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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I had two reactions to this book: terror and laughter.
I spent the majority of this book completely freaked out. Del Toro and Hogan know how to build suspense, and keep it climbing, despite the fact that readers know that person is going to be attacked by a vampire, or that there's a vampire in that room (don't open the door! Eeee!). Horrifying. I was somewhat scared to be alone in my apartment (then again, I have an extremely overactive imagination and a low scary tolerance level).
What is most frightening about this novel is the way that it's constructed. Del Toro and Hogan have made vampirism an actual parasitic disease that really does feed on its host. The spread of the "virus" is documented much like one would expect a real virus in the United States to spread: quickly, and almost silently, at first. Del Toro and Hogan have written a novel that you can almost believe might happen: think "Outbreak" or "28 Days Later".
Despite the scary factor of the book, after learning what the vampires really are, I just kept thinking "this is silly." While I can understand that the authors didn't want to use the romantic image of the vampire that we are accustomed to and wanted to make the victims of the disease seem more zombie-like, the long stinger was just too much for me. Every time the stinger came out of a vampire's mouth, I lost the moment, thinking about aliens, or bugs, or how unrealistic the entire scenario was. These stinging infants didn't have superhuman strength or speed, or the ability to use mind control or even a glamor. And if they can't move fast, I'm not truly terrified of the vampire.
In conclusion, worth the read for the scares, just be prepared for some goofy vampires.
I spent the majority of this book completely freaked out. Del Toro and Hogan know how to build suspense, and keep it climbing, despite the fact that readers know that person is going to be attacked by a vampire, or that there's a vampire in that room (don't open the door! Eeee!). Horrifying. I was somewhat scared to be alone in my apartment (then again, I have an extremely overactive imagination and a low scary tolerance level).
What is most frightening about this novel is the way that it's constructed. Del Toro and Hogan have made vampirism an actual parasitic disease that really does feed on its host. The spread of the "virus" is documented much like one would expect a real virus in the United States to spread: quickly, and almost silently, at first. Del Toro and Hogan have written a novel that you can almost believe might happen: think "Outbreak" or "28 Days Later".
Despite the scary factor of the book, after learning what the vampires really are, I just kept thinking "this is silly." While I can understand that the authors didn't want to use the romantic image of the vampire that we are accustomed to and wanted to make the victims of the disease seem more zombie-like, the long stinger was just too much for me. Every time the stinger came out of a vampire's mouth, I lost the moment, thinking about aliens, or bugs, or how unrealistic the entire scenario was. These stinging infants didn't have superhuman strength or speed, or the ability to use mind control or even a glamor. And if they can't move fast, I'm not truly terrified of the vampire.
In conclusion, worth the read for the scares, just be prepared for some goofy vampires.
The Strain takes us back to the original vampires of lore. No sexy hot vamps biting on your neck in this tale. These are the vampires who scared the hell out of us when we were kids. Who made us afraid to turn the light off at bedtime.
The book hooks you from the beginning when a young boy sits to hear the tale his grandmother weaves of a lost soul who prays upon children in their village.
Forward time to the present. An airplane lands at JFK from Germany. The plane makes it’s flawless landing onto the run way when is slows to a stop and no one ever emerges. The plane it’s self is dead. No lights. No communication. Officials come to investigate. None of them knowing the horrors that are about to be set free.
The book hooks you from the beginning when a young boy sits to hear the tale his grandmother weaves of a lost soul who prays upon children in their village.
Forward time to the present. An airplane lands at JFK from Germany. The plane makes it’s flawless landing onto the run way when is slows to a stop and no one ever emerges. The plane it’s self is dead. No lights. No communication. Officials come to investigate. None of them knowing the horrors that are about to be set free.
At least the vampires don't sparkle.
That is about the most I can say to recommend this book. Vampires are treated somewhat scientifically, like a virus or parasitic infection. I don't think the authors really know which one. The book is unfortunately boring and not very scary. It was a hard slog to complete it. It is the first book in a trilogy, but I don't think I'll be reading the next two anytime soon.
So many books, so little time. Not enough time to waste on bad ones.
That is about the most I can say to recommend this book. Vampires are treated somewhat scientifically, like a virus or parasitic infection. I don't think the authors really know which one. The book is unfortunately boring and not very scary. It was a hard slog to complete it. It is the first book in a trilogy, but I don't think I'll be reading the next two anytime soon.
So many books, so little time. Not enough time to waste on bad ones.
This was a really good and interesting take on vampires! Fast paced and held my attention.
Listened to the audiobook performed by Ron Perlman and it was EXCELLENT
A very fun read, a new take on the vampire tale with the idea of a vampire virus, so these are oozy zombie vampires. I loved the characters (master rat exterminator hero!) and it was a fast page turner with some nice mythology, but about 2/3 through I realized it wasn't going to have a solid ending and I was right. It was mostly a setup for the rest of the trilogy. Overall, still a very satisfying vampire lunch-break read, and I will definitely pick up the next in the trilogy.
Very dull to me. I was expecting so much more than the premise, but it became a cliched and totally unbelievable action flick. Even the characters fell flat. Bummer.
Vampires just don't do it for me like zombies do. I did reach my goal of finishing this book before FX starts the television series. I will skip the remaining 2 books in the trilogy and just watch the show.
A well known fact about me is that I scare easily and yet happily inflict scary things upon myself, usually watching horror films when it’s dark and I am alone in the house. Like that time I decided to watch The Blair Witch Project and my mum rang to say she wouldn’t be coming home and I had to sleep with the hall light on. I haven’t been able to bring myself to watch The Orphanage as yet though, but I will one day. I mention that as it was directed by Guillermo del Toro, also responsible for the brilliant Pan’s Labyrinth, and author of The Strain, co-written with Chuck Hogan, whom I’m afraid I’ve never heard of. It’s rare that a book makes me feel afraid, or tense, and yet this did so quite often. Up until the halfway point I would have raved about it and said you must read it, but I’ll get to that.
The Strain takes the idea of vampirism as a virus and runs with it, giving vampires a new lore and a new appearance, one that’s decidedly unattractive and definitely not sparkly. A plane lands at New York’s JFK airport seemingly with no problem, then shuts down completely with no communication from the pilot or crew. The blinds are drawn and there’s no movement. Fearing some sort of attack or disease outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control is called in, and Dr Ephraim Goodweather and his colleague Nora Martinez arrive to assess the situation. Suiting up in protective gear they board the plane and find all passengers and crew dead, except for four survivors, with no idea what has killed them. The people are upright in their seats with no visible marks or reactions to poisonous agents. Eph is initially baffled but his investigation is hindered by three of the survivors refusing to stay in hospital and going home to their families.
As this unfolds we learn the back story of Abraham Setrakian, a Holocaust survivor who has seen more than his fair share of horrors, and not at the hands of the Nazis. He knows what is about to happen, a centuries old truce having been broken and one of the ancients has landed on American soil, with help from a human. He is determined to stop the spreading contagion and kill the Master, hooking up with Eph and Nora as a wider conspiracy discredits them.
Added to this are the stories of the survivors as they succumb to the virus. Initially presenting as a sore throat, it rapidly spreads through the body mutating the organs and giving the host the overwhelming need to feed. A barbed stinger grows in their mouths to shoot out at their victims and incapacitate them, drawing in the blood. A homing instinct takes them back to their loved ones and so family members turn on each other in a battle to survive. Each sting turns another person into a vampire, and soon New York City is being overrun.
As I said, I really enjoyed the first half of this. Although it was a bit of a slow burner, enough was going on to keep me intrigued, and it gave me a chance to get to know the characters and their histories, so I became more attached to them. There’s a great sense of dread throughout, as you feel early on that it’s going to get out of control and most likely not end well. And there are plenty of parts where the tension rackets up a notch when unsuspecting people are confronted by turning loved ones and forced to fight or flee. It’s also sad, as the dead on the plane are reanimated as vampires, their relatives having being told they’re dead. So when they arrive on their doorstep there’s an initial feeling of hope and amazement, followed by fear and most often death of a different kind. The book is especially gripping in these moments, and scary, and I was racing through to find out what became of everyone. But this is also part of its problem, for me. There are just too many of these scenes, and after a while I was fatigued by it and skimmed through it. It was just yet another side character about to be picked off by one or more vampires, and there are only so many times you can feel afraid for someone and want them to run away before it becomes repetitive and tiresome. It began to feel a bit like filler, like they knew they were good at this stuff so keep throwing it in there., when really I wanted the plot to move on a bit.
Once the virus starts to spread and they begin hunting the Master it lost a lot of its charm for me. I didn’t find it explained very well what they hoped to achieve by killing him. Would it somehow stop the already spreading contagion? Or once they stop him can they deal with the new vampires? And could they not do a better job of alerting the world to this plague? Eh, I dunno, there were just bits where I felt it was lacking. So it’s good fun, but not amazingly well written, the writing style giving it more of a trashy feel (for want of a better word) that you can burn through quite quickly. I’m not sure I would have picked this up had I known it was the first in a trilogy, since I’m not overly fond of waiting for books to come out to finish a story. I might pick up the next one, but the ending of this didn’t leave me in any rush to. It’s a shame though, I really did enjoy this to begin with.
The Strain takes the idea of vampirism as a virus and runs with it, giving vampires a new lore and a new appearance, one that’s decidedly unattractive and definitely not sparkly. A plane lands at New York’s JFK airport seemingly with no problem, then shuts down completely with no communication from the pilot or crew. The blinds are drawn and there’s no movement. Fearing some sort of attack or disease outbreak, the Centers for Disease Control is called in, and Dr Ephraim Goodweather and his colleague Nora Martinez arrive to assess the situation. Suiting up in protective gear they board the plane and find all passengers and crew dead, except for four survivors, with no idea what has killed them. The people are upright in their seats with no visible marks or reactions to poisonous agents. Eph is initially baffled but his investigation is hindered by three of the survivors refusing to stay in hospital and going home to their families.
As this unfolds we learn the back story of Abraham Setrakian, a Holocaust survivor who has seen more than his fair share of horrors, and not at the hands of the Nazis. He knows what is about to happen, a centuries old truce having been broken and one of the ancients has landed on American soil, with help from a human. He is determined to stop the spreading contagion and kill the Master, hooking up with Eph and Nora as a wider conspiracy discredits them.
Added to this are the stories of the survivors as they succumb to the virus. Initially presenting as a sore throat, it rapidly spreads through the body mutating the organs and giving the host the overwhelming need to feed. A barbed stinger grows in their mouths to shoot out at their victims and incapacitate them, drawing in the blood. A homing instinct takes them back to their loved ones and so family members turn on each other in a battle to survive. Each sting turns another person into a vampire, and soon New York City is being overrun.
As I said, I really enjoyed the first half of this. Although it was a bit of a slow burner, enough was going on to keep me intrigued, and it gave me a chance to get to know the characters and their histories, so I became more attached to them. There’s a great sense of dread throughout, as you feel early on that it’s going to get out of control and most likely not end well. And there are plenty of parts where the tension rackets up a notch when unsuspecting people are confronted by turning loved ones and forced to fight or flee. It’s also sad, as the dead on the plane are reanimated as vampires, their relatives having being told they’re dead. So when they arrive on their doorstep there’s an initial feeling of hope and amazement, followed by fear and most often death of a different kind. The book is especially gripping in these moments, and scary, and I was racing through to find out what became of everyone. But this is also part of its problem, for me. There are just too many of these scenes, and after a while I was fatigued by it and skimmed through it. It was just yet another side character about to be picked off by one or more vampires, and there are only so many times you can feel afraid for someone and want them to run away before it becomes repetitive and tiresome. It began to feel a bit like filler, like they knew they were good at this stuff so keep throwing it in there., when really I wanted the plot to move on a bit.
Once the virus starts to spread and they begin hunting the Master it lost a lot of its charm for me. I didn’t find it explained very well what they hoped to achieve by killing him. Would it somehow stop the already spreading contagion? Or once they stop him can they deal with the new vampires? And could they not do a better job of alerting the world to this plague? Eh, I dunno, there were just bits where I felt it was lacking. So it’s good fun, but not amazingly well written, the writing style giving it more of a trashy feel (for want of a better word) that you can burn through quite quickly. I’m not sure I would have picked this up had I known it was the first in a trilogy, since I’m not overly fond of waiting for books to come out to finish a story. I might pick up the next one, but the ending of this didn’t leave me in any rush to. It’s a shame though, I really did enjoy this to begin with.