Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
I don’t read much vampire fiction, but this was really well done. It was more scientific than anything and focused on the relationships between characters. The world was well-crafted and the characters were complex. The ending was a gut punch in a great way.
dark
sad
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:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Cannibalism, Abandonment, War, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Confinement, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Rape, Blood, Death of parent, Abandonment
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gore, Grief, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, Pandemic/Epidemic
Moderate: Gun violence, Infidelity, Pedophilia, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Blood, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, War
Minor: Animal death, Fatphobia, Miscarriage, Racial slurs, Racism, Vomit, Death of parent, Abandonment
There are times when I think Stephen King—simultaneously one of our very best and very worst writers simply by virtue of his productivity and lack of interest in sensible editors—has FUBAR’d pop fiction. I’ve only read a bit of shitty King (Shining) and a handful of brilliant stories, and that right there is half the problem. His influence has paved the way for endless messes like this and countless awful streaming placentas that nail their tents to that modern simile and signpost for mediocrity: it’s like a 12 hour movie! So yeah, “The Passage” never ends—it’s so long I don’t remember when or if it ever started. Its length of course isn’t a problem in itself; the problem is that it constantly loses sight of its own mission thanks to distracting side quests, tertiary characters who appear only to disappear and maybe reappear, and inert relationships—all to make some points about the malleability of stories and how our realities and even time itself are created by consensus.
If much of this didn’t read like prose storyboards for Peak TV, I’d have much kinder things to say about Cronin’s prose which is frequently beautiful and insightful. Once he brings us inside his casts’ minds (I have no doubt he fan-casts his own work), we enter a whole other room, a creative space where anything seems possible, where the end of the world and armies of vampires don’t read as a goof. If these were his book, “The Passage” might sit with “Station Eleven” or “Last of Us” (pick your medium). As it is, it’s a wildly ambitious, overwrought mess that is relentlessly entertaining, a dissonant wreck, as fun as it is irritating. I’m compelled to read the sequels, after 30 hours of building a functional mental model of whatever this “universe” is meant to be.
If much of this didn’t read like prose storyboards for Peak TV, I’d have much kinder things to say about Cronin’s prose which is frequently beautiful and insightful. Once he brings us inside his casts’ minds (I have no doubt he fan-casts his own work), we enter a whole other room, a creative space where anything seems possible, where the end of the world and armies of vampires don’t read as a goof. If these were his book, “The Passage” might sit with “Station Eleven” or “Last of Us” (pick your medium). As it is, it’s a wildly ambitious, overwrought mess that is relentlessly entertaining, a dissonant wreck, as fun as it is irritating. I’m compelled to read the sequels, after 30 hours of building a functional mental model of whatever this “universe” is meant to be.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
A story of the end of humanity as we know it, a government experiment gone awry-- reminded me a little bit of the Stand. A long book but I was kept interested the whole way. Didn't give it 5 stars because of the end-- which really left you hanging. Sounds like a sequel is in the works.
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Dystopian with a twist.
As I read this, I kept thinking I've read it before.
As I read this, I kept thinking I've read it before.