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booksandthebronxgirl's review against another edition
5.0
This is the first in a new series. It's a wonderful book about the apocalypse, and the world has become taken over by immortal, vicious vampires, the result of a government experiment gone awry. There are survivors, and each of them has a unique story. The book goes from the present to 100 years in the future, when mankind has bounced back, to a limited extent. There is a group of survivors who leave their settlement in the hope of finding others. They meet one special little girl, immortal like the vamps, but good where they are evil. Can she save the world? That will be decided in the soon to come (I hope) next book. Cronin has a lot of characters to juggle, and really keeps tight control over all of them. No one ever gets away from him, and he switches seamlessly from one person to the next. It's a great, nice long, read!
kate_albers's review against another edition
5.0
A fantastic novel and a real page turner. I have to say, the end made me desperate to read the next installment in the trilogy - and I am so sad the next book doesn't come out until 2012
nancyflanagan's review against another edition
4.0
A page-turner. Until it isn't a page-turner any more, somewhere about midway through the second section, when it becomes an incomprehensible action film script. And the ending is meaningless unless there is another book. Which, of course, I now know there will be--but too late for me to decide to read all three pieces at once. Somewhere, Justin Cronin presumably has a giant plot outline sketched, tying up a boatload of loose ends.
I generally love big books that scatter clues about What Is To Come. And I liked the writing, in general. Loved the set-up, where Cronin is clicking on all dystopian cylinders. Loved the second section--the Colony and how one small group of families chose to survive, their rules and priorities. Was irritated by all the mental telepathy and mumbo-jumbo mysticism and people jumping off trains, stabbing and gnawing. And plowed bravely through the end.
When I had about twenty pages left, it became clear that Cronin couldn't even do a partial wrap-up. We were going to be left in the desert, literally and figuratively. Bummer. Three and a half stars.
I generally love big books that scatter clues about What Is To Come. And I liked the writing, in general. Loved the set-up, where Cronin is clicking on all dystopian cylinders. Loved the second section--the Colony and how one small group of families chose to survive, their rules and priorities. Was irritated by all the mental telepathy and mumbo-jumbo mysticism and people jumping off trains, stabbing and gnawing. And plowed bravely through the end.
When I had about twenty pages left, it became clear that Cronin couldn't even do a partial wrap-up. We were going to be left in the desert, literally and figuratively. Bummer. Three and a half stars.
morsemode's review against another edition
5.0
Hands down, one of the best books that I've ever read. I loved it and thought it was absolutely brilliant. I cannot wait to read The Twelve.
sallytreanor's review against another edition
3.0
Why is this book so long? I loved the first section, and the second section introduced some compelling characters. But by the end of it, I couldn't be bothered to care about any of them.
jimodonnell's review against another edition
1.0
I won’t beat around the bush. This is an awful book. First of all, it’s hundreds of pages too long. Hundreds. There are endless pages of meaningless, incoherent ramblings, lots of unnecessary detours and blather. The story itself is interesting enough but the way its told is painful. Much of the writing is very elementary. The author violates that basic “show don’t tell” rule by telling us everything and showing us next to nothing. Every time he gets a little bit of flow it crashes and burns with some inane email exchange or insertion of information, newspaper article, etc. that just bogs us down. And dialogue. Wow. Never seen a worse handling of dialogue. And...vampires. I didn’t realize before picking this up that it was a vampire book. I’m so sick of vampires.
One of the most jarring things about the book is how Cronin starts off in 2018 and, although he does it poorly, he at least gives us some characters we can invest in a bit. Then, abruptly, we are far in the future with new characters and it’s like starting all over.
Maybe this just isn’t my type of book. I can’t believe the positive reviews it gets. I honestly couldn’t finish it. I fought it for months and finally made it to about page 500. Then I just couldn’t take it anymore.
One of the most jarring things about the book is how Cronin starts off in 2018 and, although he does it poorly, he at least gives us some characters we can invest in a bit. Then, abruptly, we are far in the future with new characters and it’s like starting all over.
Maybe this just isn’t my type of book. I can’t believe the positive reviews it gets. I honestly couldn’t finish it. I fought it for months and finally made it to about page 500. Then I just couldn’t take it anymore.
bbaird's review against another edition
5.0
My favorite apocalyptic book! I've read the trilogy twice so far.