The Passage, by Justin Cronin

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Summary: The Passage is a sweeping story that takes place over a 100 years, chronicling the beginning of a vampire-esque plague that mostly wipes out humanity. It begins with the scientific origins of the plague, the outbreaks of plague throughout the US, and introduces the main post-apocalyptic characters and how they have survived through the years. When these characters meet a strange girl with a signal embedded under her skin telling them to bring her to Colorado, the real adventure begins.

My thoughts: I have mixed feelings about this first book in the trilogy. I felt that it was a little longer than it had to be. The characters that it first introduced were given a lot of personality, and then they ended up not to be as important as you’d expect, given that most of the book took place post-apocalypse. On the other hand, the characterization did lead to a lot of personality for the book, which is part of why people love this book so much. (I am must a fan of brevity, I guess.) Overall, though, this book was fantastic. Though it had some slow points, I was mostly engrossed in the action the whole time, and very much want to read the second and third books to see how everything turns out.

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6 thoughts on “The Passage, by Justin Cronin

  1. Post apocalyptic vampire stories seem strangely popular these days. Following a mysterious figure to Colorado after a plague also sounds a little like Stephen King’s The Stand. I guess that I would be afraid that the book lacks originality. Despite this, in the of the hands of the right author a story like this can be very engaging. I guess the consensus is that this book works well.

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  2. This is one I’ve been meaning to read for ages, but whenever I’ve seen a nice new paperback in the library, it’s always been for a later book in the series. Oh, well, one of these days! 🙂

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