The vampire novel has become a huge cliche in today's society.
Thanks to Anne Rice and Stephine Myers, there seems to be a billion
books about love affairs with the undead and all the complications that
come along with such an unholy union. 99% of these books are pure trash
on the level of a Harlequin romance. The thing is there is a valid
reason for there being so many Vampire stories. It's a rich topic that,
when done right, can blossom into a tale that is scary, thrilling and
thought provoking. That 1% of vampire books that are interesting and
well written almost make the other 99% that comes along with them
tolerable. While not the best vampire story I've ever read, Justin
Cronin's The Passage certainly falls into the 1% . It's not a vampire
story in any conventional way, the vampires aren't creatures that live
hidden amongst humans, they are a plague brought on by human
experiments, and it is that originality that makes the novel stand out.
Yet, it still falls short of a great novel. It reads like two separate
stories and that break in narrative causes a disruption that hurts the
readers investment in the characters.
Cronin has certainly
created a wonderful world filled with interesting characters and an
original mythology. And that by itself makes this novel worthy of a
read. Cronin tells us the origin of his vampire creatures and it is as
original of an origin as I have seen. He blends both zombie and vampire
mythology together to create a plausible reason for the monsters to be
released into the world. This origin story could have been a novel of
it's own. It is rich and compelling enough to be its own story and very
much has a beginning, middle and end. But Cronin then shifts hundreds
of years into the future and picks up his narrative in an apocalyptic
America where everyone is forced to live in a small village surrounded
by lamps that keep the vampires away at night. Many people have
described the story as a blend of Stephen King's The Stand and Cormac
McCarthy's The Road, and I see where this may come from, but I see it
more as a mix Dawn of the Dead and The Road Warrior.
The
biggest problem I have with the novel is the split narratives. Just
when I had grown to love the characters I had spent hundreds of pages
with, Cronin changes things up and gives me a whole new cast to deal
with. Both narratives are exciting, compelling and well written, but by
jamming them together the story losses some of it's punch. I spent
many of the early stages of the second narrative upset that I was no
longer spending time with the old characters. It also took time for me
to get over the drastic change setting, going from a world I was very
familiar with to one I had no clue about. I think I would have
published them as two separate novels, much like Interview with The
Vampire and The Vampire Lestat, and the shift would have been easier to
deal with.
The Passage is the first in a series of novels
from Cronin that deal with this world terrorized by vampires. It is
certainly a series I plan on continuing to read. While not a perfect
novel, it is a highly entertaining story filled with original ideas and
dilemmas. If you are a fan of vampire novels this is a must read. If
you are a fan of quality horror this is probably a must read as well.
As long as you aren't expecting an American classic, this is a fun ride
of a book that doesn't leave the reader disappointed.
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