it. It did end strong, but it took so long to get to the good that I’m not sure it was worth my time. I may or may not get around to reading the next book. ...more

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Feb 23, 2018 Graceann rated it liked it

Shelves: series, suspense

Well, my goodness. I have been reading this since 6 January, and finally, *finally* finished it about an hour ago (23 February). Yikes. There is so much good story in there, but it is hidden in the midst of so much that could have very easily been excised (to great improvement of the novel as a whole). This is the second book I've read in the past year that has had a decidedly flabby middle stuck between a cracking start and a rollicking finish.

So, what to say about The Passage that doesn't giv ...more

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Jun 10, 2011 Ryan Mac rated it really liked it · review of another edition

I really enjoyed this "end of the world through vampires" book. I can also see how people must have been put off by the later parts of the book but I liked the ending even if it really makes me want to read the next book--in 2012!!

The book starts off very strong with details about Project NOAH, an experiment conducted by the US military that goes wrong a la The Stand. Unlike The Stand's flu, our undoing here is a different kind of virus that turns some people into vampire like creatures. The mid ...more

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Dec 27, 2018 Kathleen (itpdx) rated it liked it · review of another edition

An interesting premise—after finding a virus that seems to “weaponize” men, the military “recruits” men off death row for an experiment, which surprisingly (!) goes wrong. A nun, a little girl and an FBI agent get caught up in the whole thing. One hundred years after the ensuing apocalypse, where “draculas” get turned loose on North America, we follow some isolated survivors trying to figure a way to keep surviving.
Of course there are some disconnects, like how a group of people who have never ...more

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Apr 27, 2016 Lucinda rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Wow, I really enjoyed this book for the most part. I do think it is a little long and some parts dragged a bit, but I found it hard to put down most of the time. Looking forward to seeing what happens in the the next book, The Twelve.

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Aug 03, 2010 Shasta rated it it was amazing

Shelves: re-reads, i-own-it, all-time-favorites, horror, dystopia-post-apocalypse, sci-fi

Amazing story. I don't have an appropriate genre shelf for it -- many people of different literary tastes will enjoy this book, but especially those with a sci-fi/fantasy bent. Waiting for the sequel is going to be miserable! ...more

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