noachoc 's review for:

The Strain by Guillermo del Toro

3.0

---

I think, in general, this book was pretty mediocre. I have a deep and abiding passion or del Toro's movies and was really hoping this would be as fantastic, but it ended up falling short. It wasn't BAD, persay, the flashbacks to WWII were really neat, for example but... ok... here's my problem: It read like a relatively good novelization of a movie. Or maybe it read like a book that was written in order to be turned into a movie. There was a... flatness to it, something that would be naturally filled out by actors and directors. The descriptions were good, but they all seemed to be describing special effects.

Also, I really didn't like the ending. I understand this is the first book in a trilogy, so I'm not griping about the lack of resolution. The bit I didn't like was the choice the main character made in the very last sentence. (Sorry for being vague, but I'm trying to avoid spoilers.)

If I come across the other books in the trilogy, I'll probably read them. It's quite possible that this, as the first of a trilogy, is necessarily unsatisfying and the others would change my opinion, but this didn't leave me with an urgent desire to go out and buy the next.