Tuesday
Jun152010
The Passage - Early Thoughts
Tuesday, June 15, 2010 at 1:15PM
OK, so I'm about 250 pages into The Passage
, and it's been a bit of a roller coaster in terms of how much I'm enjoying it; lots of ups and downs.
I wanted to know as little about the book as I could, so I stayed away from early reviews and discussions. Really, what little I knew came from the viral promotion site at FindSubjectZero.com, and the general internet buzz, which promised a vampire apocalypse thriller on par with The Stand. I was hoping for stories of the collapse of society as cities were slowly over-run with virus infected individuals, who either died or returned as vampires, with bands of survivors fighting them off, and scavenging for an apocalyptic existence.
Is that what I'm getting so far, about a quarter of the way through the book? Nope, not exactly.
I've said before that I'm not a fan of mysticism in my post-apocalypses, but scifi is OK, so in The Passage, I'm totally fine with a viral infection causing humans to develop superhuman strength, and a thirst for blood and such. But what I wasn't ready for was little girls who talk to animals, telepathic communication, prophetic dreams and other mystical BS. And aside for a few pages of flashback, we never even get to see the apocalypse as it's happening across the country.
But luckily, just as I was starting to consider giving up and moving on to another book, it took a major turn. It's still not what I was expecting, but at least now it's interesting again. It's a big book and I'm still not that far into it, so I can only hope that it doesn't take another dip into supernatural'ness and sticks with it's current classic post-apocalyptic setting.
, and it's been a bit of a roller coaster in terms of how much I'm enjoying it; lots of ups and downs.I wanted to know as little about the book as I could, so I stayed away from early reviews and discussions. Really, what little I knew came from the viral promotion site at FindSubjectZero.com, and the general internet buzz, which promised a vampire apocalypse thriller on par with The Stand. I was hoping for stories of the collapse of society as cities were slowly over-run with virus infected individuals, who either died or returned as vampires, with bands of survivors fighting them off, and scavenging for an apocalyptic existence.
Is that what I'm getting so far, about a quarter of the way through the book? Nope, not exactly.
I've said before that I'm not a fan of mysticism in my post-apocalypses, but scifi is OK, so in The Passage, I'm totally fine with a viral infection causing humans to develop superhuman strength, and a thirst for blood and such. But what I wasn't ready for was little girls who talk to animals, telepathic communication, prophetic dreams and other mystical BS. And aside for a few pages of flashback, we never even get to see the apocalypse as it's happening across the country.
But luckily, just as I was starting to consider giving up and moving on to another book, it took a major turn. It's still not what I was expecting, but at least now it's interesting again. It's a big book and I'm still not that far into it, so I can only hope that it doesn't take another dip into supernatural'ness and sticks with it's current classic post-apocalyptic setting.
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Reader Comments (2)
I just can't get through this thing... I'm close to halfway and considering giving up. You said it picked up for you? I completely agree about the supernatural, btw.
If you've made it that far, I'd stay stick to it. I enjoyed it a lot more after the timeframe shifted.
We're thinking The Passage is going to be our next Book Club book over at PostApocalypticForum.com, so I think I'm going to read through it again. You're welcome to come join us over there to discuss it. I'll have the category set up soon I think.