This final book in the series was just as good as the rest. An amazing story that I was sorry to see come to an end. I love the way everything tied together in a period of time that lasted over a thousand years!

After reading the whole thing, I watched The Passage tv show (it aired on FOX last year and was cancelled). It was ok. They changed a lot but I can see why. At the end of the series, they moved forward in time just like the book and were going to start where book 2 begins (I think). It could have been amazing... but it would never have compared to the books. :)

Book 2 in an EPIC series. I loved every minute of it.

(I'm not putting much effort into these reviews because I have no idea if the site will even work.)

Audience: Adult

Format: eBook/Library Copy

Before she became the Girl from Nowhere -- the One Who Walked In, the First and Last and Only, who lived a thousand years -- she was just a little girl in Iowa, named Amy.

- opening sentence

This book is amazing. I bought it several years ago for some reason that I can't remember. Maybe it was the comparisons to Stephen King or maybe it was King's own words, "a trilogy that will stand as one of the great achievements in American fantasy fiction." Then, last year, a tv show called The Passage aired, starring Mark-Paul Gosselaar as Agent Wolgast. I enjoyed the show and when I saw The Passage on my kindle, I decided to read it.

The action in this story occurs all around the United States (in Philadelphia, Colorado, Oregon, California, Texas, etc.) and across a hundred years and I loved every minute of it. I couldn't put the book down and immediately started book 2 when I finished (at 897 pages that's saying something). A government agency scientist is exploring an ancient virus he discovered and using it on death row inmates. Of course, the government loses control, and the Virals (basically vampires) escape ending the world. We don't get to see too many details but later the book resumes after 100 years passes. I was surprised by the time jump, but it works and it ends up all tying together which was very satisfying.

Highly recommended! 

This review can also be found at Carole's Random Life in Books.

I didn't love this one like I had hoped I would. To be fair, I am not the target audience for this book. I have never seen the musical or heard any of its songs so I was pretty clueless going in. I can't tell you how this book compares to the musical but this story does stand on its own. Maybe a younger audience will enjoy this one more than I did but I spent a large part of the book wanted to pull these kids to the side and give them a mom talk. It was a pretty easy read and I am glad I gave it a try.

It all starts with a letter. Evan doesn't have really any friends and has a hard time getting through each day. As a part of therapy, he writes letters to himself to put things in a positive outlook. Connor picks up the letter and takes it from Evan. He dies with that letter in his pocket and suddenly everyone thinks that Connor and Evan were great friends and everything grows from there.

One of my biggest pet peeves is lying of any kind. Unfortunately, this book is packed with lies. Instead of letting Connor's parents know the truth behind the letter he lets them think that he was really friends with Connor. He then proceeds to expand on that lie and becomes a big part of Connor's family's life. He even starts dating Connor's sister who he has had a crush on for a very long time. Almost everything that Evan does in this book is a lie or is tied to a lie and I have to tell you that I had some issues with it. I just felt like Connor's family had enough to deal with without being manipulated by Evan.

There were some things that I did like in this book. I liked that the story is told from two different points of view. I expected Evan's point of view but the second one was a bit of a surprise. The point of view that I didn't expect was really my favorite part of the book. I thought that those sections of the book were very well done.

I listened to this book and I thought that the narrators did a good job with it. The female narrator listed did a couple of song segments worked into the story and the males handled the two points of view. I thought that they both did a great job representing their character. Their voices were very pleasant to listen to for long periods of time. I think that I liked the story a bit more because I decided to listen to the audiobook.

I think that a lot of readers are going to like this book a lot more than I did. The book does touch on a lot of important issues but I couldn't get past all of the deceptions.

I received a digital review copy of this book from Little, Brown Books for Young Readers via NetGalley and borrowed a copy of the audiobook from my local library via Overdrive.

Initial Thoughts
This was probably a 2.5 star read for me. To be fair, I am really not the target audience for this book but I thought I would take a chance on it. I have never really seen anything about the show or soundtrack but I hoped that the book would stand on its own. It fell a bit flat for me. This was always a book that I found easy to set aside and I really couldn't connect with any of the characters. Evan is lying to pretty much everyone for most of the book which kind of made me cringe. I listened to the audio and thought that they did a great job with their performance.