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kim_j_dare's review against another edition
3.0
Enjoyed the first half of this, but it he second half really should have been continued as the next installment in the series. Way too long and bogged down as a single novel.
bluehound's review against another edition
2.0
got tired of some of the same sentences used over and over. " .. it was the same, but not exactly." What 10 times for this phrase. Great literature it is not. I mean, where was the editor? Otherwise enjoyable.
librarydoc's review against another edition
5.0
Wow. I could not put this book down. I didn't want the story to end! I loved this book, and I can't wait to read the second in the trilogy.
bexlrose's review against another edition
3.0
Just finished reading The Passage by Justin Cronin, which I started reading in 2010. Obviously, it having taken me 7 years to fully read, you can probably tell I wasn't exactly enamoured with it all the way through. The difficulty I find is giving it a star rating. The book is split into 3 parts, and in my mind, it should have been split into 3 separate books, but since it's already the first of a trilogy, it would have to have been a series and I'm guessing that for some reason Cronin didn't want that. There's a sort of epic ring to the word 'trilogy' that 'series' just doesn't capture. Shame he wasn't really considering my review when he published the books...
The first part of The Passage would have got 5 stars easily. Bloody brilliant, scary and thrilling.
The second part was entirely different, it being about a colony in in the future rather than a catastrophe happening now. I found it interesting at first and then dull in the extreme. 2 stars.
This book is 879 pages long. By the third part I had already put it down a number of times, but here was where it really collected dust for some time. There was quite a lot of action in this portion of the book, but I just felt tired. My reading tastes have changed a whole heap in 7 years, and to be honest this book just isn't really for me anymore. 2 stars again.
Essentially, this would be an easy 2 star book, except for that first wicked part. If only that had been a novel in itself...
As it stands I'll give it a 2.5, which makes it a distinctly average book.
The first part of The Passage would have got 5 stars easily. Bloody brilliant, scary and thrilling.
The second part was entirely different, it being about a colony in in the future rather than a catastrophe happening now. I found it interesting at first and then dull in the extreme. 2 stars.
This book is 879 pages long. By the third part I had already put it down a number of times, but here was where it really collected dust for some time. There was quite a lot of action in this portion of the book, but I just felt tired. My reading tastes have changed a whole heap in 7 years, and to be honest this book just isn't really for me anymore. 2 stars again.
Essentially, this would be an easy 2 star book, except for that first wicked part. If only that had been a novel in itself...
As it stands I'll give it a 2.5, which makes it a distinctly average book.
abditoryalive's review against another edition
Overly detailed
Floating strands of characters
Lack of patience
Wasn’t the right time for me to read this one with its themes
Floating strands of characters
Lack of patience
Wasn’t the right time for me to read this one with its themes
skull_servant's review against another edition
3.0
Este libro está divido en dos partes. La primera, que parece un thriller supernatural, y la segunda, que es más una historia de terror apocalíptica de toque juvenil.
La primera parte está bastante buena. Muy buen manejo del suspenso. Me encariñé con la mayoría de los personajes. Uno no sabe qué esperar del final.
La segunda es menos original. Se trata de una aventura con toques de terror, con protagonistas adolescentes. Y, como siempre que hay adolescentes en este tipo de historias, la magia y las conveniencias son más recurrentes cada vez que se encuentran con algún peligro. Me hizo pensar en el anime Attack on Titan, que también tiene estos errores pero diez veces peor.
De todas formas, me quedo con la primera parte de la historia, que es lamentablemente más corta que la otra.
La primera parte está bastante buena. Muy buen manejo del suspenso. Me encariñé con la mayoría de los personajes. Uno no sabe qué esperar del final.
La segunda es menos original. Se trata de una aventura con toques de terror, con protagonistas adolescentes. Y, como siempre que hay adolescentes en este tipo de historias, la magia y las conveniencias son más recurrentes cada vez que se encuentran con algún peligro. Me hizo pensar en el anime Attack on Titan, que también tiene estos errores pero diez veces peor.
De todas formas, me quedo con la primera parte de la historia, que es lamentablemente más corta que la otra.
crystalstarrlight's review against another edition
4.0
“What strange places our lives can carry us to, what dark passages”
Amy Harper Bellafonte was left in the care of Sister Lacey, until the military got word of her and sent Agents Wolgast and Doyle to retrieve her. Project Noah wants her as a subject for their super-secret new weapon. But things go from bad to worse as the other Twelve test subjects—all former death row inmates—escape the compound.
I Liked:
First and foremost, I want to congratulate Justin Cronin on his superb writing (finally! An English major who can write!). The beginning, talking about Amy's birth and her mother, seems like a really boring way to begin a post-apocalyptic, vampire novel. But Cronin's superb word usage, simple, yet descriptive and compelling style absolutely sucked me into the story. And then, he continues to build and build and build the suspense and intrigue throughout the next 250 pages in a true thriller fashion, so much that going to bed was a chore!
Cronin has an enormous cast to go along with the enormous book. The characters I thought were the best and that I liked the best were Wolgast, Carter, Lacey, Michael and Alicia. Wolgast is, for the first 250 pages, our protagonist. He was relatable, he was real, he may have been a “stereotypical” been-there, done-that FBI agent, but I could believe his story. And his history was truly heart-wrenching. His scenes were the absolute best.
I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying Carter. I thought I wouldn't, as he was one of the inmates, but his story is, like Wolgast's, compelling. It was sad that he got accused of something he didn't do, it was sad to see the housewife's failing marriage through his eyes and his wanting to do something for his friend, for the friend that saved him. I can't wait to see how (or if) he comes back.
Lacey was such a sweet character. When she made her final stand in the compound, allowing Wolgast and Amy to escape, I wanted to cry. I wanted to yell at Cronin for killing her off.
Michael was one of the few “newer” characters that I enjoyed. He was a “Circuit”, meaning an engineer, which is what I am too. I liked his analytical thinking and how he was, in some ways, the brains of the operation.
And finally, I know that she isn't very well liked, but I did like Alicia. Most of the women tended to fall into the “woman” stereotypes (nurse, mommy, etc—even Maus, a former Watcher, loses all her grit once she is pregnant), but I pictured Alicia as Angelina Jolie. In a nutshell, I think she was a guilty pleasure.
Cronin not only gives us amazing characters but an amazing story. I liked his partially based in science story for the creation of the vampires. I loved the detail he put into the future society, the way the newer characters look at machines and “modern” technology and wonder what it was used for. I also wonder how Amy will be used in future novels, what he role is (it is so tantalizing here) and how all the questions posed here will be answered.
I Didn't Like:
My biggest complaint is one that I've seen in reviews time and time again: Cronin spends 250 pages setting up all these brilliant characters, only to kill them off, and spend the next 250 pages building up the next set of characters—characters that are far less interesting or compelling. Peter was positively dull; I honestly thought he was stupid and wouldn't have minded seeing him dead (though, by now, we realize he is the “hero” in the Hero's Journey Mythological Arc). Sara was kinda interesting, but she was shoveled with a stereotypical chick job (nurse). Maus was only important to get pregnant. Her being a former Watcher makes no impression on the story and she must be protected and saved. Theo is bleh...in fact, most of the characters are “bleh”. They are so under-developed (strange, I know, in that so many pages are spent building up characters who end up being under-developed anyway).
And then, the second part has so many characters, the book really needed a Dramatis Personae. There is one part, where one of our major characters kills a viral who is "shockingly" revealed as that character's brother. The problem? When the revelation is made, I went "So, who's so-and-so?" I had to go back and remember that he was such-and-such's brother--definitely deadening the big OMG moment. And this is just one time this happens; there are plenty of other characters that get introduced peripherally and then reappear only to make you wonder, "So who's that again and why is he here?"
After the crisp, tight writing of the first 250 pages, Cronin then takes his own sweet time (i.e. the rest of the 766 pages) getting to the story. An editor should have chopped out about two hundred pages, and the story wouldn't have been affected in the slightest. Heck, it still might have been bloated!
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Characters drop a few f-bombs, and milder profanities, but mostly in the latter section, “flyers” stands in for most of the swear words.
Theo and Maus get it on a few times (no details). Same with Sara and another character. Amy's mother was a street prostitute.
The death toll is enormous—but that should come as a no-brainer from an apocalyptic thriller. Being get bit and impaled regularly, along with broken legs, arms, necks, and any other type of bodily damage you can think of. It could be worse, but you've been warned.
Overall:
Vampire novels have been in boom lately, and I can imagine some people might look at this hefty book and skip it, thinking it another Twilight knock-off. Let me assure you, this is as far from Twilight as you can get. If you want good writing, good characters, and good vampires that actually bite and kill their prey, you need to check out this book. Even if the book sags in places, I still recommend it and will be checking out part deux when it is released, tentatively in 2012.
Amy Harper Bellafonte was left in the care of Sister Lacey, until the military got word of her and sent Agents Wolgast and Doyle to retrieve her. Project Noah wants her as a subject for their super-secret new weapon. But things go from bad to worse as the other Twelve test subjects—all former death row inmates—escape the compound.
I Liked:
First and foremost, I want to congratulate Justin Cronin on his superb writing (finally! An English major who can write!). The beginning, talking about Amy's birth and her mother, seems like a really boring way to begin a post-apocalyptic, vampire novel. But Cronin's superb word usage, simple, yet descriptive and compelling style absolutely sucked me into the story. And then, he continues to build and build and build the suspense and intrigue throughout the next 250 pages in a true thriller fashion, so much that going to bed was a chore!
Cronin has an enormous cast to go along with the enormous book. The characters I thought were the best and that I liked the best were Wolgast, Carter, Lacey, Michael and Alicia. Wolgast is, for the first 250 pages, our protagonist. He was relatable, he was real, he may have been a “stereotypical” been-there, done-that FBI agent, but I could believe his story. And his history was truly heart-wrenching. His scenes were the absolute best.
I was surprised to find myself actually enjoying Carter. I thought I wouldn't, as he was one of the inmates, but his story is, like Wolgast's, compelling. It was sad that he got accused of something he didn't do, it was sad to see the housewife's failing marriage through his eyes and his wanting to do something for his friend, for the friend that saved him. I can't wait to see how (or if) he comes back.
Lacey was such a sweet character. When she made her final stand in the compound, allowing Wolgast and Amy to escape, I wanted to cry. I wanted to yell at Cronin for killing her off.
Michael was one of the few “newer” characters that I enjoyed. He was a “Circuit”, meaning an engineer, which is what I am too. I liked his analytical thinking and how he was, in some ways, the brains of the operation.
And finally, I know that she isn't very well liked, but I did like Alicia. Most of the women tended to fall into the “woman” stereotypes (nurse, mommy, etc—even Maus, a former Watcher, loses all her grit once she is pregnant), but I pictured Alicia as Angelina Jolie. In a nutshell, I think she was a guilty pleasure.
Cronin not only gives us amazing characters but an amazing story. I liked his partially based in science story for the creation of the vampires. I loved the detail he put into the future society, the way the newer characters look at machines and “modern” technology and wonder what it was used for. I also wonder how Amy will be used in future novels, what he role is (it is so tantalizing here) and how all the questions posed here will be answered.
I Didn't Like:
My biggest complaint is one that I've seen in reviews time and time again: Cronin spends 250 pages setting up all these brilliant characters, only to kill them off, and spend the next 250 pages building up the next set of characters—characters that are far less interesting or compelling. Peter was positively dull; I honestly thought he was stupid and wouldn't have minded seeing him dead (though, by now, we realize he is the “hero” in the Hero's Journey Mythological Arc). Sara was kinda interesting, but she was shoveled with a stereotypical chick job (nurse). Maus was only important to get pregnant. Her being a former Watcher makes no impression on the story and she must be protected and saved. Theo is bleh...in fact, most of the characters are “bleh”. They are so under-developed (strange, I know, in that so many pages are spent building up characters who end up being under-developed anyway).
And then, the second part has so many characters, the book really needed a Dramatis Personae. There is one part, where one of our major characters kills a viral who is "shockingly" revealed as that character's brother. The problem? When the revelation is made, I went "So, who's so-and-so?" I had to go back and remember that he was such-and-such's brother--definitely deadening the big OMG moment. And this is just one time this happens; there are plenty of other characters that get introduced peripherally and then reappear only to make you wonder, "So who's that again and why is he here?"
After the crisp, tight writing of the first 250 pages, Cronin then takes his own sweet time (i.e. the rest of the 766 pages) getting to the story. An editor should have chopped out about two hundred pages, and the story wouldn't have been affected in the slightest. Heck, it still might have been bloated!
Dialogue/Sexual Situations/Violence:
Characters drop a few f-bombs, and milder profanities, but mostly in the latter section, “flyers” stands in for most of the swear words.
Theo and Maus get it on a few times (no details). Same with Sara and another character. Amy's mother was a street prostitute.
The death toll is enormous—but that should come as a no-brainer from an apocalyptic thriller. Being get bit and impaled regularly, along with broken legs, arms, necks, and any other type of bodily damage you can think of. It could be worse, but you've been warned.
Overall:
Vampire novels have been in boom lately, and I can imagine some people might look at this hefty book and skip it, thinking it another Twilight knock-off. Let me assure you, this is as far from Twilight as you can get. If you want good writing, good characters, and good vampires that actually bite and kill their prey, you need to check out this book. Even if the book sags in places, I still recommend it and will be checking out part deux when it is released, tentatively in 2012.
foxy2311's review against another edition
2.0
Finally finished this insanley long book. Obviously more these to come. Don't see emyself wasting another 800 pages on this. The author could have easily cut the length of this book in half without losing anything.....maybe then I would've enjoyed it.
osean93's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
4.0