The Passage

Maybe I'll return to this later. I just can't bring myself to finish it right now.

Lots to dislike about this book. The slap upside the head after book one, start of book two, the main dislike. I didn't trust the author for the next 300 to 400 pages, expecting him to do that again. What a jerk. Another thing I didn't like was the wordiness. For example, this was somewhere between page 400 to 420: "not since that day in the sanctuary had he spoke of Babcock again." I would suggest changing that line to this: "not since the sanctuary had he spoken of Babcock." Changes like that would lower the page count by 40% to 50%, making this a much more enjoyable read. Finally, the rip off of The Walking Dead's prison setting was a bummer to me. I enjoyed the plot, and some of the characters, so it wasn't all bad. ( )

Overall, I did like the story, but being such a voluminous book, I did have some issues with it. I found the pace to be good and wanted to continue reading it.

I liked the idea of the story, the characters were interesting and well developed. I loved that the vampires were monsters, not the trendy, handsome, romantic vampires of late. While I thought the time jump was abrupt (almost as if the original idea was going one way and then the author got another idea and just switched tracks), I treated it as two separate stories. I would have preferred the author to follow Amy at that point and delay the jump to the colony's story. I think it would have made for a fuller story. We got very little story of the spread of the virus, just how it came about (good story) and that it did. I also didn't like the oh, this character's dead....no, wait he isn't, now this other character's dead....oh wait, no she isn't. Some of the story was irritating, I didn't buy the most of the aspects of The Haven, and there were way too many unanswered questions.

But,indeed, overall it was a good story and I will read the next one. ( )

I reserved this book at my library and when I got it I thought holy hell this is one big book and how am I going to finish it when I have so much stuff I am meant to be reading. As soon I got to about page 3 I forgot about all of my worries and found I couldn't put it down if I tried. This is one hell of a book - it reminded me a bit of Stephen King's The Stand but much spookier.

Things I liked about it: character development, even though there were so many characters and a lot of tooing and froing I felt like I knew the important characters well.

Even though the book is big there is always something happening, there is lots of light and shade and the pace is great.

It is a huge almost 800 pages of small type but it left me wanting more - hurry up Justin Cronin and get writing some more!!

Real vampires (non-vegetarian) and government conspiracy - Justin Cronin put them together - genius.

What I didn't like - Sore wrists from holding it and the stares from people watching me read it while I was walking. ( )

This was such an amazing novel. Sure it was insanely long and sometimes could be so intense that you just had to give yourself a break even though you felt you just couldn't stop no matter what... but was well worth it.

This is a novel about a transformed world full of vampires, but it is nothing like anything out there today and is the most original story I have read in a long time. The details of all the storylines and the depth shown in each and everyone of the characters... this was a treat, a gem, and I am so glad to have read this novel. This has certainly become one of my all-time favorites.

The ending though? Well I can honestly say I was a bit frustrated because I wanted MORE. I will just have to be patient and wait till 2012 when the next one comes out. :) Guess you have to expect that with series reads. ( )