The Reading Rainbow Coalition discussion

Seems appropriate for Halloween! :)

The Strain
They have always been here. Vampires. In secret and in darkness. Waiting. Now their time has come. In one week, Manhattan will be gone. In one month, the country. In two months—the world.

A Boeing 777 arrives at JFK and is on its way across the tarmac, when it suddenly stops dead. All window shades are pulled down. All lights are out. All communication channels have gone quiet. Crews on the ground are lost for answers, but an alert goes out to the CDC. Dr. Eph Goodweather, head of their Canary project, a rapid-response team that investigates biological threats, gets the call and boards the plane. What he finds makes his blood run cold.

In a pawnshop in Spanish Harlem, a former professor and survivor of the Holocaust named Abraham Setrakian knows something is happening. And he knows the time has come, that a war is brewing . . .

So begins a battle of mammoth proportions as the vampiric virus that has infected New York begins to spill out into the streets. Eph, who is joined by Setrakian and a motley crew of fighters, must now find a way to stop the contagion and save his city—a city that includes his wife and son—before it is too late.

Here's an interview with Del Toro about The Strain (not very spoilerish, I think).

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-jVSG...

So I blazed through this book and I'm done. I wrote a review on it but it might be a little spoiler-y so don't go reading it on my Goodreads page if you're not done with the book yet. I'll give it another week or so before I post up my entire review here in the forum but the short of it is that I could *not* put this sucker (pun totally intended) down. This book to me was like if Blade 2 and World War Z had a baby.

Anyone else reading this? Please tell me yes so I can geek out some more.

Yup, saw this thread, had it in my "to read" pile from the library, slid it to the top and just finished it.

Kikishua wrote: "Yup, saw this thread, had it in my "to read" pile from the library, slid it to the top and just finished it."

What did you think?

I couldn't get a clear mental picture of the vampires (or maybe I just didn't want to!) and I felt the momentum got a bit sloppy towards the end but otherwise I loved it - started reading it this morning and powered through it in breaks at work and after I got home. That's always a good sign.

I felt particularly sorry for the guy in the dog kennel, and the dad washing his dead daughters hair even though he suspected weirdness.

I just started reading this book on Wednesday. So far it has been good enough that I have only put it down reluctantly to go to work or rehearsals.

The vampires are definitely different from how I normally picture them. They remind me of the mutant vampires from Blade 2 with the probiscus extending from the jaw.

My only problem so far is that I hate waiting for sequels, and I am sure that I will want to read this entire trilogy.

Kikishua wrote: "I felt particularly sorry for the guy in the dog kennel, and the dad washing his dead daughters hair even though he suspected weirdness.


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I think the mini-story that maybe creeped me out the most was the one about the man who was abusive and ended up a vampire and hiding out in his attic only for his wife to find him. Those attic spaces where all that fuzzy insulation stuff... that place always creeps me out. I did feel sorry for those poor St Bernard dogs too...

Paavo wrote: "My only problem so far is that I hate waiting for sequels, and I am sure that I will want to read this entire trilogy."

Ugh I know what you mean. I don't think there's even a release date for the sequels yet.

Here's my review on it <>

I'll happily admit that I'll count this book as a guilty-pleasure, the equivalent of a summer popcorn flick. A lot of fun, chock-full of flaws and ultimately will never be on anyone's classic literature list. But let me tell you: I could not put it down; I was even sneaking peeks at the book while at work.

This book draws from a lot of the non-romantic angles of the vampire mythos. No shimmering, tortured-soul, alabaster-skinned pretty boy vampires. I would say that this actually has more in common with zombie stories in that vampires are monstrous, infection-carrying beasts that are no longer sentient. They're also really gross... and they're pretty damn scary.

The book jumps around a lot into different people's viewpoints to show the scope of the story and ultimately to lay the groundwork to what looks to be an ambitious plotline. Because of this, the book has the disadvantage of not fully realizing its characters. What we do see, though, is compelling. I am a sucker for aging bad-asses (a by-product of watching too much Zatoichi, I suspect) and Setrakian delivers on that front (LOVED him). The "science" of the book doesn't make a whole lot of sense (trying to explain vampirism as a parasitic infection will do that) but you're too busy yelling at the characters to GOGOGORUNRUN, CHOPHISHEADOFF to think about it too much (or at least I was). The idea of a shadowy group behind it all, the lesser-vampires versus elder-vampires, the "Master" vampire -- it's all been done, of course, and there is not much new here, but the book goes at a hundred miles per hour and the flaws tend to fall away when you are on such a fun ride.

The book ends with a lot of unanswered questions and the foundation for the upcoming sequels. It will probably try to sort itself out some more over the course of the next book, and provide some more logic or plot development. Honestly though, just give me some more of Setrakian wielding a sword like some holy avenger, and you'll have one happy customer here.

I'll agree with Denise on this one. The Strain is incredibly readable, even though the quality may not be the highest. I burned right through it in a few days and if you don't stop to think much about it the book flows really well.

I like the vampire mythos that was chosen and how the vampires grow into their powers or evolution or mutation. New vampires are mindless zombies who are not coordinated, but as they age they seem to aquire an ability to function on their own (the zombie hit squad that saved/kidnapped Gus) to the extremely old ones who, with the exception of the Master, Sardu, remind me of the Second Foundation psychohistorians from Asimov.

I'm most excited to hear about the history of vampires going forward into the second and third books. This seems to be the place that this trilogy sets itself apart from the rest of the overly romantic vampire fiction that is out right now. Where did vampires come from? What role have they played in human history? Why can the Master still move around when the rest of the Ancients have evolved to sedintary creatures? How have the vampires kept their numbers under control? All of these are questions that probably don't have to be answered but I'm really hoping that they do.

The current day characters are underdeveloped. Eph Goodweather (really, that's his name? I mean come on) could be any leading character from Michael Crichton, Dan Brown, Tom Clancy or any other author who writes throw away page turners. Satrakian does seem to be pretty cool and the fact he carries a sword cane, and can use it, is pretty bad ass.

The Strain has set up a story I am definitely interested in. So I hope the second and third books will flesh out the story well. The back of the dust jacket on the book I read said the 2nd book will be out in 2010 and the final book will be printed in 2011, let's hope those stay that way.

I'm late to the party, as always. Anyway, I also enjoyed this book, though the fact that it was consistently dark and depressing without any relief made it a little hard for me to get through. I like a little dark humor or at least some happier moments in my reading. As far as action and suspense goes, it was awesome, definitely a page turner. The biology major in me twinged at some of the science stuff, but most of vampire books aren't exactly accurate scientific works. I do appreciate that the cause of vampirism in this book is different, and I agree that the fact that vampires are mostly mindless zombie-like creatures is a refreshing change from teenage angst-y vampires. Bottom line: I'll definitely be picking up the sequels.