City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin - 5 stars

[Barbara M]

I read The Passage in Feb of 2016. I was so surprised that I would enjoy a dystopian, post-apocalyptic novel with vampires! But I did, enough so that I followed up with the second in the series too. This is the third and its been a while since I read the other two so I was concerned about remembering enough of the story. It didn't take long for me to catch up but there were a few gaps I struggled with and wished I'd read it sooner.

In this novel we join Alicia who has just given birth (one of the gaps I mentioned). She has a voice in her head leading her to go to New York City - across the half the country from where she starts. Its Zero, the first of the virals. They are never called vampires but basically that is what they are minus some of the myths like garlic, crosses, and silver bullets, etc. She finally gets there, as we also catch up on the other characters including what happened to Amy and Carter. (view spoiler)[who should have died in book 2. (hide spoiler)]

Here the author takes a break from the on-going story to back up and tell us the story of Zero. Its a very extensive story going back to his youth. It almost could have dragged the story but it didn't for me. It is a sympathetic story and I, for one, found myself liking this poor guy....until we got back to the real Zero. Interestingly, I found the story to be a one about love - the beautiful good and the terrible bad side of the emotion. I thoroughly enjoyed this excellent series and this final installment.

I both listened and read this. The audio by Scott Brick is good but I only listen while busy with something not too complicated - pulling weeds comes to mind. So I picked up the e-book at the library and managed to read while not listening, going back and forth - worked very well!

[JoLene]

I tried to read The Passage a while back. I don’t think it was a good audio book due to the style.......i think it deserved full concentration. I really want to get to this series as I’ve heard a lot of great things. Also the author went is a professor at where I went to college (small school, so I like to be supportive).

[Ladyslott]

Loved this series! Did Whispersync. Loved the audio more.

[Susie]

That’s good to know Linda. I’m always looking for a good audio. Thanks for the reminder to get to this series Barbara. You make a compelling case for reading it ASAP!

[Barbara M]

Ladyslott wrote: "Loved this series! Did Whispersync. Loved the audio more."

I didn't know there was a movie!