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la la la la la la
Joined:
6/18/2003
Total Posts:
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The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
6/22/2010 5:33:20 PM
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The Passage is a novel by Justin Cronin, published in 2010 by Doubleday Canada. The first part of a proposed trilogy, it details a post-apocalyptic world in the near future, which is overrun by vampire-like humans that are infected by a virus. It debuted at #3 on the New York Times hardcover fiction best seller list.
I read a number of "Books & Literature" sections in various websites and this book is getting a lot of buzz.
I just picked it up and I'm enjoying it. Check it out.
"Cats and monkeys, monkeys and cats, all human life is there!" - Henry James
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Joined:
7/16/2009
Total Posts:
274
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
6/22/2010 6:01:52 PM
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Visit The Wertzone for reviews of science fiction and fantasy!
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la la la la la la
Joined:
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Total Posts:
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
6/22/2010 6:19:17 PM
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Sorry, I missed that. I just read the first few chapters and I'm loving it.
"Cats and monkeys, monkeys and cats, all human life is there!" - Henry James
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6/16/2010
Total Posts:
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
6/23/2010 6:23:15 AM
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If you're loving the first few chapters, you may be enthralled with the middle chapters. That's when it significatnly improved for me . . . although with 100 pages left, I still don't think we're talking instant classic here.
It's not nearly as good as The Stand or Swan Song, IMHO.
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la la la la la la
Joined:
6/18/2003
Total Posts:
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
6/23/2010 6:57:50 AM
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I will post a review when I finish. I have a number of books on the go at the moment, so it'll be a bit but I look forward to more of this writing.
"Cats and monkeys, monkeys and cats, all human life is there!" - Henry James
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
6/25/2010 8:39:29 AM
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I just finished The Passage. My longest read since Under the Dome. 
Very good novel, but still, not quite on the level of The Stand or Swan Song. I never quite got into the characters as much as I felt such a highly praised book should have produced.
SPOILERFor instance, when Caleb dies, it didn't affect me anything like when Nick Andros dies in The Stand.
Solid book, but I think the adversaries, the "villains," if you will, should have been fleshed out better. I never truly got an understanding as to how these scienticially created physical superbeings had certain mental abilities and communication issues, too, which never felt plausible to me.
And near the end, there is one scene which really did a fly-by on me. If you're reading this, Phizz, tell me SPOILERwhether Wolgast is alive or dead and what is happening when Amy is trying to comfort him. I didn't understand this at all.
So ultimately, I have to say the book is slightly over-hyped. It's really good, but not head-and-shoulders above the rest of the "must-read" novels of 2010. I would say unless you're really into post-apocalyptic or vampire fiction, you could wait until this is published in paperback, when it will no doubt again get a promotional blietzkrieg in stores and on-line. 
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
6/25/2010 2:49:49 PM
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Another five-star review at SFX here.
Visit The Wertzone for reviews of science fiction and fantasy!
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/2/2010 8:53:34 AM
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The Passage's aggregrate review rating at Amazon continues to drop, down to 3 and a half stars now.
Getting quite a few one-star reviews, which seems rather harsh. However, I also don't believe it's the masterpiece that Stephen King and others seem to think it is, either. 
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Shaping Kurald Thyrllan
Joined:
1/23/2003
Total Posts:
2,443
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/2/2010 10:18:01 AM
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Amazon reviews are, for the most part, BS. Even in aggregate, they're fairly useless.
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Black Staff Admin
Joined:
1/20/2003
Total Posts:
13,966
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/2/2010 10:33:22 AM
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Yeah, if you read the one star reviews, they mostly have solid points but each of them has good things to say about the book -- which automatically should make it a 2 or 3 star book at the worst. People just don't know how to review. If those reviews were not 1 star, the 3 1/2 star rating would be at 4 or 4 1/2.
"I'm not for hire, and I don't get to choose my path." -- Sider Ament
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/2/2010 11:17:05 AM
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I have to disagree with both of you. I agree that these aggregates can be misleading if we're talking just a handful of reviews. But when we're talking hundreds, I think it's a fairly accurate random sampling of how readers in general feel.
If I'm undecided about a new author or book, I will usually be swayed by these aggregates to a certain extent. I tend to consider 4-stars and above as representative of a book which is good enough to appeal to a lot of different readers.
3 and half or below, and I start thinking a "must-read" of 2010 is over-hyped.
Now, of course, if it's an author I've previously read and enjoyed, I ignore even a dominance of terrible reviews.
And also, I separate Harriet Klausner reviews by an entirely different perspective. Since she reviews all books ever written in the English language as either 5-star or 4-star, I automatically figure 5-star is good and 4-star is horrible. 
All that being said, I personally would have given The Passage 4-stars. Good, not great, not even the best book I've read so far this year, much less the "novel of the decade" status it seems to be enjoying by the sf/fantasy community in particular. 
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Black Staff Admin
Joined:
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Total Posts:
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/2/2010 11:39:07 AM
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I have to disagree with both of you. I agree that these aggregates can be misleading if we're talking just a handful of reviews. But when we're talking hundreds, I think it's a fairly accurate random sampling of how readers in general feel.
You actually nailed the problem for me right there, Kam. Too many "reviewers" feel. They vote the star rating on how they feel at that moment. And yet, when you read those 1-star reviews, almost all of them say something positive. Which right there tells you the review should not be 1-star. It should be 2 or 3 at the worst. Not to mention most of those people are balking at the hype. Is that fair to the book or the author? No. They had nothing to do with it.
In short, people who give five stars genuinely love the book usually. Those who give 1-star ratings do not completely the hate the book but instead hate aspects of it -- which should make it a 2-4 start rating somewhere. That's why the overall rating should be higher than what it is.
And ironically, if you adjust those 29 1-star reviews, that star system comes up to 4 stars -- exactly where you think it should be.
Who said it is the novel of the decade?? Whoever said that is insane. We all know that is Shadow of the Wind.
"I'm not for hire, and I don't get to choose my path." -- Sider Ament
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Joined:
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Total Posts:
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/2/2010 12:00:27 PM
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And yet, when you read those 1-star reviews, almost all of them say something positive.
I'm too lazy to check all 29 of those 1-star reviews, but plenty of them have nothing but negatives to say about the book. Several readers couldn't even finish it . . . although I suppose one could argue this invalidates their reviews.
In any event, I was just pointing out the amazon reviews because Wert seems to champion this book . . . which is fine, but I'm offering the folks here another viewpoint - it's good, not great.
And yes, I won't deny I was hoping and even expecting more myself. I'm ready to be blown away by something in 2010, and so far, it hasn't happened. And you know why?
Because Martin and Lynch are no-shows, that's why.  
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Black Staff Admin
Joined:
1/20/2003
Total Posts:
13,966
5
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/26/2010 8:26:10 PM
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Terry and his wife loved the book. They think it is quite possibly the best thing they've read this year.
And if you knew them and how much they read, that's saying something.
Here is an interview that my colleague did with Justin Cronin. Matt had read it; I hadn't. So I thought Matt should do it.
http://suvudu.com/2010/07/comic-con-the-passage-author-justin-cronin-on-movie-details-and-more.html
"I'm not for hire, and I don't get to choose my path." -- Sider Ament
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Joined:
7/16/2009
Total Posts:
274
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/27/2010 9:00:06 AM
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Yeah, I though it was excellent and ONE of the books of the year, but probably not 'THE' book of the year (which at the moment is more likely to be Guy Kay's UNDER HEAVEN or Alastair Reynolds' TERMINAL WORLD).
However, I also read the book when it was just one ARC amongst many that I got sent. I only realise the 'hype' for the book building up whilst reading it and websites started mentioning the film deal and stuff. I think if you go into this book having read the hype you will likely feel disappointed. Come into it fresh and with no preconceptions, and you're more likely to just enjoy it for what it is.
Considering the decade is only seven months old, I don't think anyone is going to be calling it the 'book of the decade' (unless you're a 2001-2010 decade man, in which case it definitely isn't even remotely close) just yet 
Visit The Wertzone for reviews of science fiction and fantasy!
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RE: The Passage by Justin Cronin
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Posted:
7/27/2010 11:26:10 AM
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I think if you go into this book having read the hype you will likely feel disappointed.
Too true.
Considering the decade is only seven months old, I don't think anyone is going to be calling it the 'book of the decade'
That was hyperbole on my part, based on all the rave reviews and gushing praise I had seen for it.
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