whoaaaAHHH

“It happened fast. 

Thirty-two minutes for one world to die,

another to be born.” - The Passage

So this is the novel I just finished.  I'm no book critic... but this book was just sooo.... hmmm... cool.  Thrilling.  Depressing.  Mesmerizing.  Long. Very long.  It probably could have done without a couple hundred pages or so of "not-really-all-that-necessary" stuff... but hey.. it was still good.   If you're not into reading books just shy of 800 pages... then you'll probably avoid this one.  Also, if you are easily scared by things that go bump (or bite!) in the dark... then this may not be for you either.  But anyway... I'm not a critic.  The funny thing that I wanted to blog about was how the end of this book was (for me).  So it ends... and it is mad crazy cliffhanger city... like 4 different completely unresolved situations... not-a-clue as to what has happened or will happen to some of my favorite characters.  I was under the impression that this was a solo book.. self-contained... destined to just chill by itself on the shelf.  So I pretty much freaked out and got (maybe a little too) upset when I finished the last page.  I probably worried Steven (just a smidge... maybe... well maybe not... he knows how I am with "my books").   So I immediately went to the internet to do some research and hopefully find some consolation.  Success!  There will NOT be just one book... but three!  I can now rest easily.  But alas... I then discovered that the next book (to be titled The Twelve) is tentatively scheduled to be released sometime in 2012.  2012!!  Maaaaaan.  Lame lame lame.  Come ON Justin Cronin... give me a break.  I'm going to forget everything before then!  ::sigh::  Well, on the brighter side of this dark tale, I did discover that Ridley Scott (Gladiator) purchased the rights to make all 3 books into movies.  If everyone plays their cards right here, they should turn out to be delightfully (not to mention terrifyingly) promising films.   I'm just going to have to distract myself with other books in the mean time.


Oh, and how did I find this big lil nugget of reading pleasure?  Barnes and Noble and its mysterious ways has decided that I like science-fiction and has continuously sent me emails throughout the summer with "suggestions" for reading material.  I can't resist.  


Curious about The Passage?  Here is a short (really short... soo much missing!) summary from the author's website:

"First, the unthinkable: a security breach at a secret U.S. government facility unleashes the monstrous product of a chilling military experiment. Then, the unspeakable: a night of chaos and carnage gives way to sunrise on a nation, and ultimately a world, forever altered. All that remains for the stunned survivors is the long fight ahead and a future ruled by fear—of darkness, of death, of a fate far worse.
As civilization swiftly crumbles into a primal landscape of predators and prey, two people flee in search of sanctuary. FBI agent Brad Wolgast is a good man haunted by what he’s done in the line of duty. Six-year-old orphan Amy Harper Bellafonte is a refugee from the doomed scientific project that has triggered apocalypse. He is determined to protect her from the horror set loose by her captors. But for Amy, escaping the bloody fallout is only the beginning of a much longer odyssey—spanning miles and decades—towards the time and place where she must finish what should never have begun."


In my "research," I came across a random book review and really liked this description of the novel:  


"Imagine Michael Crichton crossbreeding Stephen King's The Stand and Salem's Lot in that lab at Jurassic Park, with rich infusions of Robert McCammon's Swan Song, Battlestar Galactica and even Cormac McCarthy's The Road."


2012... please hurry up.  Scratch that.  I don't want to be two years older and who-knows-where just yet.  How about this: science... please hurry up and invent a time machine so I can go ahead to 2012, buy the book, then bring it back to 2010 and read it.  There. Much better.