teachergorman
Written on Jul 29, 2017
NOW A MAJOR TV SERIES!
An epic, awe-inspiring novel of good and evil - now a global bestseller.
Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world.
She is.
Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row.
He's wrong.
FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming.
It is.
THE PASSAGE. Soon to be an epic drama on Fox from writer Elizabeth Heldens and executive producer Ridley Scott.
- ISBN10 0752883305
- ISBN13 9780752883304
- Publish Date 12 May 2011 (first published 8 June 2010)
- Publish Status Active
- Publish Country GB
- Publisher Orion Publishing Co
- Imprint Orion (an Imprint of The Orion Publishing Group Ltd )
- Format Paperback (B-Format (198x129 mm))
- Pages 1008
- Language English
Reviews
pamela
Written on Jan 12, 2014
SilverThistle
Written on Dec 14, 2012
If it had been half as long I'd have liked it twice as much.
ibeforem
Written on Dec 6, 2012
Two years past its release, is it a victim of too much hype? Perhaps.
There were certainly parts of the book I liked. You don’t make it through an 800-900 page book without finding something redeemable about it. I thought all of the characters were interesting, even if I didn’t always understand their purpose. Probably 10% of the characters could be cut completely out of the book with absolutely no impact. I liked Wolgast, and one of my favorite parts of the book was when he and Amy were living in the mountains. I also liked Peter, except in his most maudlin moments. My favorite character was actually Sarah, although her role is relatively minor until late in the book.
I also thought the concept was good, if a little extreme. Very apocalyptic. I would have loved to have more information about what happened in-between Wolgast’s time and Peter’s, but I guess that’s what the second book is for. I don’t really agree with its initial characterization as a “vampire” novel, but I guess if you break it down to its simplest form, you can call it that. I enjoyed Cronin’s imagining of a new way of life, where light means life, and government no longer exists.
So what didn’t I like? THE PACING. This book was soooooooooooo slooooooooooow. I’m not a speed reader, but I’m not slow either. I started this book on my Kindle in mid-August, and around the third week of September I hit the 50% mark. At that point, I was so tired of reading it that I knew I had only two choices – give it up, or try to finish it with an audiobook. Turns out, even the audiobook narrator was sloooooooow. Two things saved the rest of the book for me – the ability to play it on double speed on my iPhone, and the fact that things actually started happening in the book. I wish that 90% of the book had been about their journey to Colorado, instead of 25-33%.
So my overall impressions are that I didn’t hate it, but I’m not that excited about it. It did end strong, but it took so long to get to the good that I’m not sure it was worth my time. I may or may not get around to reading the next book.
Michael @ Knowledge Lost
Written on Jul 3, 2012
I went into this novel expecting a post-apocalyptic vampire novel but I was presently surprised with this book. It was pure joy reading something so literary spanning from the apocalypse to the fight for human survival. I’m finding it really difficult to review this book, because I was impressed with it but I need to try and be a little critical because over all I don’t think I could rate the book more than 4 stars.
To begin with this book has so many characters, I was often lost with what was happening with all the characters, I had to keep a note pad and write down little things to remember just to keep my head straight. Simple things like ‘Amy; main protagonist, infected with a form of the virus which has made her immune.’ This has distracted me from fully enjoying this book, but when I had my head straight was all the vital characters, I was able to relax and enjoy the ride this novel took me on.
I also felt this book may have been far too long, but on reflection I can’t really think of anything that I would take out. It wasn’t repetitive and all the plot points just helped flesh out and make the characters interesting and three dimensional. I love how Justin Cronin gives you a story for each character but never really influences the reader to whether or not you like the character. In the end this just make different people like different characters and the writers influences never seen to be a part to the decision making progress.
This is a beautifully written character driven story of survival and humanity. I find myself remembering what it was like reading The Road by Cormac McCarthy; another post-apocalyptic novel that I would also consider literary. The joys of reading something so wonderful and still feel like you are reading genre fiction; it’s a great feeling. Please, don’t be put off but the size of this book, it’s a wonderful read. Having finished the book, my biggest problem is that book two; The Twelve doesn’t come out to October and the final book in the trilogy; The City of Mirrors isn’t set for release till 2014.
kimbacaffeinate
Written on Feb 15, 2011
A security breach on a secret U.S. government project called NOAH goes terribly wrong. Overnight a virus takes over the world, turning those affected into hunters and those who survive into prey. FBI agent Brad Wolgast sets out to help and protect, six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte who is a refugee from the project that has triggered the apocalypse. The dangers and struggles these two face, with the friends they meet along the way, will have you sitting up until the wee hours of night, just to read a few pages more. I found myself asking could something like this happen, what kind of post-apocalyptic person I would be and is this really how the government would handle this. The fast paced ending had me screaming for more and rushing to my computer for details on book 2.
Terri M. LeBlanc
Written on Sep 17, 2010