The Meat
I don't know quite what to make of this book, or of my
reaction to it. In most ways it's an excellent sequel—it delivers the same
superb writing and engaging characters while, in fact, improving on one
questionable aspect of the first book, The
Passage, whose two giant halves fall to either side of a 100 year gap. In The Twelve, by contrast, that radical
chronological break has been replaced with three distinct time frames, and
occasional shuttling back and forth between them, which reduces the jarring
sense of rupture book one delivered.
All the key
characters from book one return (except for Babcock!), and Cronin spices up the
mix by adding a handful of no-longer-fully-human, not-quite-vampire creatures
which one person, in a burst of insight, calls Renfield-esque. In other words,
the mystical bond between vampire overlord and not fully turned Creepy Guy is
explored at some length, in a very clever and engaging way.
It all sounds good
so far, right? And it is—it's good. But
not great, like The Passage (despite its flaws) was great. I wasn't moved (as
much), nor was I gripped with the same neck-crunching force as emanated from
the pages of book one. This was something of a puzzle to me, since most of this
book's readily identifiable features seemed to equal, or in some cases outperform,
the first book, so one could say book two is somehow slightly less than the sum
of its parts.
Vowing to solve the
enigma of this book's slight disappointment, I considered all the usual
suspects: a) how the very nature of sequels almost always precludes them
surpassing the original (partly because the logic of the world established in
book one constricts the parameters of where the story in potential sequels
might go, and partly because authors, for obvious reasons, tend to put all
their best ideas in their first book and consequently have to dig deep to
produce anything like the raw brilliance of their initial effort), b) how an
excellent first book creates impossible expectations for the sequel(s) in the
minds of the readers, and c) how strong attachments to characters from book one
mean that if any major life-changing (or –ending!) events befall these
characters it might well alienate some readers who find their own lives in the
toilet because of damage to their beloved (insert character name here). And
sure enough, The Twelve does take moderate
hits from all three of these areas, so that might explain part of why it seems
not quite to have lived up to The Passage.
It explains part,
but not all, for as I thought more deeply about why I personally found it just
slightly disappointing, a fourth reason popped into my head: the climax of book
two, despite being a lot more exciting in visual description (it plays out a
lot like a good action movie, in fact), is somehow less rewarding than that of
book one. I can't say much more than that without "Dumbledore dies at the
end"-ing it for you, but suffice it to say that the stakes in the final
act, and even the scale of the challenge, seemed slightly ill conceived. In the end, our heroes arguably accomplish
more, and face a much more drawn out struggle to do so, but the world itself feels
less menacing than that of book one (five years earlier), the possibility of
human survival/victory much greater, which led to a problem of atmosphere.
Remember Alien(s)? People argue back and forth
about which was best, Alien or Aliens, but they're quite distinct; Alien has spine-tingling suspense, while
Aliens brings edge-of-your-seat
action and thrills. In some ways, the same thing is happening here with
Cronin's work. (I just hope book three doesn't end up like Alien 3! We'll know we're in for an Alien 3 experience if all our favorite characters show up dead at
the very beginning, I suppose.)
 |
| The road that shouldn't ever be taken in sequels... |
Anyway, the experience of reading book one was
rather like watching Alien—one can
imagine being in that place, being hunted, and knowing that no place exists
beyond the monster's reach. This book, by contrast, brings an Aliens vibe, with excitement aplenty,
yet without that pervasive sense of dread from the finely crafted mini-world of
book one.
Despite personally
enjoying Aliens more than Alien, with Cronin's work the Aliens direction feels less successful,
and The Passage (book one, that is)
remains distinctly superior. But if
you're reading this, Mr. Cronin (and yes, I know the chances of that are slim),
pleeease don't try an Alien 3 vibe for the threequel!
The Math
Objective assessment: 7/10
Bonuses: +1 for Cronin's fantastic prose (example: 'He still
had the young person's predisposition to regard the world as a series of
vaguely irritating problems created by people less cool and smart than he was'),
+1 for scrapping the 100-year gap—or rather, yawning chasm—that bifurcated book
one
Penalties: -1 for treating Amy and Alicia so callously
(you'll see what I mean), -1 for the ending and for losing that sense of dread
so painstakingly crafted with the Colony in The
Passage
Nerd coefficient: 7/10 A mostly enjoyable experience
And read
on for why statistically a 7/10 is actually waaay better than a C-!
