The Passage
Justin Cronin
New York: Ballatine Books, 2010
New York: Ballatine Books, 2010
ISBN: 9780345516862
Oh hey, girls and boys. Let’s talk about The Passage, shall we?
I’ll
be the first to admit that I wrote it off at first glance. I was
convinced it was some tricksy Hay-Zeus agenda book, masquerading in a
mass-market paperback dress. There’s no shame in being a cover judger!
That’s also not to say I’m 100% certain there isn’t some secret
to-be-revealed agenda of a fictional religious sense, because at a short
800+ pages and a cliffhanger, this OBVI needed to be the first in a
trilogy. Persnickity snark aside, there is enough other stuff going on
that moved this book from the supermarket checkout line in my mind and
into an an esteemed position on my summer reading list (for the win!).
A recommendation from J.Hawesome, who knows what I like (I blame her for Outlander) and reads what I tell her (J - you’re welcome for Twilight),
this is not a mere vampire novel. It is part dystopian exploration of
an decimated United States now afraid of the dark, part ethically and
morally questionable scifi experiment gone horribly wrong, and yes, part
beach book thriller. My friends, I am no slow reader. This book, no
exaggeration, took me fooooreeever to read. While I at times resented
the fact that I was still reading it, I did find myself wishing I could
find the time to hole up and spend some quality time with it. I’d be
lying if I didn’t start to work about infection myself when I caught
myself dreaming about it, which is kind of horrifying, if you’ve read it
(but I didn’t have THAT dream, phew).
Because
I’m too lazy to take this seriously in the same week I am throwing a
pop-up book store (okay, a summer reading book fair), here is how I
summarized it on my list:
There is nothing sparkly about the vampires in this epic novel. After something goes
horribly awry following secret government experiments on human subjects, a plague is
unleashed that alters the DNA of humans to become horrifying blood-thirsty creatures. Humanity is nearly extinct, but a few souls have survived, and may be closer to a cure than they realize.
In
short, I put this on my summer reading list because it holds great
appeal to kids of a certain type (generally those pumped to be reading
huge thriller type of books; see also: boys), and is highly readable. It is, quite
literally, heavy lifting (unless you go for a digital copy too), but it
ain’t hard, if you catch my drift. The main maturity requirement is
in commitment, so I’d recommend it to really avid middle and high school
readers, who can hang with the stiffs (ahem, adults). It’s a fun
summer read!
For
those of you who are now obviously convinced
from my awesome summer reading list blurb that you want this to be your hawt summer read, you are done (with this
review), son. Go and get thee a copy!
Let’s let the big boys and girls play with some spoilers now, shall we?
