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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
4 stars. This was needlessly long at a little over 1000 pages (well, the copy that my library has is 1000 pages) and I thought it would take me until the end of the month to finish but I will say that with the way it’s written it made getting through this a breeze. I loved the beginning half of this book. It had me absolutely hooked and I flew through it. The middle part was even good it was honestly just when I got towards the end that I started to struggle. The pace slowed down significantly and I found myself getting bored. I also wasn’t crazy about the way it ended but overall it was still a really good read and I’m definitely going to be reading the other books in this series.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
INCREDIBLY racist tropes in this book with a “USA USA USA” god complex. This writer also clearly wants to be Stephen King or idk maybe f*ck him.
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I thought I was bored of vampire stories until I read this book! If you loved “The Stand” by King I would guess you’d love this book too (I love both!). Lots of characters, lots of little side stories that are fascinating, and lots of juicy post apocalyptic surviving!
I absolutely love when the story jumped ahead 80 years, at first I felt disappointed we missed the fall of the world but I actually grew to love it because as our survivors explored the world, it felt like we knew as little as they did and our eyes were opening together.
I absolutely love when the story jumped ahead 80 years, at first I felt disappointed we missed the fall of the world but I actually grew to love it because as our survivors explored the world, it felt like we knew as little as they did and our eyes were opening together.
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
When I finished this 800 page (37 hour audio) book and came upstairs to rant, "You will never believe..." at my husband, his response was that my review should read only, "Justin Cronin, fuck that guy." And while that's going a bit far, considering the book is pretty good, writing an 800 page epic that ends on a cliffhanger deserves at least an adjacent "fuck you." For real! Yeah, I'm lookin' at you Cronin.
Outside of the lack of ending, the book has an interesting zombie/vampire blend going on and an engaging cast (just don't get too attached to anyone), and a thought provoking plot. It also has an unexpected (by me) religious undertone. The thing is all a fairly blunt Noah/Floodesque purging of evil for the betterment of man parable.
I do think it's far too long. There just isn't any reason it needs to be almost 800 pages long. It wanders and wends too much. While I'm interested in finishing the story, I'm not up for two more tomes of this length to get it. I'm stepping away. Maybe I'll come back to it. Maybe.
On a side note, the narrators did an excellent job.
Outside of the lack of ending, the book has an interesting zombie/vampire blend going on and an engaging cast (just don't get too attached to anyone), and a thought provoking plot. It also has an unexpected (by me) religious undertone. The thing is all a fairly blunt Noah/Floodesque purging of evil for the betterment of man parable.
I do think it's far too long. There just isn't any reason it needs to be almost 800 pages long. It wanders and wends too much. While I'm interested in finishing the story, I'm not up for two more tomes of this length to get it. I'm stepping away. Maybe I'll come back to it. Maybe.
On a side note, the narrators did an excellent job.
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
