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3.62 AVERAGE
3.62 AVERAGE
Full Review at Foil the Plot
"They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come. In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country. In two months—the world." –Amazon.com
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The Strain starts on a high note with an airplane landing at JFK—only something goes horribly wrong. Mid-landing the plane ceases all movement. No lights, no noise, no nothing. After several failed attempts at raising the flight crew, the CDC is called to the scene under the leadership of Ephraim Goodweather. On boarding the doomed flight, he finds that all of the passengers, save four, have died under mysterious circumstances. Eph and his team investigate the cause of these deaths, fearing a viral outbreak could be to blame. The supernatural answers he finds cause him to question science, God and life as he knows it. Eph eventually teams up with a rag-tag band of misfits, including an old man who has previously encountered this strain, desperate to stop the ancient evil that's plaguing their city.
Sounds promising, right? I thought so. I picked up this book with high hopes, expecting nothing but the best from my man, Guillermo del Toro. I mean, with a repertoire that consists of Pan’s Labyrinth, Hell Boy and Mimic, how could you possibly mess it up? So then why was it so hard for me to finish reading it? Why was I left feeling so completely malcontented? Let me break it down for you. When you’re a die-hard fan of someone’s work, there is a certain caliber of quality that you come to expect from them. I picked this book up for the simple fact that I wanted to be thoroughly creeped out. Del Toro is a master at the creep-factor.
And don’t get me wrong; there were parts in this book that did just that. But that’s also the problem—the scary parts were too far and few between. The pacing was all wrong and in those down moments, I was completely bored. The beginning is so strong and then, all too quickly, it falls flat and it’s this way throughout the duration of the novel. What little action we’re left with is interspersed with really random tangents and it does nothing but detract from the actual story. I think the other big issue was the schizophrenic jumps in POV making it a challenge to follow. We’re given the story from a multitude of perspectives yet I found it hard to really connect or care about any one of them. It’s difficult to discern who’s a main character and who’s playing a supporting role because one is particularly memorable.
Bad as it was, I must, however, give Hogan and del Toro their due credit. When they get it right, they really nail it. There were parts where I was gripping the armrests of my seat (yes, I unknowingly read it on a plane), anxiously waiting to find out what happens next. There were also parts where the suspense builds just enough tension to keep you hooked and wanting for more. The opening and closing chapters do this particularly well. I also really enjoyed their updated take on the vampire myth. These aren’t your usual sensationalized, overly-sexed vamps. They are ruthless, ugly and monstrous; not something we see very much of in today's entertainment. And what I really appreciated was the sci-fi spin woven through the book, making vampirism a plague of sorts. The lines between science and the supernatural are blurred in a way that feels very much like something out of a Michael Crichton or James Rollins novel, and that pleases the super geek in me.
"They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come. In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country. In two months—the world." –Amazon.com
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The Strain starts on a high note with an airplane landing at JFK—only something goes horribly wrong. Mid-landing the plane ceases all movement. No lights, no noise, no nothing. After several failed attempts at raising the flight crew, the CDC is called to the scene under the leadership of Ephraim Goodweather. On boarding the doomed flight, he finds that all of the passengers, save four, have died under mysterious circumstances. Eph and his team investigate the cause of these deaths, fearing a viral outbreak could be to blame. The supernatural answers he finds cause him to question science, God and life as he knows it. Eph eventually teams up with a rag-tag band of misfits, including an old man who has previously encountered this strain, desperate to stop the ancient evil that's plaguing their city.
Sounds promising, right? I thought so. I picked up this book with high hopes, expecting nothing but the best from my man, Guillermo del Toro. I mean, with a repertoire that consists of Pan’s Labyrinth, Hell Boy and Mimic, how could you possibly mess it up? So then why was it so hard for me to finish reading it? Why was I left feeling so completely malcontented? Let me break it down for you. When you’re a die-hard fan of someone’s work, there is a certain caliber of quality that you come to expect from them. I picked this book up for the simple fact that I wanted to be thoroughly creeped out. Del Toro is a master at the creep-factor.
And don’t get me wrong; there were parts in this book that did just that. But that’s also the problem—the scary parts were too far and few between. The pacing was all wrong and in those down moments, I was completely bored. The beginning is so strong and then, all too quickly, it falls flat and it’s this way throughout the duration of the novel. What little action we’re left with is interspersed with really random tangents and it does nothing but detract from the actual story. I think the other big issue was the schizophrenic jumps in POV making it a challenge to follow. We’re given the story from a multitude of perspectives yet I found it hard to really connect or care about any one of them. It’s difficult to discern who’s a main character and who’s playing a supporting role because one is particularly memorable.
Bad as it was, I must, however, give Hogan and del Toro their due credit. When they get it right, they really nail it. There were parts where I was gripping the armrests of my seat (yes, I unknowingly read it on a plane), anxiously waiting to find out what happens next. There were also parts where the suspense builds just enough tension to keep you hooked and wanting for more. The opening and closing chapters do this particularly well. I also really enjoyed their updated take on the vampire myth. These aren’t your usual sensationalized, overly-sexed vamps. They are ruthless, ugly and monstrous; not something we see very much of in today's entertainment. And what I really appreciated was the sci-fi spin woven through the book, making vampirism a plague of sorts. The lines between science and the supernatural are blurred in a way that feels very much like something out of a Michael Crichton or James Rollins novel, and that pleases the super geek in me.
While the story is fun the writing is mechanical, the plot decisions predictable, and the characterization makes me groan. You know immediately who has plot immunity and who doesn't, the writing has very little sense of immediacy, and there are constant condescending asides.
Worst of all is that the main character takes an overdose of stupid pills near the end of the book and makes decisions that endanger the less narratively important characters rather wantonly. Probably the worst...
[SPOILER ALERT]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
...is when he keeps another character from destroying his vampire ex-wife, and then IMMEDIATELY starts lamenting about how she's going to hunt her son forever, that their custody battle isn't over...now it's supernatural! Thanks for spelling that out for me. I don't know that I'm smart enough to have figured out the parallel themes there on my own. =/
Bad guy gets away, vague menace over plot-immune son of main character persists (thereby removing all tension when he's supposedly in danger), new menace introduced. It almost reads like it was written by numbers. Anyway, it was fun, but the end was more aggravating than cathartic or gripping, and I'm normally an easy mark for this sort of story (I quite liked 13 Bullets, Obsidian Butterfly, They Thirst...).
I'm hoping they get better, because I already own all three!
24SEP13 Update: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strain_(TV_series) dear god I hope it's better as a TV show than a book. I have a lot of faith in FX due to the Bridge and the Americans, but... *crosses fingers*
Worst of all is that the main character takes an overdose of stupid pills near the end of the book and makes decisions that endanger the less narratively important characters rather wantonly. Probably the worst...
[SPOILER ALERT]
.
.
.
.
.
.
.
...is when he keeps another character from destroying his vampire ex-wife, and then IMMEDIATELY starts lamenting about how she's going to hunt her son forever, that their custody battle isn't over...now it's supernatural! Thanks for spelling that out for me. I don't know that I'm smart enough to have figured out the parallel themes there on my own. =/
Bad guy gets away, vague menace over plot-immune son of main character persists (thereby removing all tension when he's supposedly in danger), new menace introduced. It almost reads like it was written by numbers. Anyway, it was fun, but the end was more aggravating than cathartic or gripping, and I'm normally an easy mark for this sort of story (I quite liked 13 Bullets, Obsidian Butterfly, They Thirst...).
I'm hoping they get better, because I already own all three!
24SEP13 Update: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Strain_(TV_series) dear god I hope it's better as a TV show than a book. I have a lot of faith in FX due to the Bridge and the Americans, but... *crosses fingers*
It was good
Liked the story and it all coming together but some of it felt really tedious to read. I'll probably listen to the other two books.
Liked the story and it all coming together but some of it felt really tedious to read. I'll probably listen to the other two books.
bah!! this was a wanna be "The Stand" with vampires and not as well written. It would have helped if it had told the story in one volume, like "The Stand", rather than a forced trilogy.
Un libro che si ispira all'antica figura mostruosa del vampiro, ben lontana dai canoni più moderni ma anche da quelli di Stoker, con l'aggiunta di caratteristiche che ben si sposano con l'immaginario fantasioso di Del Toro.
Nel complesso il libro è molto valido benchè, purtroppo, non sia esente da qualche pecca. La prima è da ricercare nella piattezza dei personaggi, che sono decisamente stereotipi poco approfonditi, la seconda nella scrittura che non è particolarmente ricercata ma a volte neppure buona.
Nonostante ciò, non mi sento di dare meno di quattro stelle a questo primo libro della trilogia, sia per le interessanti soluzioni che propone per la figura del vampiro, sia per il modo in cui è affrontata la narrazione, ossia indagando non solo ciò che succede ai protagonisti, ma cercando di ricreare un quadro più complesso, con accurate descrizioni di eventi legati anche a personaggi minori. I protagonisti non hanno una gran personalità, è vero, ma sono gli eventi a farla da padrone e questa piattezza viene in parte compensata dal fluire della storia.
Ho particolarmente apprezzato inoltre la capacità di portare avanti la storia con realisticità, senza scorciatoie, ma procedendo passo a passo e sempre seguendo fili logici.
Molto bella l'introduzione che cita palesemente l'arrivo in Inghilterra del Dracula di Stoker, ma in chiave del tutto moderna.
Nel complesso il libro è molto valido benchè, purtroppo, non sia esente da qualche pecca. La prima è da ricercare nella piattezza dei personaggi, che sono decisamente stereotipi poco approfonditi, la seconda nella scrittura che non è particolarmente ricercata ma a volte neppure buona.
Nonostante ciò, non mi sento di dare meno di quattro stelle a questo primo libro della trilogia, sia per le interessanti soluzioni che propone per la figura del vampiro, sia per il modo in cui è affrontata la narrazione, ossia indagando non solo ciò che succede ai protagonisti, ma cercando di ricreare un quadro più complesso, con accurate descrizioni di eventi legati anche a personaggi minori. I protagonisti non hanno una gran personalità, è vero, ma sono gli eventi a farla da padrone e questa piattezza viene in parte compensata dal fluire della storia.
Ho particolarmente apprezzato inoltre la capacità di portare avanti la storia con realisticità, senza scorciatoie, ma procedendo passo a passo e sempre seguendo fili logici.
Molto bella l'introduzione che cita palesemente l'arrivo in Inghilterra del Dracula di Stoker, ma in chiave del tutto moderna.
Not a perfect book, but very good. Interesting take on the vampire mythos. The characters felt realistic, nice use of tension, but some unanswered questions that I'm only willing to let go of because this is book one of a trilogy. Were this the final book, it would be a lot less satisfying. I want answers, dammit. :)
Good enough that I'll pick up at least the next in the series.
4 out of 5 stars.
Good enough that I'll pick up at least the next in the series.
4 out of 5 stars.
Not a bad take on vampire sic-fi at all, though sometimes felt like you were watching a movie more than reading a book, thanks probably to Del Toro. (Not necessarily a bad thing, just something I noticed.) Overall pleasantly surprised.
challenging
dark
emotional
reflective
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
2025: Torn between 3.75 and 4.0. 🤔
This isn’t a bad book but there is a distinct lack of excitement for a book about vampires taking over New York City in the span of 48 hours.
This isn’t a bad book but there is a distinct lack of excitement for a book about vampires taking over New York City in the span of 48 hours.
I had hoped for something better because it was del Toro. No such luck. Aside from an interesting take on the vampire, it was pretty pedestrian at best, and downright horrible writing at worst.