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The Passage by Justin Cronin

Pages: 766 pgs (ARE)

First Published: Jun. 8, 2010

Publisher: Ballantine Books

Rating: 4.5/5

First sentence:

Before she became the Girl from Nowhere - the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years - she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy.

Reason for Reading: As soon as I heard of this book, which was before any of the buzz or hype had started, I knew I had to read it as I love apocalyptic novels and this had all the ingredients that made it sound like a book I had to read.

First, all the buzz, the hype, the comparisons to classics in this genre and the talk about this book is true. I fell into this door stopper tome and became hypnotized by the world I had entered. I can’t remember the last time I carted an almost 800 page book to the beach with me! But once I had started reading, I was trapped and could only stop reading for the very essentials of life. I have not read Justin Cronin before but this is an author who can write and I will be checking out his two previous works.

Essentially, this is the story of a girl who saves the world. The plot is so complex it is almost impossible to give a summary without writing pages but I’ll try. A hideous scientific experiment goes terribly wrong and a virus is exposed in the United States. It eventually destroys modern civilization on the North American continent (the fate of the world is unknown), leaving behind scattered groups of survivors and horrible infected persons who have been turned into something no longer human. Because of their lust for blood and some of their habits such as death by exposure to light the media, in the early days referred to them as vampires and occasionally to the virus as the “vamp virus”. However, throughout the book various groups have different names for the infected ones, most commonly called virals, and while some names such as “dracs” refer to vampires, everyone knows these are people who have been infected with a virus. In my humble opinion, this is not a vampire book.

One of the survivors is a little girl who was also experimented on, the last one. She turned out different though, she appears perfectly normal and a CIA agent rescues her where they then flee to the mountains and live a reclusive life. A hundred years go by and now commences the majority of the book. How life is being lead now with the remains of civilization around the new societies, living in a world where nighttime is to be avoided, using sources such as batteries but having no replacements once they are gone. This life can only last so long and one day into it walks a girl. A strange girl, who may hold the fate of humankind in her hands.

I just love this book so much!! There are so many characters and all are so deftly created to be complete, complex human beings. The world Cronin has created is amazingly real and is one that is completely believable of a post-apocalyptic society. His characters deal with real issues such as brotherly tensions, falling in love when it is not reciprocated and when it is, overcoming personal fears, and personal growth. The Passage is a journey in many ways. A physical one across land, one of growth personally for each character and a spiritual one as deep questions are raised and realized.

My only problem with the book is that nowhere in the book’s description does it tell me that this is the first in a proposed trilogy. It took a little googling to find that out. So the ending is an ending but it is also a beginning and while I look forward to continuing with the story in the future I was a little miffed at first that the seven hundred odd pages wasn’t going to give me a finite ending. My final word, though, is if you like post-apocalyptic books this is a Must Read as it will no doubt go on to become a classic.

The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan
Forest of Hands & Teeth, Book 2

Pages: 407 pages
Ages: 14+
First Published: Mar. 9, 2010
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

The story goes that even after the Return they tried to keep the roller coasters going.

Reason for Reading: Next in the series.

Summary: Gabry lives a safe, secure life in a village beside the ocean and behind a Barrier to protect them from the Mudo (zombies). She lives in the lighthouse with her mother who is the lighthouse keeper whose main job is to kill the occasional Mudo who washes ashore each morning. Gabry loves her life and has no wish to ever leave the safety, as from what she has learned in school, the stories her mother has told her and what she can see with her own eyes from the top of the lighthouse the world beyond is anything but safe. But one night a group of her friends bring her along with them as they breach the Barrier and go to the old amusement park. It is there that all there lives will forever change and Gabry will ultimately leave the village never to return.

Comments: I loved this book! Contrary to early reports that Carrie Ryan was writing a parallel novel and the misleading “a companion novel” printed on the front cover of the book this is indeed a direct sequel to the first book, The Forest of Hands and Teeth. The book takes place many years later, with a new generation of teens, in a different village but there are a couple of return characters from book one. It’s difficult to review without giving away anything from either book but the main character, Gabry, in Dead-Tossed Waves is a complete contrast to the first books’ main character, Mary. In fact, I’d say that the two books themselves are contrasts.

Gabry’s village is part of the Protectorate: the group of surviving villages. Gabry’s world is real; she knows what is out there beyond the barrier; she knows how likely it would be to become infected by the Mudo and become one herself. Gabry’s mother has knowledge of the outside world and she helps Gabry feel safe in her village by reinforcing in her how deadly it is out there. This turns Gabry into a scared, weak character that must grow as the book progresses as she is thrown into that world and must deal with the challenges she faces. From one who has read the first book, we can see this is all in contrast to the circumstances and the personal character of that book’s main protagonist, Mary.

I must say I deeply felt for Gabry as a character. Her whole world is turned upside down and it is a pleasure to watch her grow from the reluctant, scared girl to a worthy, decision-making, fighting member of her group. There are some twists which were fun as I did not guess them. In fact from early on, I had figured one thing out in my mind as being so obvious I wished the book would hurry up and reveal it, but when it finally did I was sooo wrong! Ha on me! I love it when that happens! Great book, I loved it just as much as the first one. Lots of zombie action, though not as violent as the first book, but certainly a very dark plot, characters die and characters do bad things. Don’t expect any happy endings for anyone. The next book, which I’m presuming will be the last, trilogy anyone?, should prove to be very intriguing in whether the author gets the characters together for the best and one wonders how it will all finish in the end. Eagerly awaiting the next volume!

The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
(a parallel novel to Oryx and Crake)

Pages: 431
First Published: Sept. 22, 2009
Genre: post-apocalyptic, science fiction (no matter how much the author denies it)
Rating: 3/5

First sentence:

In the early morning Toby climbs up to the rooftop to watch the sunrise.

Reason for Reading: Atwood’s new book.  Borrowed from my library.

Summary: A plague has wiped out the majority of the world and the God’s Gardeners cult had been preparing for the end-times (the Waterless Flood) all along. Two women, who were members of God’s Gardeners have survived the plague. One, Ren, because she was in an isolation unit (almost like an apartment) where she was recuperating after being abused by one of the patrons in the sex club where she worked and possibly contaminated. The other, Toby, had locked herself in the beauty spa (heavily secured corporation run) she was the manager of the night the plague hit full force. The story is told from three points of views. Ren’s and Toby’s with both of them telling their present situation and remembering their past life with the God’s Gardener’s. The third point of view comes from the past and follows the God’s Gardeners year by year through sermons given by Adam One which end with a hymn.

Comments: I really enjoyed Oryx and Crake and dived into this book as soon as it came into the library for me. The book was a quick read. I always find Atwood’s writing to flow so naturally her books are often hard to put down, and this was no exception. Ren and Toby are full, realistic characters, quite opposite in nature from each other but both emotionally draw the reader into their lives and thus the book. Atwood’s feminist side shows through here as we see a comparison between the two women. Ren has been treated kindly then thrown aside and later used and abused by men because of her good looks while Toby has been used and abused and later ignored by men because of her plain looks.

The God’s Gardeners cult was pretty creepy in my opinion. Atwood has created a religion which is Old Testament based, yet Pagan in nature and is full of Saint Days. While the group believes in an Old Testament God, they are eco friendly by worshipping animals and nature and are strictly vegan. Near the beginning she has a St. Mowat of the Wolves day and I said to myself, “Oh, Lord please do not let her have a St. David Suzuki day in here or I’m going to through this book across the room”. He did appear, but fortunately it was near the end of the book and I held back my urge.

I would suggest reading Oryx and Crake first. The books are not dependant on each other but this one does reference many things from the first book and you are going to wandering around in the dark as either no explanations, or only brief ones are given. A very quick explanation of the events of the first book are summed up for you at the crucial point in Year of the Flood but a reader will be missing out on a whole book’s worth of insider information if they journey into this without having read Oryx and Crake first.

Ultimately though, I was disappointed with book. It was a good enough book. Fans of Oryx and Crake will have to read it to find out the rest of the story. But I just didn’t get into the story that much. It wasn’t a page turner, even though it read quick enough. The plot kept moving forward but there never was any real suspense, reveals, moments of great emotion or climax even to satisfy. Well, there is a climax and an ending but they are small and weak and I ended the book with a “hmmph”.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth by Carrie Ryan

Pages: 310
First Published: Mar. 10, 2009
Genre: YA, post apocalyptic fiction, horror
Rating: 5/5

First sentence:

My mother used to tell me about the ocean.

Comments: Mary’s world is very small and quite simple. Her village is large enough to roam around in and grow crops but it is completely enclosed by heavy-duty wire fencing. Her world is run by the Sisterhood who guide their laws and lives through religion and the Guardians who take orders from the Sisterhood and guard the village with force. Day to day life is quaint and simple but on the other side of the fencing are the Unconsecrated and one bite from them will turn you into one yourself, so you must never get too close to the fence ….

This was a fabulous book! Initially it reminds me of the society portrayed in the movie The Village, while not exactly the same their are many parallels. Mary is a wonderful character. She has a mother who has told her stories, carried down through the generations of women in her family, of the world before and Mary especially dreams of the mysterious place called the ocean. The stories have given Mary something to hold onto and a passion not to accept her world as it is. She is a powerful, strong character. Another thing I especially like is that once we find out the reason for the apocalypse at the end of the book I found the reason so plausible that it really was scary, unlike so many books of today which use the controversial “global warming” theme that I must take with a grain of salt. The book is very well-written, the plot tense and the individual outcomes along the way not always happy. In fact, there are many quite shockingly intense scenes. The zombies are fantastic, I mean who doesn’t love a great zombie book!

There are intense relationships: mother/daughter, husband/wife, friends, and blossoming new found love all in a world in which one may die at any moment. The author has shown the deepness of these relationships with a deft sweep of her pen. The one thing that bothered me about the book was that near the beginning Mary blatantly (and for no reason) states, out of the blue, that she does not believe in God. Then later on in the book she tells us the moment she stopped believing in God. This felt as if it was important and yet the subject was never voiced again. No other character’s belief or non-belief was mentioned and other than making me feel sorry for Mary, it made me wonder why the author stopped short of making her point. However….

Highly recommended! I’ve never given two books a tie as favourite book of the month but this time I just can’t not say this was my favourite although I’ve already said so of another book. I hate to compare to the Twilight books as this book is in a league so much higher than those but I think teachers/librarians should use the comparison to promote this book as it will appeal to the same teen audience, as well as the boys. One could call this a horror book, and it is, but it goes so much deeper into relationships between people, that anyone who can stand the gore that comes with zombies is going to be itching for next year’s (2010) parallel novel. Read this book!

Nicola