Two Christmas’s ago Will bought me a Kindle. I read a lot, or I thought I did before my kindle, I really wasn’t ready for how much digital books were going to make that increase. I know there are avid legitimate book lovers out there, but honestly if a digital book can get someone to read 30 books instead of 10 is a good thing. I can even read my book on my iphone and the sync to the most recent page with just the click of a button so I never lose my place.
I read a lot of science fiction/ fantasy. Yeah I know that sounds extremely nerdy. If you haven’t figured it out yet I’m a bit of a nerd. Not the tape on the glasses, braces with head gear, posters of unicorns on my walls type of nerd, but more of the regular person you’d never expect to know everything about Harry Potter and Star Trek TNG. I get most of my recommendations from friends and Whoopi Goldberg. Yes! Whoopi is a huge sci-fi fan.
The book I just finished is The Passage, by Justin Cronin. It was recommended to me by my friend Brian. Brian also loves sci-fi, but likes to lean a bit towards horror as well. I wasn’t really sure what to expect when I started, but he’s read the book 3 times so I figured it was worth a shot. The story primarily takes place in post-apocalyptic America. The country was plunged into turmoil after a group of “vampires” escaped from a research facility. We travel about 100 years into the future, descendants of a group of children that were sent to a protective compound are living out their lives as best they can. Until a mysterious young girl shows up, and a group from the compound sets off on an adventure to find something more than a life behind walls with a dwindling power supply.
Justin Cronin apparently started writing the book with his nine year old daughter when she asked him to ride along on her bike while he went for a run. Together the pieced together the background and an outline of a story that originally he never thought would turn into anything at all. It’s clear through reading The Passage that Cronin loves the characters he has created. Each one is fully developed in a way that, as any good book should, made me feel like they were people that I knew and cared about what was going to happen to them in the world beyond the wall. The book itself covers a really wide range of genres, from love to western to horror. The love that develops between characters brought me to tears more than once. The western elements are often a part of post-apocalyptic stories, but Cronin pulls them completely into the adventure aspects and makes the book a real page turner. The horror aspects are absolutely terrifying. I’ll be honest, I had nightmares on multiple nights over the last couple weeks. Will was actually making fun of me, he couldn’t understand why someone would want to keep reading something that made them have nightmares. But it’s like watching any scary movie, you don’t want to look and cover your face with your hands, but you still peak through your fingers because you just have to know what happens in the end. I texted Brian at on point to tell him about the nightmares and his response was, “I know, isn’t it awesome!”
The Passage is the first book in a 3 part series part 2 is due to come out this month. I’ve already started another book, I feel like I need a little bit of break from all the emotions I felt reading this book, but I’m looking forward to starting The Twelve once I’ve finished this next book. If you’re looking for something to shake you up this Halloween season I’d highly recommend starting this trilogy.
the adventures first 