The Strain
Mar. 6th, 2011 08:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
reviewthatBook: The Strain
By: Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Pages: 608
Release Date: June 29, 2010 (paperback edition)
Stars: 3 1/2
The book opens with the landing of an airplane at JFK airport, where all the power has gone out, and all but four of the people on the plane have died (with no explanation as to why or how). It is soon discovered by Eph Goodweather (who works with the CDC) that the people who had been on the plane had contracted a parasitical disease that turns them into vampires.
After seeing Del Toro promoting the second book in this trilogy on "The Colbert Report," I was rather intrigued. Vampires of late have gotten a pre-teen make-over that I don't really approve of. I'll be the first to admit that I prefer werewolves to vampires, but that doesn't mean that turning vampires into objects of sparkly romance that could be purchased at Hot Topic is where I'd like to see them be. There is a bit of seduction that is involved with them, sure, but at their very core, vampires are supposed to be superbly frightening. So, hearing that Del Toro had wanted to create a story where they had gone back to being something terrifying was what grabbed me.
And I wasn't disappointed. The beginning of the book opens with the landing of a plane, where all of the power is out, all of the shades have been pulled down, and when the plane is boarded by CDC officials, everyone is seemingly dead. This certainly creates a mood of super creepy, but also gets you wondering what exactly is going on.
The vampires in this story were scary, and they don't seem to stop. They are everywhere, and more are made very easily (so even if you know that they're there, you're still in real danger of being turned yourself). They didn't care about teenaged girls, didn't spend their time in an emo stupor, or defy folklore logic at every turn. Instead, Del Toro and Hogan actually seemed to understand the rules of vampire folklore before they decided to write the book. There was some twisting and bending of existing rules, but the rules were understood before they were played with.
Before I even finished the book, I was already looking into finding the second one as they already had me wanting to know what happens to the group of slayers (as well as to the vampires that make up the Ancients).
By: Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan
Pages: 608
Release Date: June 29, 2010 (paperback edition)
Stars: 3 1/2
The book opens with the landing of an airplane at JFK airport, where all the power has gone out, and all but four of the people on the plane have died (with no explanation as to why or how). It is soon discovered by Eph Goodweather (who works with the CDC) that the people who had been on the plane had contracted a parasitical disease that turns them into vampires.
After seeing Del Toro promoting the second book in this trilogy on "The Colbert Report," I was rather intrigued. Vampires of late have gotten a pre-teen make-over that I don't really approve of. I'll be the first to admit that I prefer werewolves to vampires, but that doesn't mean that turning vampires into objects of sparkly romance that could be purchased at Hot Topic is where I'd like to see them be. There is a bit of seduction that is involved with them, sure, but at their very core, vampires are supposed to be superbly frightening. So, hearing that Del Toro had wanted to create a story where they had gone back to being something terrifying was what grabbed me.
And I wasn't disappointed. The beginning of the book opens with the landing of a plane, where all of the power is out, all of the shades have been pulled down, and when the plane is boarded by CDC officials, everyone is seemingly dead. This certainly creates a mood of super creepy, but also gets you wondering what exactly is going on.
The vampires in this story were scary, and they don't seem to stop. They are everywhere, and more are made very easily (so even if you know that they're there, you're still in real danger of being turned yourself). They didn't care about teenaged girls, didn't spend their time in an emo stupor, or defy folklore logic at every turn. Instead, Del Toro and Hogan actually seemed to understand the rules of vampire folklore before they decided to write the book. There was some twisting and bending of existing rules, but the rules were understood before they were played with.
Before I even finished the book, I was already looking into finding the second one as they already had me wanting to know what happens to the group of slayers (as well as to the vampires that make up the Ancients).
