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A review by themrbook
The Passage by Justin Cronin
5.0
Cronin had done a fantastic job in creating a very imaginative dystopian future. The prose is elegant and intelligent. The narrative's splicings are done well, almost like a Quenton Tarrantino movie, but better with more purpose--not just doing so for the sake of doing so.
The narrative of a virus creating an apocalypse is in fashion right now, but Cronin takes the kernel and runs with it in a new direction: albeit, a direction threaded through various themes already written successfully, the top one on the list, of course, running directly from Bram Stoker and his Count Dracula. In terms of present-day narratives, this book compares quite well to "The Walking Dead" television series in that while the monsters (virals,zombies) are integral and necessary for the story lines to occur, what is of utmost importance--in the foreground, the thrust--is the drama played out by the survivors.
There were many moments I set the book down to further play out various scenes in my imagination. There is plenty of adrenaline-rushing scenes, there's lots of violence and gore, there is realism played out in the scene/landscape details and characters' developments, and there is plenty of drama, with even some romance thrown in.
Cronin touches on large themes--death, birth, loneliness, good vs. evil, fate and destiny vs. randomness, spirituality, etc. I enjoy how the author encourages his readers to think, contemplate, philosophize, despite the viscerality of the story itself.
"The Passage" is an epic on a grand scale: so grand it will take three books, apparently--all of which I look forward to engaging. If you like Stephen King, this book is for you. Cronin's style has too many similarities to King's for it be just a passing reference.
Dear reader, take this book on and you won't be disappointed. Entertaining, engaging, and intelligent.
The narrative of a virus creating an apocalypse is in fashion right now, but Cronin takes the kernel and runs with it in a new direction: albeit, a direction threaded through various themes already written successfully, the top one on the list, of course, running directly from Bram Stoker and his Count Dracula. In terms of present-day narratives, this book compares quite well to "The Walking Dead" television series in that while the monsters (virals,zombies) are integral and necessary for the story lines to occur, what is of utmost importance--in the foreground, the thrust--is the drama played out by the survivors.
There were many moments I set the book down to further play out various scenes in my imagination. There is plenty of adrenaline-rushing scenes, there's lots of violence and gore, there is realism played out in the scene/landscape details and characters' developments, and there is plenty of drama, with even some romance thrown in.
Cronin touches on large themes--death, birth, loneliness, good vs. evil, fate and destiny vs. randomness, spirituality, etc. I enjoy how the author encourages his readers to think, contemplate, philosophize, despite the viscerality of the story itself.
"The Passage" is an epic on a grand scale: so grand it will take three books, apparently--all of which I look forward to engaging. If you like Stephen King, this book is for you. Cronin's style has too many similarities to King's for it be just a passing reference.
Dear reader, take this book on and you won't be disappointed. Entertaining, engaging, and intelligent.