Review: The Passage (#1) by Justin Cronin

 Summary from Goodreads:

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.

My Review:


What I Liked:

Writing Style. Cronin's prose was well done and kept me reading through all 800 pages. He has a lyrical style that I enjoy reading. The well written details and character development had me engrossed in the novel from page one. 

Plot. I went into the novel blind, not knowing what it was about aside from the fact it was in the horror genre. Some parts were frightening but I felt that it was more character driven. 

Characters. The main aspect of the novel that I liked was the character and their development. The novel has so many characters that it hard to talk about them all. Just know that they are well crafted characters that you come to love. 

What I Disliked:

Pacing. It took me a whole week to make it through this massive novel. My kindle edition was almost 900 pages. I felt that the first section of the novel, 200 pages or so went by quickly but the rest of the novel had slow pacing. 

Format. I'm not a fan of novels drastically changing timelines after a huge chuck. I hate being ripped away from the world/characters I just started to enjoy. 

POV. This is one of those novels that has way too many points of view that are constantly changing from chapter to chapter. I liked all of the characters but wish it could have been mainly from Amy's point of view. 

I recommend checking out this long and intense Post Apocalyptic novel.

My Rating:

4 Stars Out of 5 Stars