There is a sense as you read this series that you are witnessing the creation of a modern classic, one that reclaims the very notion of vampirism from the realm of YA romances, strips away the sexy appeal, and makes the undead bloodsuckers legitimately terrifying once again.Īt its heart the trilogy is a post-apocalyptic epic, but even this very broad description feels reductive. Since the release of the first novel in 2010 they have topped bestseller lists and garnered quite a following Ridley Scott bought the film rights and at one-point Matt Reeves was attached to direct. Dizzying in scope and ambition, the trilogy is packed with vivid characters, thoughtful mediations on what it is to be human, heart-pounding action and a pulsating sense of dread and mounting tension that permeates every page. The three books that make up Cronin’s saga, The Passage, The Twelve, and The City Of Mirrors comprise a modern horror masterpiece. It’s hard to know where to begin when describing this series, so I’ll start with the stuff that would seem hyperbolic if it wasn’t true. Or at least it would be were it not for the existence of Justin Cronin’s PassageTrilogy. In a post Twilightworld, it’s hard to imagine that vampires can ever be scary again. Where once they were considered cool, sexy and dangerous, now they’re the butt of lots of jokes about sparkling. Thanks to a certain YA phenomenon, the word “vampire” can barely be taken seriously anymore.

The passage cronin