The Fall: The Strain Trilogy, Book 2 | ||||||||
Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan | ||||||||
William Morrow, 308 pages | ||||||||
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A review by Sandy Auden
Why?
For three reasons.
The first one comes out of my preference for evil vampires. I don't mind what kind of evil they are, but the
vampires of history prey on people, see humans as a lesser species and manipulate them to their own uses. Which
is why I struggle sometimes with the current Twilight trend, where they're seen as fluffy, friendly
and romantic characters.
My first smile -- well a smirk really -- comes because I'd love to see a Celebrity Death Match between the
Twilight vampires and the strigoi in The Fall. It would probably last no more than sixty
seconds and end with Guillermo del Toro and Chuck Hogan's strigoi exalting victorious,
standing in two inches of blood and viscera, with
little gobbets of half eaten Twilight vampire flesh strewn randomly around.
The Fall's vampires, you see, are vicious, single-minded, hungry and deadly. They are ex-humans whose
bodies have been taken over by a worm-like creature which invades their organs and brain, discarding the host's
personality and leeching out their humanity in favour of total obedience to the source of the infection, the Master.
The Master is one of the Ancients -- the original vampires, existing for millennia, acquiring riches and
manipulating politics and industries alike. There are seven Ancients in total and mostly they want to remain
hidden, ghost puppeteers of the world economy. But the Master? He has different plans for the human race.
In The Strain, the first book of the series, the Master is aided by millionaire Eldritch Palmer and
manages to release his worm virus into the heart of New York City where it spreads exponentially, creating a state
of emergency where Palmer's well placed sympathisers divert all the normal safety controls -- like CDC quarantine
and martial law.
The spiral into chaos is vividly drawn, terrifying in its easy logic as more people are infected and infrastructure
and services fail. As The Fall opens, the uninfected population is panicking, clogging the roads and railways
as they flee. A few pockets of normalcy remain but mostly civilisation is breaking down, especially at night
when the vampires come out driven by bloodlust or the need to find their loved ones, to infect them and show them
a new and better way of life.
One of those vampires, Kelly, is desperately trying to infect her young son, Zack, but his father, Ephraim, was
one of the first CDC doctors to understand the severity and nature of the virus. Eph has joined forces with one
of his CDC colleagues Nora, along with a pest control workman called Fet, and Setrakian an old survivor from the
Treblinka concentration camp where he first encountered the Master many years ago. Setrakian has been
collecting weapons -- made of silver -- to use in the war against the vampires. Gang member Gus also brings
along some fighters, rounded up from the remnants of several gangs across the city.
This group, fighting for their lives against huge numbers, are all ordinary people, something that makes
The Strain significantly more engaging and life-like at the same time. These aren't elite troops,
trained and armed to the teeth; they're confused, frightened, intelligent and determined people and they are
my second reason to smile -- as I'm drawn easily into their lives and relationships and issues.
My third reason to smile is because this a damn good thriller. It generates a sense of curiosity in wanting
to know what happens to the central characters fighting the invasion. Can they beat overwhelming odds? What
will be the cost of trying to fight? How will the other six Ancients deal with their rogue member? What will
happen when Palmer is made immortal by the Master? How will the rest of the world fare as other cities are
attacked and infected and a world apocalypse becomes a likely prospect?
The answers are so unexpected and intriguing that I think I'm going to be smiling until the next volume is released.
Sandy Auden is currently working as an enthusiastic reviewer for SFX magazine; a tireless news hound for Starburst magazine; a diligent interviewer/reviewer for Interzone magazine and a combination interviewer/reviewer for SFSite.com and UKSFBookNews.net. She spends her spare time lying down with a cold flannel on her forehead. Visit her site at The Auden Interviews. |
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