The Passage (The Passage, #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

Apr 12, 2011 Claire Fun rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: favorites, post-apocalyptic, kindle, long

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Hmm, a slightly...odd book this one. It starts well, and continues for a while, with the story of military experiments gone awry, and a small girl and the fbi agents sent to collect her for aforementioned experiments. I loved this section completely, all the set pieces were exciting and the characterisation was great, agents and nuns and criminals aplenty. Then something hits the fan and we jump to the next section of the book.

This bit is nearly 100 years later and gives us post-apocalypse fans Hmm, a slightly...odd book this one. It starts well, and continues for a while, with the story of military experiments gone awry, and a small girl and the fbi agents sent to collect her for aforementioned experiments. I loved this section completely, all the set pieces were exciting and the characterisation was great, agents and nuns and criminals aplenty. Then something hits the fan and we jump to the next section of the book.

This bit is nearly 100 years later and gives us post-apocalypse fans some appeal. I liked the p-a world they sent us to, a colony of people rarely venturing out from behind the safety of their security lights, and I thought the link back to the past & tales from the original 'settlers' were done well. There was a lot of different characters in this settlement and gradually we get introduced to the warrior woman, the techhead, etc, all full of unrequited love and worried about how long their future will be secure. I did, however, find myself a little impatient for them to leave the colony, and even after finishing the book I'm not sure why we had so much emphasis on the thoughts & emotions of the people we never hear from again (but then, there's a sequel, so maybe that's why). I did feel like the bad guys (aka vampire-like 'virals') were done pretty well & were nicely creepy. Yes, proper scary things with teeth and swooping (swooping is bad, as I'm sure I've heard somewhere).

Eventually we left, and went forth on a road trip (THE ROAD trip, har-de-har), cue lots of old military bunkers to hide in, and a looong journey to find brothers - and themselves, obviously. It is a road trip. I thought some of this was good - finding old towns or ruins I enjoyed, and the creepy haven was enjoyable and exciting. I didn't mind them meeting up with the military but I'm not entirely sure what the point was, and why one of the main characters left to join the army...it seemed a little like needless space-filling.

From there to the end was...okay. The least exciting bit of the book, when surely the romp to the finish should be the *most* exciting? They never made it back home in the end of *this* book but I assume they've left it for a sequel, and the bad guys are still partially around but not in such a mind-stealing way, and generally...well, it was a bit of a let down in such a long book. You expect in big epic books like this to have all loose ends happily tied up and to be entirely satisfied, and while I would be happy to read more in the series I can't say I was entirely satisfied, at all.

Also, a nice dog dies and nobody cares much, and that's not on. ...more

1 like · Like · see review

Oct 22, 2014 alana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: vamps, dystopia, sci-fi, horror, las-vegas, audiobook, reread

I super loved The Passage when I first read it (last year..?), and I wanted to re-read it in anticipation of starting The Twelve. My library had the audiobook, so I read it while cooking, etc. I had been listening to the Blade Runner audiobook and was startled that the primary voice actor was the same. I keep envisioning a Chicken Head instead of Wolgast. Once I got past that weirdness, I didn't mind the audio at all. This book covers a vast span of years with several time periods explored in gr ...more

Like · see review

Aug 22, 2012 Amy Nash Parker rated it really liked it

Not usually a vampire/post-apocalypse type girl but was told to read it by my husband who loves that stuff. Great quest story and creative look at what our world what resemble after "the end". Last third of the book wrapped up too quickly for me with many unanswered plot points that I don't think should be lazily left for a sequel. After 700 pages, I think readers deserve a little credit for sticking with it! ...more

Like · see review

Mar 08, 2010 Madeleine rated it it was ok · review of another edition

Shelves: speculative-fiction, series, dire-reading-circumstances, books-for-hipsters, actually-those-are-zombies

Addicting book (3 stars) about really creepy things (2 stars) read while on airplanes/jetlagged/sick (-100000 stars). On balance, I give it 2 stars. It was ok, which on Goodreads corresponds to 2 stars. The kind of "ok" where I'll read the next two and have nightmares and think they're "ok" too, but whatever.

It was also a poor choice for an eastbound transatlantic trip where I also had an end-of-year People Magazine. I mean, my goal with that trip is to spend as much of it asleep as possible. 70 ...more

Like · see review