From the Bookshelf of Apocalypse Whenever…

The Passage (The Passage, #1)

Justin Cronin

Discussion: AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

Why we're reading this: Want to see if anyone else thought it was as long winded and self important as I did
[close] Want to see if anyone else thought it was as long winded and self important as I did

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AW BOOK CLUB (spoilers)

* What is a good book for AW discussion? (Nominations pool)
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What Members Thought

Apr 20, 2011 Colleen rated it really liked it · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, vampires

Well....

I read this book in one huge gulp--started it before bed, decided that sleep was overrated, read on till dawn, got up, went to work, and continued reading it till I was done later that afternoon. And I liked it--the poetry before each chapter was perfect, it portrayed a post-apocalyptic world that hadn't quite given up fighting against extraordinary odds, and I was riveted pretty much throughout. And after I finished, I had to flip through and revisited parts I still had lingering quest Well....

I read this book in one huge gulp--started it before bed, decided that sleep was overrated, read on till dawn, got up, went to work, and continued reading it till I was done later that afternoon. And I liked it--the poetry before each chapter was perfect, it portrayed a post-apocalyptic world that hadn't quite given up fighting against extraordinary odds, and I was riveted pretty much throughout. And after I finished, I had to flip through and revisited parts I still had lingering questions. It's definitely one of the better horror novels that's been released, but thinking it over, it's a very flawed book as well:

The Bad:
1) Dialogue is atrocious and the constant use of "Flyers" as a curse was lame and overused. Almost all the characters sound the same. Which leads to...

2) Keeping people straight. This is a massive 700+ page novel with probably as many characters as War & Peace. Being able to keep them all straight was a chore. Especially say like one character briefly mentioned once that pops up again like 300 pages later. I actually had to google the name to see where he was mentioned in book (repair guy mentioned but never seen). For a book of this length with that many characters, there should have been a list at the beginning. At the very least, considering the amount of extemporaneous info within the book there could have been a family tree or something listed.

3) Author kind of employed being vague for the sake of being vague. Yeah, it makes things a bit more suspenseful not knowing what happened, but it was overused.

4) The hundred year odyssey and the primary reason for one of the side missions and the main goal for one of the main characters was casually eliminated. What? Things were not really any better that I could see, and if I had the choice of being able to effectively fight back and save lives or die a horrible death in some abandoned farm house, I think I'd be all noble and choose the former, no matter what the perhaps ethical cost would be.

5) Because of all the above, ancillary characters wandering in and out, everyone sounding identical, so many unexplored plot lines and things mentioned for seemingly no reason, unsatisfactory resolutions, and how many characters there were (and everyone is constantly getting picked off by vampires), it was a little hard to be sympathetic or identify with any of the characters.

6) You have a little girl with super powers that can communicate with vampires and animals, who saves the day multiple times, and everyone seemed completely uninterested in having her use these abilities or how she got them (just once in making a pack horse run away---and yes, we're informed that the pack horse was killed by a vampire a little bit later).

The Good:

1) Pretty much everything else. The story is riveting (though more could probably have been done with it) and in true apocalyptic fashion, people have to decide what's worse--the monsters outside or the monsters inside with you. I liked the journey they took through America and how much the author referenced back to the past when everything started.

2) I also really liked the multiple narrator viewpoints (even if they did all sound the same) -- I wish more authors employed this.

3) The vampires were really well done.
...more

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Aug 04, 2010 Kristin rated it liked it

Shelves: sci-fi

New twist on post apocalyptic/vampire genre. Really cool, very last couple of lines devastating.

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Jan 03, 2012 Katherine rated it liked it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic-phase

Interesting read.. got a little mythical for me at the end but a great read on what could happen!

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Nov 21, 2010 Missy~ rated it really liked it

Shelves: mystery-horror

I enjoyed it very much. I am a fan of the 'post apocolyptic' type books. This one was an enjoyable read and I will definitely be reading the next one. Unfortunately I think book 2 does not come out for 1 or 2 years. ...more

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Jul 27, 2010 Hunter rated it did not like it

I wanted to like this, but I couldn't get into it. After 250+ pages, I just didn't care enough to keep going. Boring. ...more

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Sep 14, 2010 Jennifer rated it really liked it

I really enjoyed this book. I got into and and couldn't put it down. Great read! ...more

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Sep 12, 2012 Catherine Stine rated it it was amazing

A-freakiing-mazing!!!!!!!!!!!
I immediately went out and bought the sequel.

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Jul 18, 2010 Erin marked it as to-read

Jul 21, 2010 Barb rated it really liked it

Shelves: audiobooks

Aug 05, 2010 Kristin rated it really liked it

Aug 13, 2010 Brittany Gillis rated it really liked it

Shelves: post-apocalyptic, dystopia, horror, library-books, science-fiction, thriller, united-states, part-of-a-series, books-made-into-movies, 2011-read