From the Bookshelf of Sci-fi and Heroic Fantasy…

The Passage (The Passage, #1)

Justin Cronin

Start date: February 21, 2017

Finish date: February 21, 2017

Discussion: Book Discussions

Discussion leader: Andrea

Why we're reading this: Group Contemporary discussion topic February 2017.
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What Members Thought

Jun 28, 2018 Randy Harmelink rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: zombies, apocalypse, paranormal

Overall, a disappointment. I liked parts of it, was bored by other parts of it. And it was so long, for not that much of a story. I think the biggest problem for me is that I never really connected with any of the main characters. The characters I cared for the most weren't even in the book for long. ...more

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May 31, 2015 Dea rated it liked it

I am happy to have finished this book, in a 'glad that's over' kind of way. Did I enjoy the read? Some parts, sure. But for the most part I was confused by the characters stubborn refusal to do anything logical. There is a LOT of drama, family drama, and relationship drama, and baby making drama, and very little actual substance about survival in the post apocalyptic world. Shit happens and people die, and no one takes the time to figure out why they died or how they died and what can the commun I am happy to have finished this book, in a 'glad that's over' kind of way. Did I enjoy the read? Some parts, sure. But for the most part I was confused by the characters stubborn refusal to do anything logical. There is a LOT of drama, family drama, and relationship drama, and baby making drama, and very little actual substance about survival in the post apocalyptic world. Shit happens and people die, and no one takes the time to figure out why they died or how they died and what can the community do in the future to escape the same fate. Everyone seems to be moving under the understanding that all of this has been foretold and the story will have a happy ending whether or not they take the time to arm themselves.

(view spoiler)

Part of me wonders if the characters being stupid added to me not caring about the characters. I mean, I really did not care if everyone died on the next page. Everyone seems replaceable. Everyone has the same opinions on everything. Everyone has the same motives. If one of the group dies, don't worry they will be replaced by another pilgrim that is just as bland and prone to death as the previous one.

Besides the lack of motivation, and general character blandness, we also have a whole lot of useless page filler. Don't get me wrong, I usually enjoy useless page filler, I read Stephenson. But this useless page filler added nothing to the story and nothing to the setting and did nothing to showcase author's writing ability. It was just, page filler. Page filler about unimportant details, while important details were ignored.

I will not be continuing with the series. I don't mean to say that I am not interested in how things turn out, more like I am not willing to sacrifice 30+ hours of reading time to a story that dribbles out information one drop at a time. Just like I am not interested in reading why one character decides to sacrifice the safety of their whole group just because they have some drama with another member of the group. I'll just read the wiki summary to see who lives in the end, and put my reading time to better use reading some other series. ...more

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