Review: The Passage, by Justin Cronin
Oct. 13th, 2012 10:47 amMost of my reviews are confined to GoodReads these days, but I haven't talked about Justin Cronin's The Passage here, and apparently I need to.
I've just finished reading it for the third time, which should tell you something (possibly that I have too much time on my hands). It stands up to re(re)reading pretty well, despite a couple of parts where I wished Cronin's editors had been stricter with him. For such a lumbering giant of a story, Cronin's writing is surprisingly lyrical, his tone wistful as he describes a world full of lost people - which later becomes, literally, a world of lost souls.
Note: there are minor spoilers below, but only for the first part of the book, and nothing that you wouldn't find in a regular newspaper review.
The premise - a government experiment goes horribly wrong, releasing a plague of vampire-like creatures ("virals") that destroy civilisation in a few short years - is simultaneously preposterous and in keeping with the slightly apocalyptic feel of our own world, with its melting ice, polluted cities and religious conflict. ( Cut for length )
Even at the third time of reading, I was caught up in the action and emotions of the story. I didn't want it to end.
So it's a good thing that the sequel, The Twelve, is due out very shortly.
I've just finished reading it for the third time, which should tell you something (possibly that I have too much time on my hands). It stands up to re(re)reading pretty well, despite a couple of parts where I wished Cronin's editors had been stricter with him. For such a lumbering giant of a story, Cronin's writing is surprisingly lyrical, his tone wistful as he describes a world full of lost people - which later becomes, literally, a world of lost souls.
Note: there are minor spoilers below, but only for the first part of the book, and nothing that you wouldn't find in a regular newspaper review.
The premise - a government experiment goes horribly wrong, releasing a plague of vampire-like creatures ("virals") that destroy civilisation in a few short years - is simultaneously preposterous and in keeping with the slightly apocalyptic feel of our own world, with its melting ice, polluted cities and religious conflict. ( Cut for length )
Even at the third time of reading, I was caught up in the action and emotions of the story. I didn't want it to end.
So it's a good thing that the sequel, The Twelve, is due out very shortly.