The Passage

Hands down, The Passage is proof-positive that, when placed in the right hands, one can still fashion diamonds from classic vampire tropes. At first blush, one might consider a 800-page dystopian thriller chock full of immortal, light-sensitive vampires; biblical undertones; an audacious time-jump that spans a century between the first third of the book and the remainder of the story; and the fate of the world resting squarely on the shoulders of an enigmatic preteen girl is too ambitious an endeavor. But Houston novelist Justin Cronin can seemingly do no wrong, and successfully sustains the narrative by defying expectations every step of the way.

The Passage is one of the finest written examples of apocalyptic horrorlurid, meditative, and epic in scope. Despite being a vampire saga, the book is peppered with such human themes as love, hope, destiny, friendship, and sufficient pathos to satisfy top-notch literature enthusiasts. The language is both poetic and beautiful, the dialogue believable and appealing, while the narrative shifts tempoboth in style and time periodin order to keep things intriguing.

Set in the near future, The Passage entwines a convoluted but convincing tale that spotlights a six-year-old girl named Amy, whose hapless mother abandons her to a Memphis convent, home of clairvoyant African-born nun Lacey Kudoto. Meanwhile, FBI Agent Brad Wolgast and his partner are assigned to acquire Amy and twelve death-row inmates for Project NOAH, a military-bankrolled biomedical experiment using a longevity virus found in some nasty Bolivian bats. Naturally, mankind is punished for its jingoistic hubris and the project soon runs amok, unleashing grotesquely mutated vampiresviralson the world, bringing the human race to near-extinction. Fast-forward 93 years to the ravaged wastelands of the once-great Merica, wherein an isolationist community of beleaguered descendants employs high-wattage lights to protect the colony from the photophobic dracs. However, an expedition to recharge the failing batteries is elevated to a chance prospect of reclaiming the world after renegade protagonist Peter Jaxon happens upon a strange girl who not only appears ageless but can communicate telepathically with the virals.

Cronin takes the time to explore his ensemble cast, masterfully imbuing each character with life and personality, and ultimately reveals the depths of their convictions in the face of impossible odds. From the tormented FBI Agent who steps into the role of surrogate father to ensure a young girls safety as the world they know crumbles around them, to the unwavering band of colony warriors who persist in their struggle against inhuman monsters even in the face of the dying light. Readers will find themselves cheering for the books badass heroine, Alicia Lish Donadio, a Valkyrie warrior who could go toe-to-toe with the headstrong likes of Lara Croft (even without the superhuman vampire serum thrown in); just as readers’ hearts will bleed for Anthony Carter, the benign death-row inmate turned government guinea pig whose sole crime was being in the wrong place at the wrong time. You may even feel a pang of compassion for the misunderstood virals. By all outward appearances they are indestructible, merciless spawns from Hell, and yet inside each of them is a small perpetual voice that wonders who they are, a voice yearning for identity.

Fellow readers, do not be daunted by this 766-page behemoth, for The Passage is a worthwhile investment that pays dividends in panache prose, compelling characters, and show-stopping action sequences. Mark my words; once the crossbows are firing overhead and bloodthirsty virals are flying at you from amidst the darkened rafters and billowy treetops, youll be running so fast that youll be left breathless by the final pagean evocative, albeit ambiguous caesura that’s sure to have you clawing for the next volume, eager to learn the fates of these sympathetic heroes. Interestingly, Cronin offers glimpses of his master plan, using brief excerpts to imply that the human race will endure, though it may take a thousand years for things to return to normal.

SPOILER ALERT.

The one thing I am less a fan of than post apocalyptic stories is vampires, so I stay as clear from these books as possible but I was flying to Europe and needed a big fat book to keep me company, this book seems very popular, and there’s no teen romance, so I bought it. I can only agree with many reviewers that the 1st part of the book is entertaining and well written, and the second part, the one set in the future, misses the mark. The biggest problem for me was that all characters speak with the same voice. If you read a piece of dialog by itself, you cannot tell who’s speaking. Several times I was a little distracted and had to go back and double check who was talking to whom. Several characters are very caricatural, like the obligatory combat chick, and the obligatory evil government guy. Another problem I had was the fact Cronin can’t seem to make up his mind whether the vampire plague is a scientifically based thing, an engineered virus, or some mystical stuff with telepathy and souls. You can’t have it both ways. And finally, I really wish we’d stop resorting to the immensely lazy device of “you kill one, you kill them all”. Even bees don’t die on the spot if you kill the queen. But of course, it’s a lot easier than having to go after each and every vampire, monster, killer robot, or whatever, right? You just have to have a showdown between the good guy(s) and the evil queen and then they all get to live happily ever after. Yawn. But Cronin is only one in a very long list of offenders, so it would be unfair to single him out.
So because Cronin can write pretty well overall, because the 1st part of the book is good, and because some of the characters were interesting (except the stereotypes I mentioned earlier) the book gets 3 stars. But I will not be reading the sequels.

I’m fun of post-Apocalypse sci-fi. It’s a guilty pleasure transcending to scary tales told around campfire in the childhood I guess. I watch The Walking Dead. I read King’s books.
When I stumbled onto Cronin’s trilogy it felt like Christmas. I felt even more though when first chapter of the book reminded me of Crishton novels. And… it all fell to pieces. Quagmire of the flat faceless characters, bunch of hints on some plot turn that never materializes. At some points it feels like the author as lost in his narrative as his characters are lost in their dreams.
I’m still fighting through Passage. With dread I look at Kindle’s hint “5 more hrs left in the book”. Passage is not the book that keeps you reading well into the night despite Monday morning rapidly approaching. It’s a book that you read as a chore forcing yourself to swallow few pages at a time. Spare yourself a torture, skip it. I feel like my 5 hrs belong to something better.

I bought this book based on the rave reviews and my love of post apocalyptic horror. Im surprised now that this book has such good reviews, I went back and read some of them and found that a lot of the 5 star reviewers hadnt even come close to finishing the book.

The first 200 or so pages were great, they sucked you in completely and I was excited for such an amazing read so far. Then everyone is basically killed and you jump almost 100 years into the future and the character development just disappears. I had absolutely no connection with the new characters and felt like it was like pulling teeth to get through a lot of the pages. It is overly descriptive and long winded where is absolutely does not need to be. Disappointing.

I was just starting to get into this story when the writing stopped making sense. After much confusion, it turns out there are 30 pages of text missing from the binding. This is not a page number typo. 30 pages worth of storyline are missing from the book. I would use caution ordering from this company.

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