Never heard of the Passage. Thanks.
Hold off on the thanks until you have read the whole thing. You just might reconsider.
Damn it, should I not read the first book?
It’s either 1/2 or 3/4 of a great book with an incredibly disappointing ending. IMO, of course.
You should definitely not read the next two books, and I would bring back book burnings for the third book.
Actual quote from the third book:
I made friends with the department secretary, a black woman in her fifties who basically ran the place; she confided to me that nobody in the department had actually expected me to come. I was, in her words, “a prize thoroughbred they had bought for pennies on the dollar.” To describe my fellow graduate students as antisocial would be the understatement of the century; no lawn parties here. Their minds were utterly unfettered by thoughts of fun. They also despised me for the naked favoritism shown me by my professors.
A) yes, this is the same book that is ostensibly about a vampire apocalypse
B) Fucking Mary Sue some more, Cronin.
I thought the trilogy was mostly a satisfying read but if you’re reading just for modern day society being overrun by vampires, then yeah, the timeskip to what is actually the bulk of the story will be disappointing. It does get a little overmystical for me by the end though.
I really liked the first book in The Passage, enough to eagerly await the second. Obviously the second one did not provoke the same reaction since I didn’t even know the third one was released. Will probably read it now that you guys brought it up but it’s not getting bumped up the list or anything.
Agree 100%.
Is this book about haunted video games any good?
https://www.amazon.com/You-Austin-Grossman-ebook/dp/B008TV1U6K
Yes. Austin Grossman is great. Also, Lev Grossman’s (The Magicians) brother. And ex-Looking Glass, now Arkane. Wrote for the Dishonoreds, apparently.
Yeah, he may have done a few things:
“After graduating from Harvard in 1992, he failed to get a job in publishing and found a job at a small computer game company, Looking Glass Studios, which was already become a legendary center of talent and innovation in the gaming world. Grossman went on to write and design for games such as Ultima Underworld 2, System Shock, Jurassic Park: Trespasser, Deus Ex, Disney’s Epic Mickey, and most recently, Dishonored.”
Ok, maybe skip Trespasser, but dude!
That’s one heck of a resume… and he’s writing about video games, so for $3, I will give this book a try! Thanks!
I’m about 1/3-1/2 way through the Passage and also was in a mood to come and thank abidingdude for the tip, now you guys have me concerned. I’m just a couple chapters into the time shift and I have to say I was disappointed when It happened I was really digging Mr.FBI and getting vibes of Brian Lumley’s Necroscope stuff. Ironically Instead of what I wanted from the book, more Secret Agent/Govt shenanigans I get the stuff I didn’t like as much from Necroscope (Vampire world) . It flipped the script on me.
Now more temptations with “You”
Just happened to be looking at stuff I had stuck away on my Amazon wishlist for later, and noticed that a Thomas Ligotti book I’ve had my eye on has been reduced to $1.99 -
At that price, buy 10 and hand em out to everyone you can. Those are my two favorite horror collections ever.
Thanks for the mentioning this, I’ve had it on my list for a while.
If you’re interested in apocalyptic sci-fi, Greg Bear’s The Forge of God is available for $2
Ada Palmer’s Too Like The Lightning is Tor’s free ebook this month.
Nice. It has some great reviews on Amazon. Some mixed reviews too. A common criticism is that it’s Book 1 of 2, and the story feels very unfinished without the 2nd part. Luckily it looks like the second book got very good reviews.
It’s actually book 1 of at least 4, with book 4 named but not out yet. And I suspect that one won’t be the end at the pace the story has been told so far. Very good worldbuilding, though.