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3.95 AVERAGE
3.95 AVERAGE
adventurous
challenging
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
DNF at 30%. I added this book to my TBR pile because I loved The Ferryman and read great reviews about The Passage. It seems Justin Cronin's writing improved a lot in 13 years because I couldn't believe both books were written by the same author. The Passage has great action scenes but the characters were flat; I didn't care at all about any of them. There were also no relevant female characters. It could be the time the book was written, but it felt incredibly masculine. The dialogues were stilted, and after 10 and a half hours of listening to the audiobook, I couldn't take it anymore.
I started watching the tv show, and after watching the first season, decided to pick up the book to see what the core of it was really about. And it's really taken me on a long ride full of thriller all the way. I can finally see that the tv show has completely divulged from the book, its so different, but actually, I'm all right with the changes they made. The tv show is based upon the book, but is its own story, with similar plot. I don't really mind because it allows you to enjoy the story of the books told in different ways so the reader isn't too expectant. At least they were honest about that right off the bat.
The story does center around Amy a lot, but here's where the show was different is the character relationships have completely changed. Amy in the show is the protagonist, but always in the book, the characters interact and see Amy as an important figure, but the narrator is the actual protagonist. I think the character points of view aren't terribly confusing when it switches around; there's a few POV's from some important characters, and some from characters that die. But the point is to show how the virals affect people's minds. I guess, that's how Justin Cronin had to show that the virals weren't lifeless/brainless zombies that just wander around; they're smart and fast and strategize. I think that's one thing to take into account that its not a vampire/zombie hybrid. The vampires just happen to look ugly, but they have a mastermind behind them.
I do find myself completely immersed in the world, and all of the characters troubles. I think the setting was very well-thought out, that it was believable. And I have come to enjoy Peter's relationship with Amy and his friends. The beginning of the story managed to make me sad and hopeless; I felt much sympathy with Wolgast, but he's definitely a lot stronger in the show than he was in the book as a person. I don't mind this so much because Peter is then introduced after the beginning, and he is someone that I can see myself relating to.
If you're thinking about reading the book, I highly recommend. The book itself keeps itself paced very well, and there wasn't a moment when I felt like it was a drag to read; it was steady, and kept me interested. It wasn't til near the climax/end that I felt an urgent need to rush through to know what happened next, and it was completely satisfactory that lead off into the second book, which I'm waiting to pick up soon.
The story does center around Amy a lot, but here's where the show was different is the character relationships have completely changed. Amy in the show is the protagonist, but always in the book, the characters interact and see Amy as an important figure, but the narrator is the actual protagonist. I think the character points of view aren't terribly confusing when it switches around; there's a few POV's from some important characters, and some from characters that die. But the point is to show how the virals affect people's minds. I guess, that's how Justin Cronin had to show that the virals weren't lifeless/brainless zombies that just wander around; they're smart and fast and strategize. I think that's one thing to take into account that its not a vampire/zombie hybrid. The vampires just happen to look ugly, but they have a mastermind behind them.
I do find myself completely immersed in the world, and all of the characters troubles. I think the setting was very well-thought out, that it was believable. And I have come to enjoy Peter's relationship with Amy and his friends. The beginning of the story managed to make me sad and hopeless; I felt much sympathy with Wolgast, but he's definitely a lot stronger in the show than he was in the book as a person. I don't mind this so much because Peter is then introduced after the beginning, and he is someone that I can see myself relating to.
If you're thinking about reading the book, I highly recommend. The book itself keeps itself paced very well, and there wasn't a moment when I felt like it was a drag to read; it was steady, and kept me interested. It wasn't til near the climax/end that I felt an urgent need to rush through to know what happened next, and it was completely satisfactory that lead off into the second book, which I'm waiting to pick up soon.
Would be a five without the ending. Who writes a 900+ page book and ends it on a cliffhanger!!!!!! Seriously!!!!
Mixed feelings about this one!
It starts off well, but then gets bogged down in the middle introducing a whole new set of characters. There was a lot of details about the relationships, as in family trees, that I don't think helped to move the story along. Picked up again in the third part.
It starts off well, but then gets bogged down in the middle introducing a whole new set of characters. There was a lot of details about the relationships, as in family trees, that I don't think helped to move the story along. Picked up again in the third part.
Petered off towards the end, but otherwise really enjoyable read.
Recommended to me by a friend. Although, I was warned that its one of those all (entire trilogy) or nothing type of reads.
Starting out, I can see the author is an acolyte of [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg]. The story reminds me strongly of [b:The Strain|6065215|The Strain (The Strain Trilogy, #1)|Guillermo del Toro|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1326225354s/6065215.jpg|6241525] by [a:Guillermo del Toro|167605|Guillermo del Toro|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1244751075p2/167605.jpg]. That book was published before this one by a year or so.
Prose is very good. The author has good skills. Dialog is well done, as well as action sequences. There is a lot of detail in each scene that makes them very immersive. A lot of well chosen words are also spent on certain character's development.
Characters range from good, to horribly clichéd. That many of them are intentionally so sketchy is more than annoying. I suspect the author's intention to have a cast of thousands caused him to not lovingly craft many of them. In addition, the the author has no compunction about killing-off his most developed characters.
Plotting is more problematic. The story is a mash-up of tropes from: horror, hard science fiction, and fantasy. In addition, the book is broken-up into parts widely separated in time. Frankly, I think the author went one genre too far. The mystical, other worldly guidance certain characters receive is jarringly implausible in contrast to the realistic, science fiction elements of the story.
While I thought the writing in this story was very good, it's still a BET (Bloated Episodic Trilogy). It could have been written in a single book. Also, I'm at issue with the overuse of pervasive mystic guidance, which is just the crutch of Deus ex machina. So, that and my reading time is too short for me to be invested in yet-another-trilogy. As good as this book was in parts, I'm not going to be reading the next book [b:The Twelve|13281368|The Twelve (The Passage, #2)|Justin Cronin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1331230956s/13281368.jpg|14373498].
Starting out, I can see the author is an acolyte of [a:Stephen King|3389|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1362814142p2/3389.jpg]. The story reminds me strongly of [b:The Strain|6065215|The Strain (The Strain Trilogy, #1)|Guillermo del Toro|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1326225354s/6065215.jpg|6241525] by [a:Guillermo del Toro|167605|Guillermo del Toro|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1244751075p2/167605.jpg]. That book was published before this one by a year or so.
Prose is very good. The author has good skills. Dialog is well done, as well as action sequences. There is a lot of detail in each scene that makes them very immersive. A lot of well chosen words are also spent on certain character's development.
Characters range from good, to horribly clichéd. That many of them are intentionally so sketchy is more than annoying. I suspect the author's intention to have a cast of thousands caused him to not lovingly craft many of them. In addition, the the author has no compunction about killing-off his most developed characters.
Spoiler
For example, for a large portion of the book, I thought Agent Walgast was the main character, only to find it was the cypher Amy Bellafonte.Plotting is more problematic. The story is a mash-up of tropes from: horror, hard science fiction, and fantasy. In addition, the book is broken-up into parts widely separated in time. Frankly, I think the author went one genre too far. The mystical, other worldly guidance certain characters receive is jarringly implausible in contrast to the realistic, science fiction elements of the story.
While I thought the writing in this story was very good, it's still a BET (Bloated Episodic Trilogy). It could have been written in a single book. Also, I'm at issue with the overuse of pervasive mystic guidance, which is just the crutch of Deus ex machina. So, that and my reading time is too short for me to be invested in yet-another-trilogy. As good as this book was in parts, I'm not going to be reading the next book [b:The Twelve|13281368|The Twelve (The Passage, #2)|Justin Cronin|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1331230956s/13281368.jpg|14373498].
Too dark and slow. I was hoping the book would finish. Not exciting of much of a story to keep me captivated.
adventurous
challenging
dark
mysterious
tense
slow-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:
No