THE PASSAGE by Justin Cronin

I have read a number of post-apocalyptic novels, and this one does not break any new ground.  It borrows from The Stand (mental telepathy and derelict machinery), The Dog Stars (tracking radio signals), and The Road (storehouses of expired canned goods), plus a dash of The Handmaid’s Tale and Game of Thrones.  Yes, there’s a wall to keep out the vampires in this case, rather than zombies, and a team of Watchers to guard the wall.  Also, this book is painfully long, and I didn’t find it compelling at all until about page 500.  The early pages seem to be just setting the stage for the journeys, adventures, and battles to come.  A manmade virus intended for making people heal more easily and live longer falls into the hands of the military, who envision an invincible army.  Death row criminals are used as guinea pigs, and, of course, things go horribly wrong, resulting in a growing population of vampires and a diminishing supply of humans and animals for them to prey on.  One group of humans has formed a colony that is surviving but running out of battery power to keep the lights on at night and therefore the vampires at bay.  A girl named Amy seems to have the ability to fend them off to some degree and joins a small expedition that leaves the colony in search of other survivors.  This is where the real adventure begins.  This author is not as bold as George R. R. Martin about killing off important characters, but a few do get taken to the dark side, and one that I kept expecting to reappear never does.  Perhaps the author is saving him for a later book in the trilogy.  The whole thing is basically preposterous, but I didn’t expect realism from this book.  The writing is good enough, but I don’t know if I’ll make it through the series.