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The Passage (The Passage, #1)

Justin Cronin

Start date: February 21, 2017

Finish date: February 21, 2017

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What Members Thought

Apr 28, 2015 EA Solinas rated it really liked it · review of another edition

"Epic horror" isn't something you hear of very often, unlike "epic fantasy" or "historical epic." Horror tends to be small and intimate.

But Justin Cronin seems to have created a very epic horror story in "The Passage," the first book of a trilogy that seems to be equal parts Stephen King and "The Road" -- a gloriously bleak, imaginative book. Its only problem is that at times, Cronin's story drags a bit.

It's honestly hard to summarize a book like this, since Cronin hops around between different "Epic horror" isn't something you hear of very often, unlike "epic fantasy" or "historical epic." Horror tends to be small and intimate.

But Justin Cronin seems to have created a very epic horror story in "The Passage," the first book of a trilogy that seems to be equal parts Stephen King and "The Road" -- a gloriously bleak, imaginative book. Its only problem is that at times, Cronin's story drags a bit.

It's honestly hard to summarize a book like this, since Cronin hops around between different people, different time periods, and different places. A little girl named Amy is left by her mother at a convent, only for her to be snatched away by a tormented FBI agent. At the same time, the government is attempting a new experiment that might wipe out disease completely and prolong life.

But of course, no such experiment can take place without horrifying results -- in this case, eleven insectile "vampires." Of course, something goes horribly wrong.

And over the century following that experiment, American civilization is ravaged by packs of vampires ("dracs" or "virals"), leaving the few remaining humans struggling to survive. The one hope for humanity against the vampires is none other than Amy, who is still a young child after all this time, and who shares a unique tie to the blood-drinking monsters...

"The Passage" is one of the most unique vampire books in years -- it's part military conspiracy, part post-apocalyptic tale, and part vampire horror. And best of all, it reads like a Guillermo del Toro story filtered through the genius of Stephen King -- no drippy "Twilight" romanticism or glamour.

And Cronin's formidable prose is up to the challenge of writing a hundred-year post-apocalyptic horror epic. He writes in a detailed, gritty style that sprawls over several different narratives, sprinkled with moments of poetry ("the spreading darkness, like a black wing stretching over the earth") and lots of ghastly creepiness (oh, the vampires!). The only problem is that with a book this huge, there are times when the story sags and slows down.

And as you'd expect in a true horror story, the vampires here aren't gothic hunks or sparkly bishies -- they're grotesque, glowing, insectile monsters that tear their victims apart. But they're not truly the center of the story -- Cronin uses them as the prism through which we see that mortality isn't that bad, and that the human spirit is indomitable.

"The Passage" is a rare bestselling novel -- an epic, slightly bloated expanse of horror, science and post-apocalyptic adventure that leaves you breathless. Justin Cronin just won the crown.
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Mar 09, 2013 Arindam rated it really liked it

Twilight and True Blood fans will be thoroughly disappointed and all for the better. Vampires are not shiny angels with beautiful features - they are vicious creatures created artificially in the lab by the government trying to create a generation of super soldiers. Yeah, well, the background plot is pretty generic and something we have read about before innumerable. What is exciting is what follows, how the characters collide, how a new civilization is built, how a new religion rises and how a ...more

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Dec 26, 2012 Ted Cross rated it really liked it

I'd rather give it four and a half stars, but they don't have that option here. Gripping read at times, and usually well-written, though it has some perplexing moments and some plot points I don't quite buy. I'll still check out the sequel when it comes out in paperback. ...more

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Jan 31, 2021 Z.A. Mackic added it

No stars, because I didn’t like the book.
First 8% of it were series of a bad short stories, with ever changing point of view character, and some teasers about what might going on. So when the n-th chapter turned to be again from a completely new character’s point of view, I gave up.
This book is not for me. I need a character to care about.

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