The Passage (The Passage, #1) in Pick-a-Shelf

Jul 05, 2010 Nicki rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: 2010, horror, post-apocalyptic

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here. Well, I've just finished this and it's hard to say what I thought of it. I didn't know anything about it before I got it out from the library, but I had seen it advertised everywhere. If I'd known what the plot was I probably wouldn't have bothered, which goes to show how good these challenges are - making me read different things. But in the end it was OK - 3 stars from me.

*SPOILERS SPOILERS*

The first 100 or so pages were excellent and I was really glad I'd chosen to read it. The suspense was Well, I've just finished this and it's hard to say what I thought of it. I didn't know anything about it before I got it out from the library, but I had seen it advertised everywhere. If I'd known what the plot was I probably wouldn't have bothered, which goes to show how good these challenges are - making me read different things. But in the end it was OK - 3 stars from me.

*SPOILERS SPOILERS*

The first 100 or so pages were excellent and I was really glad I'd chosen to read it. The suspense was great. By page 250 or so I was annoyed and wishing I hadn't chosen it! I've seen far too many movies with the 'virus in remote bit of the world that someone wants to use as a weapon but it wipes out humanity' storyline, and then to throw in vampires as well... For goodness sake... And one of the best characters was dead and we were suddenly way in the future. Not where I wanted the story to go.

Reading other reviews, a lot of people hated the diary bits, but I liked them. However, some of the other inserted bits were irritating as they were just confusing. And I HATED the post-apocalyptic language. It was like Mad Max or Waterworld. It took me ages to realise why everyone kept saying 'flyers', and it's only been 100 years so why not call children 'children' instead of Littles - ugh.

But it picked up again and by the end I was reading away desperate for a happy solution. It got really good for a bit with Lacey reappearing. And then it just stopped. What an awful ending! So many unanswered questions throughout the book - missing people, vanished villages, and what about patient Zero? Wasn't he a viral? Which would make it 13, not 12. Argh!

So to summarise, over hyped with an unoriginal storyline that got a bit too much in places. I feel the author got so carried away he forgot where he was going sometimes, and then storylines got forgotten and I forgot who was who and who was where. Too many characters that came and went and we never really got to know or identify with. It started off well, went downhill, picked up again and then just ended. It made me cross and frustrated, and it certainly wasn't scary, but I guess I am glad I read it. Apparently, it's one of a trilogy like everything these days. Will I read the next one? I suppose so - that ending was just so not an ending...

Edited to add... 2 days later and I'm still thinking about this and realising what a really good start it was and how frustrated I am that it just didn't live up to it. It's a long time since a book has made me so cross because it let itself down! ...more

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Sep 04, 2011 Serenity rated it liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy

I really wanted to love this one, I really did! I'd read so many enthusiastic reviews and this book seemed to be right up my alley...but I ended up only moderately enjoying it. I think it had to do with my lack of connection with most of the characters. I am a character-driven reader, but in this book there were SO MANY random characters with so many back stories and most of them ended up being irrelevant for the rest of the book. I felt like I was observing these characters from the outside and I really wanted to love this one, I really did! I'd read so many enthusiastic reviews and this book seemed to be right up my alley...but I ended up only moderately enjoying it. I think it had to do with my lack of connection with most of the characters. I am a character-driven reader, but in this book there were SO MANY random characters with so many back stories and most of them ended up being irrelevant for the rest of the book. I felt like I was observing these characters from the outside and never really felt compelled by them.

The story is basically 3 parts: Before and leading up to the vampire apocalypse, a century after the apocalypse among a pocket of human survivors and their insulated society, and an adventure/quest into the unknown undertaken by Amy and some of the aforementioned human survivors.

Personally, I found the middle bit extremely dull, and it was also the part where Cronin introduced like a bazillion characters with the same last names (small band of survivors and all, a bit of incest probably unavoidable). Was that really necessary? It also didn't help that none of the characters were exactly likable. The only ones I really liked were a few of the adventurers in the latter part of the book.

There was also a random magical nun that made me feel like I was reading a magical realism novel, and then there was Amy The Chosen One With All The Powers And The Knowings and-she's-just-special-accept-it-okay...and then the virus was never satisfactorily explained (its origins, why it affects each person differently, etc), though the beginning of the book leads you to expect a scientific explanation. It's just, science fiction and magic and supernatural and spiritual things all mixed up, and I hear the next book goes really heavily into religious themes, and basically it's all a hot mess in the sense of world-building.

Despite the negative things I said, I gave the book 3 stars because it WAS entertaining. Especially the last section, with the journey/adventure! That was fantastic! I only hope that the next book has less dragging parts and more plot resolution! I swear I have like a million burning questions by the end of book 1... ...more

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Jul 11, 2010 Susan added it

Shelves: science-fiction, fiction, series

I kept putting off reading this not only because it was so long, but because in general I'm not a fan of vampire stories. But this was worth every page, and there were times when I stayed up late into the night because I kept needing to know what happened next.

Besides being a fast-paced thriller, this has a solid overarching plot line and characters that the reader actually cares about. The science that starts it all is a bit sketchy, but once you overlook that, everything makes sense in the co ...more

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