Helpful Score: 1
It's a 3.5 stars for me, not quite four. I ended up with mixed feelings about it. It started strong and with new characters I got attached to and then, they died. I was so disappointed, that much emotional investment for nothing.
Although I liked the main story, I found myself skipping large portions of endless descriptions too many times. My reading time is valuable and if I find the writing cumbersome and unnecessarily verbose, then a four star is not an accurate rating.
Again, there were so many characters to follow and remember, who was who and from what time in the past or the present. Although I don't have a problem with plots that jump back and forth in time, I do not enjoy tracking who a character is and what roll I have to stick a post it note to on in my head.
I ended up demoting this book from the 5 stars I wanted to give to it to 3.5.
I'm still confused about what happened in the end, where Amy ended up and why was Carter still in the dreams.
I'll read the third book, I don't give up on a series that easily after going through such a cumbersome prior twosome
Although I liked the main story, I found myself skipping large portions of endless descriptions too many times. My reading time is valuable and if I find the writing cumbersome and unnecessarily verbose, then a four star is not an accurate rating.
Again, there were so many characters to follow and remember, who was who and from what time in the past or the present. Although I don't have a problem with plots that jump back and forth in time, I do not enjoy tracking who a character is and what roll I have to stick a post it note to on in my head.
I ended up demoting this book from the 5 stars I wanted to give to it to 3.5.
I'm still confused about what happened in the end, where Amy ended up and why was Carter still in the dreams.
I'll read the third book, I don't give up on a series that easily after going through such a cumbersome prior twosome
After a short recap of The Passage at the beginning (done very cleverly IMO in a biblical old-testament style), the novel brings us to a period of time in the future five years after The Passage ended and gives a quick update on the characters. Then it time travels back to the very heart of the apocalypse before coming back to the future and picking up the continuing story of the fight to survive and the re-building of civilization in this bleak post-apocalyptic world.
Like The Passage, The Twelve is looooong. (568 pages in hardback and 21 CDs on audio). And also similar to The Passage for me, I felt like I needed to take a break about half-way through. But I kept going and it picked up. Hoo boy did it pick up! Although I enjoyed The Passage, it was never much of a thriller for me and the ending left the reader up in the air. It was almost like all of The Passage, and much of this book, was exposition for the last 200-250 pages of The Twelve.
I really got into the characters more in this 2nd book both the continuing characters and those newly introduced. There are more of them. So many that there is a list at the back of the book to help keep them all straight. But for me everything began to come together in this second book and I liked it more than The Passage. And now I cant wait for the third boo!.
Fans of Stephen Kings The Stand will notice many similarities to that novel, and Cronin freely admits that he is a big fan of Stephen King. Im a big fan of The Stand myself, but I dont mind the similarities because in the end this is a different story and Im loving the differences also.
Like The Passage, The Twelve is looooong. (568 pages in hardback and 21 CDs on audio). And also similar to The Passage for me, I felt like I needed to take a break about half-way through. But I kept going and it picked up. Hoo boy did it pick up! Although I enjoyed The Passage, it was never much of a thriller for me and the ending left the reader up in the air. It was almost like all of The Passage, and much of this book, was exposition for the last 200-250 pages of The Twelve.
I really got into the characters more in this 2nd book both the continuing characters and those newly introduced. There are more of them. So many that there is a list at the back of the book to help keep them all straight. But for me everything began to come together in this second book and I liked it more than The Passage. And now I cant wait for the third boo!.
Fans of Stephen Kings The Stand will notice many similarities to that novel, and Cronin freely admits that he is a big fan of Stephen King. Im a big fan of The Stand myself, but I dont mind the similarities because in the end this is a different story and Im loving the differences also.
I was so looking forward to this book after listening to The Passage, and I was fortunate enough to pick this up in a used bookstore. I thought the first book was complicated, but this has too many characters and keeps jumping back and forth in time. I had given it as a Christmas gift to my daughter's boyfriend, so I asked her what they thought. Neither of them finished the book, although they liked The Passage. I did, and I'll probably pick up the next to see how the trilogy wraps up - but do yourself a favor and get the book through PaperbackSwap or the library. Don't pay full price.
Fantastic book! "The Passage", the first book in this trilogy was great; "The Twelve" continued what it had started and (in some ways) improved on it. My favorite post-apocalyptic book has always been "The Stand", but Cronin's series is equally well developed. It has a great story, very good characters and enough action to make the 100s of pages fly by.
I can't wait for the third book, the conclusion.
My advice: If you order one, order all three at the same time, so you don't have to wait long after each book to read the next one in the series.
I can't wait for the third book, the conclusion.
My advice: If you order one, order all three at the same time, so you don't have to wait long after each book to read the next one in the series.
I thoroughly enjoyed the series. Beginning with the passage then the 12 then in the city of mirrors. I couldn't put them down until I had finished the series. I recommend these books.
Can not wait until the next one
