The Twelve

The Twelve by Justin Cronin (2012)

In Justin Cronin's sequel to The Passage, we rejoin survivors of an apocalyptic United States in which a virus has turned people into vampire-like creatures. Like its predecessor, The Twelve moves between Year Zero - immediately after the outbreak - to a time almost 100 years later. We meet some new characters, including one who was just briefly mentioned in the first book as "Last Stand in Denver." There is also the strange and traumatized Lila, who lives in her past, refusing to accept reality. April is a teenaged girl just trying to save her little brother. Guilder is one of the bureaucrats responsible for Project NOAH which created the whole problem in the first place. Very interesting characters added to the already complex mix, and some major plot developments that I won't go into at the risk of spoiling the fun.

It seems like so long ago that I read The Passage, and it was difficult to remember all of the plots and characters, and on top of that there were some new folks to add in. The day after the book was released I saw Justin Cronin speak (which was so awesome!) and he talked about how the second book in a trilogy tends to be the weak one and that he dealt with that by adding in all the new characters and slightly shifting the overall paradigm of the story. I would have to say that it worked.

I know I missed some things and I'm sure it would have been even better had I read both books in a row. Wikipedia helped. Bookmarking pages that seemed important and then referring to them later also helped. In my fantasy world, when the third book comes out I will read all three of them in a row so I won't have this problem at all. But I found The Twelve so compelling, and even when I was unsure about where I last saw a particular character or couldn't remember something important from the first book, I still couldn't help but keep going.

At this point I really want to share how ridiculous the criticisms of the book are in the reviews I've read, but I won't waste the space with my ranting. (Just like those reviewers didn't waste their time actually reading the book. I'll stop now.) I'll admit that I didn't love it as much as The Passage. The second book in a trilogy just can't be as good as the first - it's not possible. In the first book you're introduced to a new world and it's characters and by the second book that's not new and surprising anymore. But Cronin has done a great job of continuing that story and keeping it exciting. I can't wait to see how he's going to end this trilogy.

You will drink the blood of the world and fill me up

The Passage by Justin Cronin (2010)

Deep in the jungle of Bolivia scientists discover a virus that kicks a person’s thymus gland into overdrive, increasing their immunity and their lifespan. In secret government experiments, death row inmates are transformed into powerful creatures that the military hopes to use as weapons. Of course they turn out to be stronger and more powerful than anyone thought, escaping the military lab and decimating the American population.

The final subject of the experiment hadn’t been a death-row inmate at all, but an abandoned little girl named Amy. There is something very unusual about her to begin with, and it she is affected differently by the virus. It soon becomes clear that she will play an important role in saving what is left of civilization.

After the world changed, we skip forward to the year 92 A.V. and visit the Colony, a settlement in California where fear of virals has become a way of life. The walled town uses sentries and constant light to keep virals away, but their batteries will not last much longer and when the lights go out they are doomed. When one of the residents detects a far away radio signal, a group sets out for Colorado in hopes of finding help.

Because of the isolation in this new world, each settlement is like a separate culture. Every time the book shifts to another time or place, the reader’s worldview shifts with it. Rounding out the story are excerpts from documents such as evacuation orders, newspaper stories, and journal entries presented at the Third Global Conference on the North American Quarantine Period, held in 1003 A.V. Intriguing!

The Passage is a daunting tome of a book - the ebook version is 836 pages but unlike many lengthy books, it’s not because it is poorly edited. It’s well-crafted and polished, but simply a huge, epic story that could have easily been split into more than one book. Upon finishing I felt exhausted and drained, as though I experienced everything the characters did. It was a long journey fraught with hardship and peril, and I narrowly escaped with my life. Yes, it was that good! I felt propelled by this riveting story and completely caught up in the world Cronin has created. Many characters entered and exited the story, but he fleshed them out well enough for the reader to not only keep track of them, but care about them. The lengthy apocalyptic nature of the book and the many mysteries and side stories remind me of a combination of The Stand and Lost. You can’t get much better than that.

Book two, The Twelve, is due out in 2012. In this interview Cronin talks about it a bit and says the twelve are not who we think they are. I’m very much looking forward to continuing this adventure but I’m glad it won’t be right away. It may take me a full year to recover enough from my arduous journey to be able to start another book like this.