(hb; 2011: Book Three of The Strain trilogy)
From the inside flap:
"It's been two years since the vampiric virus was unleashed in The Strain, and the entire world now lies on the brink of annihilation. There is only night as nuclear winter blankets the land, the sun filtering through the poisoned atmosphere for two hours each day - the perfect environment for the propagation of vampires.
"There has been a mass extermination of humans, the best and the brightest, the wealthy and the influential, orchestrated by the Master - an ancient vampire possessed of unparalleled powers - who selects survivors based on compliance. Those humans who remain are entirely subjugated, interred in camps, and separated by status: those who breed more humans, and those who are bled for the sustenance of the Master's vast army.
"The future of humankind lies in the hands of a rag-tag freedom fighters - Dr. Eph Goodweather, former head of the Centers for Disease Control's biological threat team; Nora Martinez, a fellow doctor with a talent for dispatching the undead; Vasiliy Fet, the colorful Russian exterminator; and Mr. Quinlan, the half-breed offspring of the Master who is bent on revenge. It's their job to rescue Eph's son, Zack, and overturn this devastating new world order. But good and evil are malleable terms now, and the Master is the most skilled at preying on the weaknesses of humans. . ."
Review:
This second sequel to The Strain starts off well enough: it's dramatic, it's apocalyptic and it's ambitious in its storyline scope. However, Night quickly succumbs to the same bullcrap writing elements that marred the first sequel, The Fall: at least one of its key characters - Dr. Eph Goodweather - is so unlikeable, hypocritical and willing to sell out the human race, I kept wondering why he was in the story at all.
I have nothing against unlikeable or complex characters, but Eph's alienating aspects go beyond the pale, as if the authors were using Eph as a shout-out to the (justifiably) cautious, asocial Robert Neville, the lead character in Richard Matheson's novella I Am Legend. If the latter is true, del Toro and Hogan have bungled it by making Eph so unlikeable and erratic he's practically useless - something Neville never was in Matheson's landmark work.
Not only that, the action scenes - normally an element I would applaud in such genre work - quickly begin to all read the same, with unnecessary, bordering-on-soap-operatic complications stalling out much of the momentum that this briefly promising work might have had.
This latter criticism wouldn't be an issue (for this reader) if del Toro and Hogan hadn't written Fall, and instead made Night the second and final book in the series, utilizing abbreviated key points featured in Fall - i.e., the Occido Lumen (the book needed to kill the Master), the vampiric takeover and the ensuing nuclear winter - and incorporated them into Strain and Night. But they didn't, and readers are left with this deeply flawed and drawn out series.
If you must read it - I only read Night to finish the series - borrow it from the library, or a friend. That way, if you like it, great! You just read a wonderful book for free! And if you dislike it, at least you were only robbed of a few hours of your time.
Showing posts with label Chuck Hogan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Chuck Hogan. Show all posts
Thursday, January 16, 2014
Saturday, January 04, 2014
The Fall, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
(hb; 2010: Book Two of The Strain trilogy)
From the inside flap:
"Last week they invaded Manhattan. This week they will destroy the world.
"The vampiric virus unleashed in The Strain has taken over New York City. It is spreading and soon will envelope the globe. Amid the chaos, Eph Goodweather - head of the Centers for Disease Control's team - leads a band out to stop these bloodthirsty monsters. But it may be too late.
"Ignited by the Master's horrific plan, a war erupts between Old and New World vampires, each vying for control. At the center of the conflict lies a book, an ancient text that contains the vampires' entire history. . . and their darkest secrets. Whoever finds the book can control the outcome of the war and, ultimately, the fate of us all. And it is between these warring forces that humans - powerless and vulnerable - find themselves no longer the consumers but the consumed.
"Though Eph understands the vampiric plague better than anyone, even he cannot protect those he loves. His ex-wife, Kelly, has been transformed into a blood-crazed creature of the night, and now she stalks the city looking for her chance to reclaim her Dear One: Zack, Eph's young son.
"With the future of humankind in the balance, Eph and his team, guided by the brilliant former professor and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian and exterminator Vasiliy Fet and joined by a crew of ragtag gangsters, must combat a terror whose ultimate plan is more terrible than anyone has imagined - a fate worse than annihilation."
Review:
The Fall fails to deliver on the promise of its source novel, The Strain. It starts out slow and emo-chatty (regarding Eph's family problems), as well as introducing scattershot, forgettable characters who ultimately, in the course of this second novel, are merely distractions in what should be an edgy, straightforward action book. Its storyline and action picks up near the middle of it, and the ending (much of it predictable) is decent.
This is not a badly written book, but overall it's lazy, subpar - that is to say, meh - work from two admirably ambitious, usually worthwhile writers who have put out much better product than this. I only stuck with Fall because del Toro was involved with it, and it was a relatively fast read.
Borrow from this from the library before committing cash to it. That way, if you like it, great! You've read a great book for free! And if you don't like it, you've dodged a disappointing purchase.
Followed by The Night Eternal.
From the inside flap:
"Last week they invaded Manhattan. This week they will destroy the world.
"The vampiric virus unleashed in The Strain has taken over New York City. It is spreading and soon will envelope the globe. Amid the chaos, Eph Goodweather - head of the Centers for Disease Control's team - leads a band out to stop these bloodthirsty monsters. But it may be too late.
"Ignited by the Master's horrific plan, a war erupts between Old and New World vampires, each vying for control. At the center of the conflict lies a book, an ancient text that contains the vampires' entire history. . . and their darkest secrets. Whoever finds the book can control the outcome of the war and, ultimately, the fate of us all. And it is between these warring forces that humans - powerless and vulnerable - find themselves no longer the consumers but the consumed.
"Though Eph understands the vampiric plague better than anyone, even he cannot protect those he loves. His ex-wife, Kelly, has been transformed into a blood-crazed creature of the night, and now she stalks the city looking for her chance to reclaim her Dear One: Zack, Eph's young son.
"With the future of humankind in the balance, Eph and his team, guided by the brilliant former professor and Holocaust survivor Abraham Setrakian and exterminator Vasiliy Fet and joined by a crew of ragtag gangsters, must combat a terror whose ultimate plan is more terrible than anyone has imagined - a fate worse than annihilation."
Review:
The Fall fails to deliver on the promise of its source novel, The Strain. It starts out slow and emo-chatty (regarding Eph's family problems), as well as introducing scattershot, forgettable characters who ultimately, in the course of this second novel, are merely distractions in what should be an edgy, straightforward action book. Its storyline and action picks up near the middle of it, and the ending (much of it predictable) is decent.
This is not a badly written book, but overall it's lazy, subpar - that is to say, meh - work from two admirably ambitious, usually worthwhile writers who have put out much better product than this. I only stuck with Fall because del Toro was involved with it, and it was a relatively fast read.
Borrow from this from the library before committing cash to it. That way, if you like it, great! You've read a great book for free! And if you don't like it, you've dodged a disappointing purchase.
Followed by The Night Eternal.
Friday, December 20, 2013
The Strain, by Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan
(hb; 2009: Book One of The Strain trilogy)
From the inside flap:
"A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.
"In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing. . .
"So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save the city - a city that includes his wife and son - before it is too late."
Review:
Good supernatural apocalypse novel with worthwhile characters and plenty of gore and action. Strain reads like a mix of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Michael Crichton's medical thrillers, del Toro's 2002 film Blade II and Stephen King's better-edited works. Check it out.
Followed by The Fall.
#
The resulting television series is scheduled to air sometime in 2014 on the FX network.
Corey Stoll plays Dr. Ephraim Goodweather. Mia Maestro plays Nora Martinez. John Hurt plays Professor Abraham Setrakian. Kevin Durand plays Vasiliy Fet. Miguel Gomez plays Augustin 'Gus' Elizalde.
Jonathan Hyde plays Eldritch Palmer. Natalie Brown plays Kelly Goodweather. Ben Hyland plays Zack Goodweather. Sean Astin plays Jim Kent. Robert Maillet plays The Master.
Leslie Hope plays Joan Luss. Doug Jones has an unnamed (at least thus far) role. Jack Kesy plays Gabriel Bolivar. Jonathan Potts plays Capt. Redfern. Nicholai Witschl plays Ansel Barbour.
From the inside flap:
"A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.
"In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing. . .
"So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save the city - a city that includes his wife and son - before it is too late."
Review:
Good supernatural apocalypse novel with worthwhile characters and plenty of gore and action. Strain reads like a mix of Bram Stoker's Dracula, Michael Crichton's medical thrillers, del Toro's 2002 film Blade II and Stephen King's better-edited works. Check it out.
Followed by The Fall.
#
The resulting television series is scheduled to air sometime in 2014 on the FX network.
Corey Stoll plays Dr. Ephraim Goodweather. Mia Maestro plays Nora Martinez. John Hurt plays Professor Abraham Setrakian. Kevin Durand plays Vasiliy Fet. Miguel Gomez plays Augustin 'Gus' Elizalde.
Jonathan Hyde plays Eldritch Palmer. Natalie Brown plays Kelly Goodweather. Ben Hyland plays Zack Goodweather. Sean Astin plays Jim Kent. Robert Maillet plays The Master.
Leslie Hope plays Joan Luss. Doug Jones has an unnamed (at least thus far) role. Jack Kesy plays Gabriel Bolivar. Jonathan Potts plays Capt. Redfern. Nicholai Witschl plays Ansel Barbour.
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