Book Review: 'The Passage' by Justin Cronin

'The Passage' is a post-apocalyptic fiction where U.S. government-made vampires have wiped out most of humanity. Wait! I know that sounds shit. Haven't vampires been done to (un)death? They're actually more like zombie/vampires. This is not helping is it?

Anyway, despite the blurb and description, 'The Passsage' is a great novel. Plenty of post-apocalyptic coolness, a great mystery to keep you theorising and some interesting characters. It reminds me of 'The Family Trade' which I read a few weeks ago in that there is nothing new about the book, it's a reworking of several themes and story lines that have been done before. But it brings all these ideas together and tells a damn good story that pushes the genre forward and this can only be a positive.

This is a long novel and it took me a long time to read (physical books tend to lack attention in winter; I can curl up under the covers in the warm darkness and read an ebook). But a lot happened in the book. There was a great introduction to the event, then a journey.
Yes, it's a quest book.

'The Passage' has left me with some great sequences and imagery in my mind. Cronin can definitely bring post apocalyptic middle America to life. I enjoyed this greatly and look forward to starting the second book in the trilogy, 'The Twelve'.

Book Review: 'Horns' by Joe Hill

I dipped straight into 'Horns' after my disappointment with 'NOS4A2', but my faith in Joe Hill still high due to 'Locke and Key'. The worry was that I might only like Joe's graphic novels rather than his novels. The great news is that I enjoyed 'Horns' much more than 'NOS4A2'.

The main character of the novel, Ignatius, is a flawed twenty-something living in small town US. He has a troubled past, with a major tragedy defining his existence. Everybody he knows believes Ig to be guilty of a serious crime. The story starts one morning where Ig discovers he has grown horns on his head and that everyone he talks to starts telling him the truth.

Joe manages to tell a great story, with excellent flash-backs to childhood and the hopelessness of Ig's life comes across on the page. There is violence, but I do not believe it is gratuitous and it is part of the overall story.

Characterisation is spot on, with a cast that is well-described and all have clear motivations. Look out for one of the coldest psychopaths I have ever come across.

We do get a little bit of Joe Hill magical object/ magical room here, which is one aspect of his work that I adore, but it is much more subtle than his other works I have read.

I am starting to see Joe's voice become distinct from his fathers. This novel is not something the King would wright in my opinion. I am definitely going to have to read his other works.

One worry I do have is that I know it is currently in production as a film starring Daniel Radcliffe as Ig. Daniel Radcliffe? I'm a little worried about this casting.

Book Review: 'NOS4A2' by Joe Hill

Read from June 29 to July 10, 2013 

This is the first Joe Hill novel I have read. I read and thoroughly enjoyed "Locke & Key" his highly acclaimed graphic novels series.

A lot of people have been raving about this book with 4 and 5 star ratings being bandied about so it was a natural choice for my first Joe Hill novel. I'm sorry to say that I was slightly disappointed, mainly due to all the rave reviews I have saw and partly due to what I felt was a story that was too drawn out and needed a good edit.

Before I jump into the negatives, I think I should address the positives since I did enjoy this book, despite the negatives. The one thing that I adore about Joe's stories (well the two I have finished) is his use of magical objects in everyday life. For example, the keys in 'Locke and Key' and in this book, the bike, car and scrabble set that are more than what they appear. Added to this Joe invents a rule system on their use, kind of parallelling high fantasy magic systems. Characterisation is great also. They are very well-drawn and seem real and fallible.

But I felt this book was just too long. Three quarters the way through I just wanted it to be over already. The long drawn out road to that final confrontation, that you knew was bound to happen for hundreds of pages, did end up tiring me somewhat. Because of this I lost sympathy for the main character and the impact of the final scenes was a little lost.

Another negative (maybe only in my opinion) is the similarity to his fathers writing. Take away 20% of the characterisation, the magical objects and what you have is a Stephen King-by-numbers. Not the great Stephen King, but the drug-fuelled formulaic novels of yore. Sorry, but it did feel that way.

But apart from these gripes, still a worthwhile read. I'm reading 'Horns' next, so obviously I still have a lot of faith in Joe.