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jaepingsu 's review for:
The Passage
by Justin Cronin
Considering I devoured almost half the 800+ pages of this book in one day (that is what Sundays are for, right?), I'd definitely say I really enjoyed my experience with this post-apocalyptic world. I was pretty much hooked on this from the first page, however. Cronin has a great style, and the whole "science experimenting goes horribly wrong" thing is always a fun ride for me.
I loved getting to know the characters in the first portion of this--Wolgast, especially, had such a great many facets to his personality that it was a real treat reading about him. The slow set-up for the eventual blow-out worked really well for me. The details about the world's vampires, and how they were created, were teased out slowly over the first chunk of the book (about 200 pages). It was creepy in just the right ways, never coming out and giving too many details or starting a bloodbath too early, which would have just made the ending scenes of that portion of the novel a kind of overkill. I also enjoyed the use of "documents" inserted throughout to give a bigger sense of authenticity, and also to show more of what was happening all around the world that didn't involve the main cast.
The shift of 92 years later was a bit of a surprise, and at first I was upset to be leaving the chaos of the apocalypse for an entirely new set of characters. There were an awful lot of names to figure out, but it was pretty easy to pick out the main characters quickly, as well as my definite favorites (Alicia, of course, right up at the top). The set-up of the politics of this new society, and just how they survived, was an interesting read. Later, discovering how other pockets of humanity survived was also a real treat for me.
By the time I was hitting the last 100 pages, I was glad to already have known that this was the first in a trilogy, rather than a standalone. Having become so immersed in this world and invested in the future of its inhabitants, it also just seemed impossible for Cronin to wrap up all the loose ends in "just" 100 pages. The ending lines, especially, were a real kicker, and have left me really craving for more.
I loved getting to know the characters in the first portion of this--Wolgast, especially, had such a great many facets to his personality that it was a real treat reading about him. The slow set-up for the eventual blow-out worked really well for me. The details about the world's vampires, and how they were created, were teased out slowly over the first chunk of the book (about 200 pages). It was creepy in just the right ways, never coming out and giving too many details or starting a bloodbath too early, which would have just made the ending scenes of that portion of the novel a kind of overkill. I also enjoyed the use of "documents" inserted throughout to give a bigger sense of authenticity, and also to show more of what was happening all around the world that didn't involve the main cast.
The shift of 92 years later was a bit of a surprise, and at first I was upset to be leaving the chaos of the apocalypse for an entirely new set of characters. There were an awful lot of names to figure out, but it was pretty easy to pick out the main characters quickly, as well as my definite favorites (Alicia, of course, right up at the top). The set-up of the politics of this new society, and just how they survived, was an interesting read. Later, discovering how other pockets of humanity survived was also a real treat for me.
By the time I was hitting the last 100 pages, I was glad to already have known that this was the first in a trilogy, rather than a standalone. Having become so immersed in this world and invested in the future of its inhabitants, it also just seemed impossible for Cronin to wrap up all the loose ends in "just" 100 pages. The ending lines, especially, were a real kicker, and have left me really craving for more.