The Strain (The Strain #1) in Around the World in 80 Books

May 23, 2017 Suvi rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: _north-america, 2000s, horror, vampires, novels, sci-fi, cities_new-york

When they first announced the TV show (2014-), I immediately jumped on board. Vampires? Yes please. Monstrous non-Twilight vampires? Hell yes. The day when I realized Kevin Durand was Joshua in Dark Angel (2000-2002), one of my favorites when I was an innocent 12-year-old, was surreal to say the least. The premise of The Strain was, if not entirely original or exciting, very intriguing and the entertainment factor seemed promisingly high. It might not have become my favorite show, but it was When they first announced the TV show (2014-), I immediately jumped on board. Vampires? Yes please. Monstrous non-Twilight vampires? Hell yes. The day when I realized Kevin Durand was Joshua in Dark Angel (2000-2002), one of my favorites when I was an innocent 12-year-old, was surreal to say the least. The premise of The Strain was, if not entirely original or exciting, very intriguing and the entertainment factor seemed promisingly high. It might not have become my favorite show, but it was great to get my mind off everyday drudgery and watch something straightforward and... well, entertaining.

The show's book counterpart is exactly that as well, and I wasn't surprised, because del Toro is involved in both. Nothing revolutionary here, just simple fun that transports you to a world of supernatural. The downfall of the book, for me, was precisely the fact that I'd seen the show. Because the show really is faithful down to the events and characters, and I appreciate that. Especially the character part, because nothing is as annoying as witnessing important characters or characters that are your favorite getting completely mauled by completely clueless individuals, who probably haven't even read the book.

In this case, though, it would have benefited me to actually get around reading the book first, like I'd planned, because now I just couldn't get into the story the same way as I did with the show. Would have been nice to see how cool everything I'd just read looked in visual form.

Thing is, that's not the book's fault. I could still see objectively all its merits. Oddly enough, all its flaws that flew past me in the show were heightened on paper. Although I liked the portrayal of vampires (animal-like creatures gradually becoming more intelligent) and the infection theme, I didn't see the overall story arc as anything more than an awfully pedestrian and clichéd story about a bunch of (one-dimensional) people that try to stop an end of the world. It's when you start to think about it, it's really not that interesting nor haunting, although I think it should be, considering that the entire city of New York is turning into bloodthirsty worm vessels (those worms creeped me out the most in the whole thing).

The occasionally cringey writing doesn't help either. I wish I had written some of the worst parts down, but there were moments where I could hear the violins that must have been playing in the authors' heads, or moments where I was rolling my eyes so hard I thought they'd pop off. However, The Strain is still a page-turner. It may not be strong sci-fi nor horror, but in its middling class it's worthy of the time spent. I don't know how much del Toro participated in the writing process, but I think his visions are better suited for visual media.

Will I check out the sequels? Uh, don't think so. I am, however, interested in the comic adaptation. Here's hoping the artist is good, or otherwise the visual aspect is pooped as well. ...more

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Aug 25, 2009 Steve rated it did not like it

Shelves: horror-and-dark-fiction, fiction

Canned junk. I like good horror (and that includes sloppy fun), but this comes from some sort of PG-13 formula hell that Spielburg and his ilk can appreciate. No, I didn't finish it. But why? ...more

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Feb 07, 2015 alana rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: audiobook, books-on-the-big-screen, vamps, fantasy, sci-fi, horror

Ohh creepy creepy icky bits, wee! I stumbled upon The Strain in my library's audiobook catalogue and decided to "read" it (listen?) for the PopSugar 2015 challenge: "Book that became a TV show" (though I've yet to watch the series). I loved Guillermo del Toro's movies Pan's Labyrinth and The Devil's Backbone but had no idea he'd written books. Bonus: Ron Perlman reads the book, woohoo! The story starts off with a mysterious plane accident and reminded me lots of Station Eleven in its initial bui ...more

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Oct 03, 2012 Sara rated it did not like it

Shelves: fiction, 2013, horror, science-fiction

Originally I gave this book 2 stars but after having some time to think it over I've dropped it down to 1. I just really didn't enjoy it. There's nothing particularly interesting about it. The main character, Eph, is a supposedly handsome genius who works for the CDC. Not only is he a walking cliche but he's also just plain boring. Next we have his female partner at the CDC who's only reason for existence is to function as his love interest. I couldn't tell you her name because she's given absol ...more

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Nov 15, 2009 Rachel N. rated it it was amazing

A plane lands in New York and suddenly goes dark on the runway and all but four people on board are dead. So begins this nonstop thriller. I don't want to say much more because i don't want to give away any of the twists and turns. Definitely a page turner. The only downside is this is the first book in a trilogy and now I have to wait for the next two books to be released. ...more

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