The Passage
Ratings311
Average rating4
A good read for doing loft work and moving house. By that I mean that I was able to tune out and tune back in without really missing too much. Enjoyable but forgettable.
it's like crack...actually, it's worse because you know what you're getting into when you are lighting chemicals on fire within inches of your face and inhaling the fumes, picking up a book should be a far more innocuous action. so just be warned....don't start until you have time to read 734 pages in one sitting.
oh, and the whole thing is like a gazillion times more intense if you have a fever and have been taking lots if NyQuil.
A big DNF.
I struggled on to nearly 40%, with an increasing loss of interest in the story, when yet another section of clichéd backstory prompted a desperate urge to skip pages.
For me, a desire to skip pages means it is time to read a different book.
What embarrasses me is that I read nearly 40% of this book. It reads like a classic writing school idea of how to write a book - multiple story threads (tick), new character new backstory (tick), introduce key past event(s) in character‘s life which will be used later to explain behaviour or purpose in life (tick). I just don't think it is any good.
This was my third time reading ‘The Passage' and I still enjoyed it as much as the first time. I'm not quite sure why that is.I'm a sucker for survival stories, anyway (if you'll excuse the pun), so that is already a huge plus.
Blood-sucking vampire super-soldiers - virals - created by man, have made the human race all but extinct. There are just a few pockets of humanity trying to survive. After almost one hundred years of terror the virals' behaviour starts to change. They realise they have nearly exhausted their food supply and they have to reduce the attacks on the survivors giving them time to multiply but also giving them time to fight back.
On the surface this is a horror story about survival but it is more than that. It is a tale of love in all its forms: husband and wife, parent and child, brother and sister. Each time I read it I see more and that for me makes a cracking good story.
Great story, love the story telling at least in the beginning. Some strict editing would have done this book some good. Too long... Unnecessarily long.
Contains spoilers
I was intimidated at the beginning because of the multiple stories and scenes going on but once it all came together it was magical. I instantly liked Brad, but my approval grew more when he was debating taking Amy and leaving Doyle at the carnival. Everything changed once Richards started shooting people. Following the characters along their journeys was a rollercoaster of emotions, but in the end I'm glad there are two more books in this series. Time seemed to fly by in this book! It made me think about the things I take for granted such as light and daytime. Overall, a great read.
The first time I tried reading this book, I DNF'd at the time jump. The me that read it this time enjoyed it from start to finish.
I have no qualms about giving a rating of five stars to “The Passage.” Justin Cronin's writing is on par with Stephen King. In fact, “The Passage” in some sense can be compared to King's “The Stand.” But some of the plotline also reminds me of Max Brooks' “World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War,” since parts of the book take place in a far future time looking back to events as referenced in one of the main character's diaries. This is not a quick read and will take a commitment of time to complete the book; however it is well worth it. Cronin unwinds the story slowly, making sure to cover every detail completely. The reader gets to know and comes to care about the characters and their struggle for survival. Similar in theme to many modern day horror fiction tales, a viral apocalypse is mistakenly unleashed upon the world by a covert military lab in the western United States. When the infected escape the lab, a growing carnivorous horde of monstrous vampire-like mutated humans is set free that will bring modern civilization to an end, leaving the dwindling number of the human race to seek survival in any way possible. The story picks up around a century later and the reader is introduced to the core group of protagonists living in a California sanctuary; a sanctuary harassed by virals by night and whose days are numbered, as the supply of electricity to maintain the warding nighttime perimeter searchlights will eventually fail. As tensions rise within the sanctuary the small core group leaves on a dangerous quest to find the source of a mysterious radio signal in the Colorado mountains. With them will travel a strange ageless girl, Amy, who after approaching the sanctuary had been mistakenly wounded by one of the guards. With her recuperation it is discovered that she has the ability of telepathic communication and seems to have some mental connection with the virals as well. The reader follows the small group through their trials and tribulations as they fight to reach their goal and possible answers to the survival of the human race; some will not survive the ordeal. This is the first book in “The Passage” trilogy but can be read as a stand-alone story if the reader so chooses.
Gave up on it. Got a little long and weird. I liked how it started, but then around the end of the first third of the book, it sort of changed flavor, and I stopped caring.
The books started ok, and the world building was promising, but then it dragged too long and became too conventional. By the time I was done I had no desire to read the follow-up books.
Cronin has to be the master of character development. I don't care how little a character's role is in a book you are going to know the whole back story of that characters life. I love vampire stories and this was a cool adaptation of that. Can't wait to read the rest of the trilogy
I was invited to join a a group on Instagram that was reading this book. When I looked it up I saw that I had added it to my Goodreads TBR back in 2019 and then forgot about it. Because of that I said I might as well go ahead in give it a try especially since I was going to be buddy reading it. I love buddy reads if you didn't know. Anyways I had no clue what I was getting myself into and honestly I didn't think I would end up liking it all that much but guys I ended up loving it. I listened to the audiobook while following along in the book which I think helped me especially because there are a lot of characters to keep up with. It was hard at first to keep up with everybody but that became easier the more I read. This book blew me away I am at a loss for words right now. This book was a chunky book coming in at 766 pages and I felt like I was getting through it slowly but I think that was just because of the shear length of it. There was so much happening that I never actually felt like I was slogging through it. I know I just contradicted myself but whatever. So much happens in this book and everything felt realistic natural right down to the romance. There is a time jump in the 2nd half which threw me off a little because I was loving the first half so much but I ended up loving the 2nd half just as much. If there's one complaint I have it's that I couldn't keep up with how much time was passing. I am saying it now this is going to be one of my favorite books of the year if not my top favorite.
Loved this! It was such an epic tale! Took me forever but every disc was worth it. Absolutely the best narration I've ever heard period.
Like if Stephen king and ray bradbury wrote a book together, without the bradburian racism and with some lagging in the middle. Overall creative and entertaining
While this is not my usual type of thing, I ended up really enjoying this one. The tone, the pace, it all seemed to be designed to be right up my alley.
Is the book verbose? Yes. I don't mind that if it works, and it does here.
Is there a lot of action? Given the world, the characters, there is surprisingly little, for which I am extremely grateful. Honestly, I am not an action oriented person, and I enjoyed the plot.
The funny thing, and I suspect one of the reasons this works so well for me, is that my guesses on where things were going almost always turned out incorrect in some vital way. And I'm honestly very happy one of my guesses turned out wrong near the end.
But, most important of all, this one pulled me along. I lost a lot of sleep and I suspect the next two will be the same.
1st read: 6/23/2010 - 7/16/2010
2nd read: 3/11/2013 - 4/4/2013
3rd read: - 5/1/2018 - 5/19-2018
I enjoyed the majority of it, although at times I found it disjointed - as though the author was trying to tell too many stories at the same time. It could have been a lot shorter. But still good. I'll continue the series.
Holy shit i loved this book. I went into this book knowing absolutely nothing about it and it kept me on the edge of my seat. I just loooovveed the plot, at first I thought “wow this is amazing, this can't get any better, right, right??” Wrong. The story went into some place I did not expect it to go and it was amazing. Can't wait to start reading the sequels. Did I already mention that I love this book?
The cover describes The Passage as an epic and it's definitely not false advertising. It covers many years and many ideas to bring an original take on a post-apocalyptic world. Definitely worth a read!
کتاب خیلی خوبی بود و علیرغم قطور بودن، نتونستم زمین بزارمش و زود تموم شد. منتظرم ببینم ادامه ماجرا چی میشه.
Oh, this was an epic read, both in length and story telling. It's got vampires in it but its not about vampires. It's all end of days and heroes and persistence and survival and wierdness. It's great!
I really enjoyed this one. If you liked The Stand and enjoy a good distopian zombie-esque (new word! ) story, you'll like this one. I listened to this one in the car - audio book is well done. There's a bit that drags about a third of the way through...but it picks back up again, so hang in there! . I look forward to jumping in to the next one in the series.