REVIEW: The Strain Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (audiobook)

The Strain Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (audiobook)
Publishing information: Audiobook
Publisher: HarperCollins 2 June 2009
ISBN 10: 0061715204
ISBN 13: 978-0061715204
Series: Book 1 in the Strain Trilogy
Copy: Out of Pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Synopsis: "Just as a jumbo jet on a flight from Germany to New York is touching down at JFK, something goes terribly wrong. When Ephraim Goodweather, of the Centers for Disease Control, investigates the darkened plane, he finds all but four passengers and crew dead, drained of blood. Despite Goodweather's efforts to keep the survivors segregated, they get discharged into the general population. Soon after, the corpses of the tragedy's victims disappear. The epidemiologist begins to credit the wild stories of Abraham Setrakian, an elderly pawnbroker who's the book's Van Helsing figure, and concludes that a master vampire has arrived in the U.S."

I am a fan of Guillermo Del Toro's movies, the fact that he is moving into novels did not take me long to decide on whether or not to pick up his first book in The Strain Trilogy. Del Toro and Hogan attempt to take us back to a time when vampires were scary and not out to seduce young high school girls with no personality. Borrowing heavily on Eastern European folklore we find the vampires as deadly killers with little or no remorse.

The Strain focus a lot of detail on what makes a vampire, their physiology and how they are transformed from human to vampire. At times it was interesting, but most of the time it was a large infodump. Our hero is Dr. Goodweather, a CDC worker who is in charge of the investigation since the infested plane landed. He is a likable character, but he never really managed to have me join his side and start rooting for him. The authors also include a character similar to Van Helsing, one Abraham Setrakian who has encountered the creatures before when he was in a holocaust encampment. His character had a rich background and I really enjoyed the scenes that he was in. Truth be told his character was the only reason I continued to listen to the story. The vampires are also pretty impressive. Their mythology makes a lot of sense. About half of the ways to kill them work and the reasons why make a lot of sense.

The majority of the novel is not much fun to read and quite boring. It takes a really long time for things to happen and when they do they failed to keep me reading long into the night. Admittedly, I am not a huge vampire reader but if the book manages to keep me interested I have no problem reading past my bedtime. With The Strain I found that I would look forward to lights out.

I was really disappointed in the story from someone who directs some of my favorite movies I expected something more. The only real impressive feature of the book was the talented reading of Ron Perlman. I swear he should read every novel. However, he did have a hard time keeping me interested in this book. The Fall is already out and the third book in the series, The Night Eternal is scheduled to be released on 25 October 2011. I have no plans to continue with the series.

Plot 7/10
Characters 6/10
Style 6.5/10
Voice Talent 10/10

Overall 6.5/10

REVIEW: (Audiobook) The Passage by Justin Cronin

The Passage by Justin Cronin (audiobook)
Publishing information: 12 CDs
Publisher: Orion Publishing; 24 June 2010
ISBN 10: 1409112357
ISBN 13: 9781409112358
Standalone
Copy: out of pocket
Reviewer: Tyson

Back of the case "Amy Harper Bellafonte is six years old and her mother thinks she's the most important person in the whole world. She is. Anthony Carter doesn't think he could ever be in a worse place than Death Row. He's wrong. FBI agent Brad Wolgast thinks something beyond imagination is coming. It is. THE PASSAGE."

The Passage is one of the most talked about novels of 2010. It all started with a bidding war that ended up giving Cronin $5 million in his pocket (minus agent fees I am sure). Needless to say that made everyone stand up and take notice. After the news of this auction was released the book forum world took notice and debate heated up as to what the hype was all about. In a word it is about vampires, or virals as they are known in the book.

Vampires seem to be a hit with everyone whether they are on TV or glittering on the big screen. Everyone wants a big hunky male vampire or sexy little nymph female vampire to take an interest in them. The bookstores are full of these types of escapades. The good news is that Cronin's The Passage goes back to the original idea of vampires as scary, unstoppable killing machines.

To me the idea of a vampire invasion is new; however, the way in which the book presents it is not new. In The Passage the infestation occurs almost exactly as Stephen King envisioned a mutated "controlled" virus wiping out humanity in the his novel The Stand. Which is where Cronin started to lose me. I was hoping for something ground breaking which would explain why he was warranted such a high price in his bidding war for his book. Instead it was stolen from one of the biggest names in horror. While you could argue that the situations were different and the way events unfolded were different, I personally did not see it that way.

Cronin also seemed to borrow heavily from Max Brooks' World War Z in how the US military attempts to contain the viral threat. A blockade of the infected regions of the United States seemed lifted directly from World War Z. Which also turned me off of the book. I expected originality and seemed to have received anything but.

The Passage does have great and interesting characters. They are developed well and you get a very good sense of who these individuals are and what motivates them. From the first page of The Passage, Cronin gives the reader a clear image of the characters of his book. As you read (or in my case hear) the book you are transported into the mind of each protagonist. It felt as if you could reach out and touch them or phone them up for a day out. Of course, you would have to avoid the virals on that particular outing.

Cronin's style is quite entertaining. He gives the reader a clear picture and still somehow manages to keep you in suspense. There are a few times were motivations and agendas are hidden from you but they are quickly revealed when the time calls for it. While the book does deal with vampires or virals, the real story is about relationships and how they interconnect. Cronin does an impressive job of bringing the various and distinct personalities together and making them work as a unit. There are a few names to juggle around but The Passage does a great job of keeping them straight in your head.

A big bonus for reading/listening to the audiobook version of The Passage was the narrator, Edward Herrmann lends his voice talent to the tale and while I have always enjoyed him in TV and movies, as well as many documentaries, his voice is perfect for this novel. He does do some different voices for the many parts depicted in the novel and not once did it seem over the top or campy. There were times where I felt the story lagged a bit and his voice was the main reason for me to continue with The Passage.

In the end, The Passage was a good novel but due to the hype it received before it's release and what I felt was a rip off of Stephen King's The Stand and Max Brooks' World War Z, I can not give it full marks. Had this been more original I could see it rated higher but as it stands, I was slightly disappointed with the book. When Cronin releases his second book I will more than likely order it as I enjoyed his pacing and characters.

Plot 6
Characters 9
Style 7
Voice Talent 10

Overall 7/10 (only because of voice talent, otherwise 6/10)