It’s been a slow reading summer for me. Earlier this month I visited my family in Louisiana and actually finished 3 books in one week!
I even finished the 600+ page City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin. I’ve been eagerly awaiting for him to release the final book in The Passage trilogy. As you know, I’m not a fan of vampire stories, but The Passage drew me in because of Cronin’s intense characters and humanity’s need for survival. I devoured The Twelve, the second book.
So how did City of Mirrors hold up?
I got my hands on an advance galley of the book in May and didn’t finish it until August. That’s three months! It took me less than a week for the previous two books in the series.
While I was happy to dive right back into the post-apocalyptic world that Cronin created, the pace was incredibly slow. About 1/3 of the way through, the book jumps far back to the very beginning (as in before book 1) to give what is basically a novella about Zero’s past. The detour threw me off and the entire time I wondered what the significance of telling his story now. Cronin finally tied everything together but the payoff took too long for my wander attention span.
I won’t give too many details about the plot as not to spoil the entire series. There was a little too much foreshadowing and setup for the big battle between the humans and Zero. But when the action started, it went non-stop.
City of Mirrors did deliver a satisfying ending to the long, intense journey for me. It just took a long time to get there. I’m glad I read it.
Have you read any of the books in The Passage trilogy?
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About The Author
Thien-Kim
Thien-Kim is Editor of From Left to Write. She sneaks in her reading time late at night after her family is sound asleep. She also writes at I'm Not the Nanny.
I LOVE The Passage so much I’ve read it twice. The following two books were huge disappointments. I dragged through the second book, hoping for a spark of the brilliance I’d found in The Passage to no avail. I read the first page of City of Angels and tossed it. What a shame Justin Cronin lost his mojo, seeming to write for the contract rather than the love of the story.
I didn’t care for the second book either. I agree that the last 2 books lost the spark of The Passage. I think he just tried to do too much and make it too epic. He lost steam and momentum.
I just finished it. I actually read this one quite fast, one week. For me, it was my favorite of the three. I just loved how the characters matured, and his the action really started to get crazy halfway through. I also loved Zero’s story. Very literary. Sigh. I’m so glad to have finished it, though. It was a stressful read!
Rebecca @ The Portsmouth Review
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