The Passage: A Novel (Book One of The Passage Trilogy) by Justin Cronin (Epub)

Description

An epic and gripping tale of catastrophe and survival, The Passage is the story of Amy—abandoned by her mother at the age of six, pursued and then imprisoned by the shadowy figures behind a government experiment of apocalyptic proportions. But Special Agent Brad Wolgast, the lawman sent to track her down, is disarmed by the curiously quiet girl and risks everything to save her. As the experiment goes nightmarishly wrong, Wolgast secures her escape—but he can’t stop society’s collapse. And as Amy walks alone, across miles and decades, into a future dark with violence and despair, she is filled with the mysterious and terrifying knowledge that only she has the power to save the ruined world.

User’s Reviews

Review “[A] blockbuster.”—The New York Times Book Review “Mythic storytelling.”—San Francisco Chronicle “Magnificent . . . Cronin has taken his literary gifts, and he has weaponized them. . . . The Passage can stand proudly next to Stephen King’s apocalyptic masterpiece The Stand, but a closer match would be Cormac McCarthy’s The Road: a story about human beings trying to generate new hope in a world from which all hope has long since been burnt.”—Time “The type of big, engrossing read that will have you leaving the lights on late into the night.”—The Dallas Morning News “Addictive.”—Men’s Journal “Cronin’s unguessable plot and appealing characters will seize your heart and mind.”—Parade“Cronin has given us what could be the best book of the summer. Don’t wait to dive into The Passage.”—USA Today“Great storytelling . . . vital, tender, and compelling.”—O: The Oprah Magazine“Cronin gets it just right; the combination of attentive realism and doomsday stakes makes for a mesmerizing experience.”—Salon“Magnificently unnerving . . . A The Stand-meets-The Road journey.”—Entertainment Weekly“Imagine Michael Crichton crossbreeding Stephen King’s The Stand and Salem’s Lot in that lab on Jurassic Park, with rich infusions of Robert McCammon’s Swan Song, Battlestar Galactica and even Cormac McCarthy’s The Road.”—The Washington Post

Reviews from Amazon users, collected at the time the book is getting published on UniedVRG. It can be related to shiping or paper quality instead of the book content:

⭐ 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.

⭐ 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.

⭐ 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’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 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.

⭐ If you’re like me you’re looking at this book because you’ve seen the promos for the upcoming TV show, which looks like the type of sci-fi/horror amalgamation that I’m usually drawn to. I hit the internet to find out more and discovered it was adapted from this bestseller. Then I remembered I had considered reading it a few years back but was dissuaded by its length and reviews that described it as a slow-paced overly-long character drama. I’m not a fast reader so usually avoid that type of thing, but decided to give it a try this time with the goal of getting at least halfway through before the show started. Holy Smokes! I couldn’t put it down. I spent most of my free time the last couple of weeks reading it.First off, it is slow paced and long. But it’s the most entertaining slow paced book I’ve ever read. In the hands of a lesser writer this story could be a boring trainwreck, but Cronin has a poetic writing style that keeps you entranced through every page. And he develops each character so that you truly care about them. You just don’t ever want to put the book down. It isn’t exactly what I thought either. The overarching story is sci-fi/horror, but it’s much more. There are horrifying moments, but it’s not a horror book. I’d describe it as character-driven fantasy. It’s about people, who they are, and the journeys they take.The book breaks into roughly three acts. The first is set in a near future where a secret govt project works to refine a virus that holds the potential to cure all disease, but also turns humans into bloodthirsty vampires. What could go wrong, right? The middle is set 92 years later in a fortified FEMA shelter where survivors of the apocalypse try just to make it through another day. The final act follows a group from the shelter as they set out across the wasteland on a quest to solve the riddle of a girl they’ve found who just might be 100 years old.The middle act is spent mostly on character development. We meet probably 30 characters fleshed out to varying degrees. It’s long and slow, and almost nothing substantial happens….and surprisingly, it’s awesome! It’s the best part of the book. Cronin masterfully sucks you into his characters, getting you fully invested. You care about all of them. It lays the foundation for what happens next.It’s not perfect. The biggest weakness is that some characters, while well written, just aren’t believable. I don’t like spoilers, so to use an early example, there’s a character who oversees the research project. He’s a spooky type empowered by unnamed govt figures. He has absolutely no moral compass and kills without compunction with total impunity. While this could be acceptable if the stakes were high enough, we’re never given a reason why so many innocent people have to die when there are far more realistic ways to resolve the obstacles that come up. Elsewhere, Cronin does a great job describing believable characters with realistic feelings and motivations. He clearly understands human beings and can place himself in a variety of shoes. Does he really think cartoon evil characters like this exist? There are sociopaths in the world, sure, but are they in charge of billion-dollar top-secret govt projects? Are the people above them just as bad and fine with what they do? It’s too much to swallow. Most of the characters are great, but there are other examples like this. The book actually gets better once it shifts to the future where you can accept unbelievable characters as part of the alien landscape. I’ll also give a minor tease that you’ll pick up on early. There’s a lot of dreaming in the book. It won’t surprise me if the punch line at the end of the trilogy is that this is some kind of dream.The book will be very difficult to film due to the time-hopping and plethora of characters, so I don’t have much hope that the show will do it justice. It’s a fine piece of fiction though and I’m sorry I waited so long to read it. I’ve already started the sequel. Recommended.

⭐ This book is almost a thousand pages. One thousand. I didn’t notice that before I downloaded it to my kindle, and a small part of me wishes that I had. I think a hard copy could give a phone book a run for its money. However, if you have the time to spare for this, I promise that every single page is worth it.This is by far the only author I have come across who can make such a long book so entirely entertaining. The synopsis gives the impression that the little girl is the main character, but over 100 pages in, she’s still just barely being introduced. The entire first chapter is the story of the girl’s biological parents. When looking at the bigger picture of this novel, this whole chapter (along with countless others) could be completely cut from the book in terms of relevance to the actual plot. Usually when books ramble for hundreds of pages, I get bored. However each and every single one of those seemingly unimportant side stories are immensly invigorating and entertaining to read. We don’t actually need to know anything about one of the side character nuns who lived with this girl for all of two days, but her story was still intriguing. Every time the author dove into the life of a side character I almost wished I could read more before being brought back to the focus of he book.Keep in mind that this is only the first of a few books. As tedious as that may seem, I highly recommend this story for the talent of the author and the incredible story that he creatively wove together. For me, the time it took to read it was well worth sacrificing for the enjoyment that I felt while doing so.

⭐ The author creates these fantastic characters we really come to care about…and then moves 93 years into the future and duddenly the book is about a completely different cast of characters who are about as interesting as a box of hair. Two thumbs down.

⭐ Many people have compared The Passage to King’s The Stand. I think it’s an apt comparison, which is a high compliment. I’ve always loved The Stand, and this has a lot of similarities (the end of the world caused by human stupidity with viruses; many different characters and subplots that develop separately before winding together in unexpected ways; the battle of good vs. evil, God vs. darkness… the list goes on). I see some reviews complain about how the story jumps between time periods and characters, and that it can be hard to keep track of who’s who. I agree with the latter. There were times when I felt lost because of the vast array of characters. Regardless, the story is wonderful and made me want to read all the time. It is rare that I anxiously look forward to getting back to the book I’m reading, or desperately try to eek out a few more minutes of reading before putting it down. This book definitely had me hooked, and I hated coming to the end. I’m glad I read it in 2016, long after the other two books in the series were published, because I might have felt shortchanged if I read this back in 2010 when it was first published and knew that I’d be waiting years before the story picked up again. In any event, I highly recommend the book to anyone who enjoys dystopian novels, and especially to anyone who enjoyed The Stand. This stands on its own and is no facsimile of any other story. The vampires are terrifying, the action is brilliantly brought to the page, and the suspense is real. Definitely five stars — I’m recommending the series to all my friends.

⭐ From the first chapter, you can tell that you are in for something big; that this story is going to make you feel something. The characters are written with such care and subtle intensity. There is always this undercurrent of pain and longing and turmoil, and as the story unfolds, and you start to see where things are going, you – as the reader – are carrying this sense of urgency with you as you read. I became so invested in Wolgast and Amy, and even Sister Lacey, that when the story jumped to the future, I missed them terribly. But as we got to know characters from the Colony, my investment only became more solidified. I felt like I was in the fight with them. Peter with his quiet courage. Alicia’s steadfast determination. Their unspoken love for each other. The bonds created throughout a life-altering, and at-times terrifying journey for truth and knowledge. And all of this so beautifully-written, you never want it to end. Not even the frightening parts. The parts that make you hold your breath, or hang your head, or break your heart.I know I’ve only just begun with this series, but I can already feel the importance of these characters, and how attached to them I’ve become. I can’t wait to see what this group takes on next. I can’t wait to meet The Twelve. I can’t wait to uncover Peter’s destiny. I know, somehow, I will be heartbroken again. I know that it will probably get worse before it gets better. That’s okay. I’m in it for the long haul because I know whatever happens, their story and these characters are going to stay with me for a very long time. Justin Cronin, thank you.

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