The Passage: A Novel (Book One of The Passage Trilogy)

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 horror—lurid, 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 tempo—both in style and time period—in 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 vampires—virals—on 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 girl’s 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 book’s 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, you’ll be running so fast that you’ll be left breathless by the final page—an 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. I’m 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.

For once, I had to agree with the Stephen King comparisons, at least for the first 300 or so pages, but then WHAM, and suddenly we're 2 years further on, before another jump of around 100 years, to what at first seemed a completely different story. Normally, when I finish a novel I can't start another one straight away; I need time to "come down" and get the previous one out of my system. So I found it unsettling, and hard to carry on reading this one. I even disliked it for a time, but pressed on, assuming that something or someone from the first bit would re-emerge. I'm glad I persevered, but the story had now lost its Stephen King feel, (unless you count his Dark Tower series).Having got all that off my chest, I found the remainder quite entertaining, though I can well understand why some of the other reviewers slated it. Further surprises to come; after I finished it, I then found that it's part one of a trilogy; I'll have to think hard about whether to continue. At least there's the possibility that we'll find out more about Amy, whose enigmatic comment "What I am" in the early part of the story seems to remain unanswered.

Amy is a girl out of time in a world that has moved on. In a time of men and monsters she is neither but feels the needs of both pulling at her.The passage covers some 100 years from the rise of the virals and the dawn of Amy's gift to the beginning of her journey to release the souls of the damned. It is the story of those who will love her, protect her, stand along side her and those who will be released by her hand.Fluid writing with characters who are brave, honourable, evil, flawed and above all human the passage is in absorbing read leaving the reader thirsty for the next instalment.

It took me ages to read this book and I read a lot. I read lots of other books alongside and just tackled a few chapters daily. It was good but did not hold my attention enough to read continuously.It's a bit difficult to get into at the beginning because there are a number of threads to the storyline.1/. Dr Leah's military backed expedition to the South American jungle.2/. Carter a prisoner on death row3/. Wolgast and Doyle FBI agents4/. Amy a 6 year old abandoned at a convent by her desperate mother.All these threads come together and result in the destruction of civilisation as we know it.The next part of the story is about an enclave of people who have survived through the decades after their ancestors escaped on a train to a compound in California. Within the camp is a boy destined to lead a battle against the virals.The writing style reminds me of Stephen King but a little more pondering. There's good characterisation and the story is imaginative. I will definitely read book 2

I’m not really sure where to start with this book.It’s monstrous. In the best possibly way.Did I like it?Yes, absolutely. I’m half-way through the sequel already.Is it easy to follow?Yes & no.The plot is the yes. Essentially, the military create ‘vampires’ by unearthing a long-lost disease. (I’m not sure if paleovirology is a thing but it sounds cool.) The army think they can control their subjects and the disease. Yeah. You got it. Guess what happens…The no? That’s twofold: the cast of characters & the massive time jump about a third in.I mentioned in a recent review of ‘Salem’s Lot how I was struggling to keep track of a town’s worth of people. (I’ll leave the comparison of Justin Cronin’s style to Stephen King to other people.*) I have the same numbers issue here. Except a lot of the people in The Passage are related and have similar names. There came a point where I had to roll with it and think that maybe character X was Y or possibly Z or actually Q’s sister in disguise as TBWJzjsi7aaQ’s brother. Kind of. And that’s before we add in first names and surnames and nicknames…And the time jump? Did I mention that?The book is essentially a long prequel and main story. The prequel sets the scene – where the virus is from, how it’s released into the wild and so on. The story then skips approx. 100 years into the future to a band of survivors in the ‘Colony’. It was a big break and left a lot of questions about certain initial characters unanswered, people I was ‘invested’ in. There were moments when I felt almost cheated by not knowing what had happened to them. As I struggled with the vast secondary cast, I occasionally felt I was reading purely to see what happened to the original people. Some of my questions are kind of addressed later on, but there’s a long wait for those half-answers.Otherwise…The story is incredibly well-written. There are moments of poetic prose interspersed with sections that are brutally simple. The nastiness within the novel was the latter: it’s clean. There were no lengthy descriptions of monsters dripping in adjectives and doing things adverbily to their overly-described victims. The scare was all the more powerful for that.Partly because of the quality of the writing, there were a few places were the story seemed to jump, almost like a stylus on a record. A motive that I didn’t get. An action that made no sense. A monster’s inability to do something which I thought they could. I’d be hard pressed to tell you what those moments were now, but I remember them jarring.To wrap up…For those interested in apocalyptic thrillers, there are a lot of staples here: the hunt for food/ weapons/ safety & surviving government f**k ups. (We’re due a major one at the moment, surely…) Then there’s the banding together of the people who have fled the relative safety of their home and the resourcefulness they need to survive. It’s well done and there’s enough realism, hard luck and fortune to keep it interesting.For those interested in ‘vampires’ (‘virals’). You’ve got it all. With a twist. References to crosses, mirrors (reflections), hanging upside down, blood and so on.Would I have changed anything? Yes. Filling in the gap between section one & two. Book two addresses some of that time lag (brilliantly) and it’s nice to see some of the pieces slotting into places, but I think I’d still have preferred the story in order. By the time I get to the end of the trilogy, I may have different view.All in all – a great read.*They’re right.

Unlike alot of reviewers I had no problem with the time hop or the second set of characters. I think just coming after the very strong first set the reader was always going to be slightly disappointed. I especially wished I could have heard more from some characters before they met their demise like Carter.I found it commendable that the author eschewed the popular post apocalyptic trend of following a single male lead and having his female characters just be a long line of the dead/raped/damsel in distress /unlikely totty. Amy, Alicia, the Nun, Sara, the old lady were all distinct and strong characters.The novel was very well written which is also unusual, the majority of apocalyptic epics these days are usually cardboard cut outs littered with clichés and poor editing. Not so this book which was a delight to read.The virals I felt a bit blah about. I know apocalypses are generally unexplained but how can a virus change a physiognomy so much? How come the bunker crew caught the virus from the air but the 100yr survivors only from direct bites?Overall I enjoyed this but not sure I have it in me to read part two yet and certainly not at full price.

This review will cover the entire trilogy, and to be honest the strengths and weaknesses are consistent throughout them.First, I don't really think I could recommend these books for the main reason is that there is way too much tedious, pointless and just plain boring writing. The main storyline is however absorbing, which is the main reason I read them to the end, but just too many times I found myself skim reading, or even skipping entire pages. The middle third of the first book was way too long, one character's backstory I thought would never end, and even in the final book's epilogue there were new characters introduced which had no point to them.The books have been compared to Stephen King's The Stand, and I can see why. However, Stephen King is a born story teller. He has the ability to make mundane passages and conversations somehow gripping and relevant. I get the impression that Justin Cronin has tried to emulate King's style, but for too much of the time he fails, and clearly overestimates his story telling ability.

Seems to be going on FOREVER. It’s an average read, with character definition being particularly poor. I normally love a 700+ pager, especially when part of a series, but this is taking effort. I don’t see how the first third connects with the main part of the story - exactly why IS Amy? Unless I missed it, I don’t get how she is connected to the Twelve. The prospect of books two and three in this trilogy don’t fill me with enthusiastic anticipation. I normally can’t get enough of a good long book and I love a series, but something is unfortunately just a little off with this. I’ll finish it, but suspect it will be an unsatisyfing ending and unlikely at this point to draw me in to the other books in the series. Maybe it makes for good TV, but the book is all over the place!

This is a really interesting book skillfully combining apocalyptic disaster with vampire lore. The narrative moves at a great pace ensuring that as a reader, you are never bogged down in too much prose while taking the time to expand on themes and character development. That being said, there were a couple of areas that didn't quite work for me, when the narrative seemed to jump too quickly. A really enjoyable book though, all in all.

I have to say, Justin Cronin is a very good writer. The first part of this book was excellent and Mr. Cronin showed exactly what he was capable of. Good story, great pacing and excellent character development. Later we are made leave the story we were enjoying as it abruptly jumps forward nearly 100 years later. A bold move to say the least but Mr. Cronin deserves a hearty round of applause considering it worked, and worked well.Then, something went wrong. Not sure what it was. After spending a bit of time in the future world and getting a feel for it, it all just fizzled a little. The setting was fine, the 2nd round of characters were not so hot. They ranged from boring, to one dimensional. the pace also struggled. There was way too much emphasis on describing every little detail of characters thought processes. Too many pointless scenes. It was as though the writer either got bored with his own story or the scenes he had in his head were difficult to transfer to words, or maybe he was just trying to stretch it out a bit. I don't know what it was but Justin Cronin is a damn good storyteller when all is said and done. I'm sure he will figure out where it went wrong and amend it for future efforts. While I lost interest with this one by the end, I would not rule out trying more of his books again at a later date.

I fully expected to love this book, but I just found it so difficult to stick with. The basic storyline is great (and I enjoyed the post-outbreak section more than the beginning), but there is too much Stephen King-esque off the point rambling. The incessant switching of perspective from one character to another would be OK if they (and there endlessly drawn-out back stories) weren't so repetitive and similar. It also goes a bit YA with some of the relationship aspects. If the book had been a lot more concise and stuck to the point then I would have jumped straight into book 2 then 3, but I just didn't enjoy this enough to want more.

Have you ever read a book that did an amazing job of getting you invested in the story then killed off all the characters, then became a chore for 80% of the rest?This is a new theme that Justin Cronin pulls off with apparent ease!Do you like spending chapter after chapter reading back story to characters just moments before they die? to the point that your eyes roll as soon as a new character story is being explained. (and there are soooo many...)Are you a fan of immense over description and repeated use of the same similes?Then this is the book for you!The first book I've read that I physically had to put to down just to take a break from from time to time.I really did not enjoy this experience.Possibly enjoyed better if you just read the first phase, then skip to the last, missing a significant portion what seems to just be unnecessary filler.

A very good start then turns into a mess of a novel. I found it difficult to follow and didn't care about any of the characters. I stopped reading and read the plot summary on Wikipedia instead.

I want to give it 2 but it was the most boring book I have started in a long time. I am sure those who like this sort of thing will enjoy it but it just bored and confused me. It also depressed me to such an extent that I gave up about an eighth of the way through. Sorry

This is a door-stop (750+ pages) of a book which reminded me of Stephen King's "The Stand" in tone and general content.In the very near future, the American military have introduced a virus which prolongs life (but turns people into vampires, basically) into 12 test subjects (all death-row inmates). The first section of the book ends when they all break out of their compound and more or les wipe out the population of North America.Then we move on 100 years (nearly) to a compound where humans survive by having their compound illuminated throughout the night with lights powered by a wind-farm further down the valley.I won't give more of the plot away but there's a lot of human story, a great trek, some adventure, some psychic stuff, and it all ends with a clear indication that more is to come. Indeed, the second part of the trilogy was published not long ago (as I type in November 2012).The author is an English professor so it's very well written. I enjoyed it very much and was keen to see where it was all going, but at the same time happy just to read descriptions of the post-apocalyptic world and the back stories of the main characters.There were some faults (see the numerous one-star reviews on Amazon). I found the pace rather variable. Some sections seemed to drag while he seemed to almost skip over some parts which I would have thought warranted much more detail ("The Haven" section, for example). I suspect the original book was even longer. Perhaps, as with "The Stand", an unexpurgated version will appear at some point.Also, it was a little dry in parts. The vampires (or "virals", to use the term employed in the book) are not described in great detail. There appearances are relatively fleeting, if violent, and they seem really quite secondary. The next book may correct this.So, I liked the general story, and I liked the wide scope of the book. It's not just about one person's story by any means. There are faults, as noted, but it kept me turning the pages, and I can't say that about too many books! In all, highly enjoyable.8/10

WOW!!! I was pulled in from the beginning! Fabulous fantasy world, I absolutely love this series of books, the action starts straight away, and the characters are well defined early on and blossom throughout the series, you can feel the tension building between the main characters and each book always leaves you wanting more. The sub plots plus twists and turns keep you surprised and intrigued. Be warned though once you start reading this series you won’t be able to put the books down so be prepared for some binge reading