The Twelve

via

 



If I seemed a little out-of-touch over the past two weeks, it's because I was thoroughly entrenched in Justin Cronin's The Twelve, the sequel to his incredibly popular thriller, The Passage.  Summer pre-ordered the follow-up as a birthday present back in August (it was released in October) and I'm just getting to it (the stack of books on my bedside table has been insane). 
To begin my opinion, I'd like to say that I was initially a bit underwhelmed by this sequel.  Perhaps my standards were set too high after The Passage, and I certainly don't want to sound like a reader who can't be satisfied, but something about this story left me a bit wanting. 
The Twelve begins much in the same way that the first novel did: roughly 10 years in the future, in the days when the virals were first being found in the mainstream.  A young, pregnant doctor, Lila, is being questioned by the police and it is obvious that she has been incredibly traumatized by what she saw in the hospital on the day in question.  Horace Guilder is a high-ranking military official with ties to Lila and the viral who picks her up, Lawrence Grey.  We'll read about these three throughout the novel.
Flash forward to 97 A.V. (after virus) and we're following a couple of story lines involving a strict work camp in Iowa, as well as a couple of characters from the first novel (Peter Jaxon, Lish, Sarah, Hollis, etc.) as they seek a way to restore humanity and hope to mankind. 
My mind was all over the place while reading this book, mostly because it jumps back and forth between story lines, characters, and even time periods.  This isn't to say that I didn't enjoy it; I did the whole "I'm into it, so I'm reading quickly...oh no, it's going by too fast, slow down..." dance.  Whereas Passage focuses on human survival and their inherent goodness, Twelve is written more from the point-of-view of certain virals, and has some semblance of government and society rules within.  Stronger themes of parental attachment and lineage, the reasons for survival, and motivations of a governing party abound in this novel, giving more meat to the already bulky Twelve.  After dwelling on the ideas and characters, I can't help but feel like this novel is actually even more epic than its predecessor. 
Pardon me while I geek out, but I'll compare it to the 5th Harry Potter novel, in which sheer character development and escapades don't create the emotional heft of the story; that's left to the battle between what's right, what's accepted, and how to enact change.  The Twelve addresses revolution and change, both individually and as a society, in a way that The Passage doesn't need to.  I'm so psyched for the last installment in this trilogy; 2014, get here quickly!

The Passage

 I should start by apologizing.  If I've talked to you in the last couple of weeks, chances are high that you've already heard me extolling the virtues of Justin Cronin's new novel The Passage.  It's not my fault that this book is unputdownable, that the story spans decades, that I was held captive by the plot twists and character development.  The only downside is that the book is over 750 pages; this could be construed as a positive, as the length allows you to get incredibly involved in the story and build up the anticipation.  But I'm getting a bit ahead of myself.
The story begins 10-15 years in the future, close enough to make the events vaguely plausible and even spookier.  A military experiment to create a super-soldier, one who can heal after devastating wounds or even deflect ammo, has taken a turn for the scary; the twelve death-row inmates who are being used for testing have turned into "virals."  These creatures are bloodthirsty vampires, who are able to get into the minds of people, and quickly escape their military confinement and destroy humanity as we know it in a matter of a few years.  The thirteenth patient, a young girl, was infected by the same virus, but holds the key to the survival of humankind.
Cut to 92 years into the future, and a small settlement of people have eked out a living in northern California.  The lights that surround their village are failing, though, and a group of desperate humans have set out into a world unpopulated for decades to explore the vast unknown.  They, along with the mysterious girl who has entered their lives, must trek through this brutal landscape to find the key to their own survival.
Cronin has done a masterful job of blending the literary aspects of the story with the supernatural.  I have no problem admitting that there were one or two restless nights during the reading of this novel; the writing is so descriptive and set in our world that it's difficult to not get wrapped up in the goings-on.  This isn't like the recent wave of vampire fiction- there is no hope for romance between humans and "virals."  Instead, this is a mesmerizing struggle for survival in the face of unprecedented catastrophe.  I really can't say enough great things about The Passage.  If you can squeeze a nearly 800-page tome into your schedule, I highly recommend choosing this one.