The Passage trilogy readalong discussion

So, in Chapter 5 we got our first look at the 'Not Vampires' :)

Based only on the first 5 chapters, what are (were) your thoughts on how the author handled these beings? And, was there a particular new/missing power you found interesting?

This is a tough question Marc. The first time I read The Passage, I honestly didn't know what I thought. I never saw "vampire" or "zombie." There is so much about this virus that I still don't understand.

The one thing that is certain in my mind, the virus seems to bring out the true nature of the victim. Carter is the only good of the 12, and Babbcock is by far the vilest of the 12. Then we see familiars who share much of their master's abilities without actually transforming. (Lacey, (Carter) and Grey (Zero)).

Amy is the unique exception. I don't want to say any more about why Amy is like she is because that requires reading The Twelve.

No Spoilers for YOU! :D

My favorite charter so far featuring hints of the vampires was the one with the messages from the scientist I thought that was great I love that kinda disjointed narrative.

Keeping my comment only "on Chs. 1-5" as requested; I like the way he subtly introduced the mind control ability of the "virals."

It is stated in the book that the creatures are created by a virus that has been around since possibly the beginning of time and has emerged at different points throughout time. Lear discusses it in his emails. It is brought up at other points. They are "vampires" when you take all the information about them and compare it to other descriptions of vampires. The biggest difference is that they are not a romanticized version of a vampire (cape, bad romance, sparkling, etc.)

I do wonder, if the other people that Lear mentioned in his emails- the remaining members of the terminally ill group, were turned into some form of virals why hadn't they unleashed themselves on the world instead of staying in the jungle, waiting for someone to stumble into their area.

I agree with Beth, and I do love how each of the "not vampires" is very different from the next. How Cronin describes them really made me feel like they were right there in front of me, gave me the creeps to say the least. He even described the noise they made as a "wet clicking sound from deep in their throats". I love his version of a vampire, definitely no "sparkling" haha.

@Angie, I know right!? :) The clicking.. I say.. the clicking! :D

In all seriousness though, I always saw the transformed virals more like raptors than bats. His description of the transformed virals sparked more of a gliding reptile than a bat. All i know is that he Cronin had me creeped out for weeks over that.

Justin Cronin had a comp on his Facebook page to draw a viral. it would be interesting to see people different interpretation of them.

I always though of the "not vampires" more along the lines of infected people rather than monsters. If you've read I Am Legend, The passage does some similar things. There's a virus and the infected are still sentient and retain many of the characteristics they had in life. In The Passage, the infected seem to have lost almost all of their humanity and have become part of what seems to be a hive mind.
I enjoyed chapter five, especially how Zero's influence over Grey seems to grow as the chapter progresses. I also liked how each viral seemed to choose a person they could connect with, much like the way Amy connected with Lacey.
One last thing about the first five chapters is that most of the people introduced are marginalized or damaged people. All of them seemed to have suffered some kind of physical or psychological trauma. Is it this trauma that allowed Lear to become Zero? That allowed Lacey to protect Amy? That made Wolgast question the morality of what he was tasked with? We'll see!

@Steve. I don't think this is a spoiler but Fanning is Zero, not Lear.

Regarding the comments about the Virals choosing a human to connect with - hasn't Amy chosen 2? I feel that her relationship Lacey is just as strong as it is to Wolgast.

I don't believe we can say virals only connect to one person. We see people's deepest secrets being exploited by virals as you see in the example between Grey and Zero now. In the next five chapters we learn that the deepest good can also be used when the virus infects a truely good person. (All I can say about that now until we get past the outbreak chapters.)

Cronin uses the theme of good vs evil a great deal.

Jill wrote: "@Steve. I don't think this is a spoiler but Fanning is Zero, not Lear."
You're right. I always think it's Lear because of the emails in chapter 2.

Beth Hopkins wrote: "I don't believe we can say virals only connect to one person. We see people's deepest secrets being exploited by virals as you see in the example between Grey and Zero now."
The Grey and Zero thing is exactly what I'm talking about. One thing that is apparent, if you are infected with the virus, your body changes, but your true nature does not. If you were sadistic before you got the virus, you are sadistic after. As far as the virals, it seems that The Twelve have a connection to anyone they turn, as I stated in a previous post, a kind of hive mind. But it also seems to me that there is always that one person who is more receptive to being "called" by one of the virals. Grey, of course, has a different fate in store for him.

@ Steve, I'm glad you brought up Grey again because I find Grey is really a sympathetic character. He is struggling to do the right thing even when Zero get's "in his head." Redemption is also a strong theme through out the series. :) I wish we could talk more about Grey, but that doesn't come until "The Twelve." :p

Beth Hopkins wrote: "@ Steve, I'm glad you brought up Grey again because I find Grey is really a sympathetic character. He is struggling to do the right thing even when Zero get's "in his head."
I did feel sorry for Grey, but he did unlock the door to the vampocalypse. So there's that. It does seem that Zero looks for any weakness in people that he can exploit. What does this say about who Fanning was in his life B.V.?

Steve wrote: "Beth Hopkins wrote: "@ Steve, I'm glad you brought up Grey again because I find Grey is really a sympathetic character. He is struggling to do the right thing even when Zero get's "in his head."
I ..."

Awww.. give Grey a bit of slack, that WAS Zero telling him to do that! :D

and speaking of Zero, that is a very good question about his sorted history. We know that he went through three wives, and was quite a womanizer. We will learn later another little detail about his nature, and it BETTER be all revealed in CoM very soon.

I am still very foggy on what the heck happened in South America, and why didn't the virus spread out of the jungle? I know one thing, I now understood "why the soldiers where there." What I want to know is how they knew they had to have them?

@Beth there has to be something in his past that made him what he is. There is one thing in chapter 2 that jumped out at me. Lear states that after they meet Mark Cole, Cole tells him that he is now a major in the U.S. Army. He later states that Fanning was "plenty ticked off" that he was only made a captain, the rank just below major. It got me thinking, is Fanning one of those guys that has to be the one in charge? You know, one of those guys who pouts because they don't get to be the leader and constantly criticizes the leader. Lear implies that Fanning isn't as smart as he thinks he is and is a little dismissive of him. It seems to me, that if a guy like that were given the power to control others by simply willing it to be so, that guy would be extremely dangerous.

@ Steve, You know I didn't think much about that passage as i was more focused on how dismissive the military was to the scientists, but now that you bring it up, he WAS a bit peeved wasn't he?

We know the attacking bats spread the virus to the science team, but we also know there was a description of statues that sound a lot like our virals that they found. Kinda of like, "turn back all ye that 'venture here." I want to know what kept the virals in Boliva,

I have a theory based on "The Twelve" but that is getting way ahead of the discussion. Too much spoiler. :/

I feel like by calling them virals, they are a new breed: not zombie, not vampire but something else. Kind of like, for those of you that watch The Walking Dead, they never refer to the dead as zombies.

Maybe that's why I'm reading this book for the fourth time.

Justin Cronin has taken something that we're all familiar with based on our own pop culture knowledge related to Twilight, I Am Legend, The Strain, Dracula, Buffy the Vampire Slayer and any other 1,000 versions of vampire, and made it something new and interesting. Intriguing. Most of all, addictive.

In that same thought process though, I think that what happened in Bolivia is vague because sometimes we have to use our imaginations to create the story. I, personally, prefer to have it all laid out before me, but I've learned that as I keep reading, bits and pieces are finally starting to fit together (fourth read and I still discover things I missed).

I hope CofM brings it all together!

@Carrie The creatures in The Passage trilogy definitely fall into the "infected" archetype. They still have some human characteristics, but there is also a sadness about the virals. Cronin stated in an interview that the whole vampire & mirror thing was present in the book, but the virals actually feel a deep melancholy when they see their own reflection. Cronin stated that this was caused by the residual memories the virals had of their life before becoming infected. I'm glad Cronin sought to update the vampire archetype.
As far as Bolivia, yeah it's vague. How are virals not overrunning South America? Does everyone who gets infected turn? Is there a cure or some sort of naturally occurring "vaccine" in the jungles of Bolivia? So many questions.

I keep wondering how it took a 100 years or so for the colonists of 1st Colony to be affected in their dream state? I can't remember if this is brought up in the 12 or if the colony just wasn't in the sights of a major viral but it seems like such a long time as compared to what happened at the Chalet in Colorado with project NOAH?

I was curious about the Bolivia situation too. So some of the tourists returned better than ever but not fully viraled out, only to die later, and the rest went fully viral and stayed in the jungle? Why were there two different outcomes in those adults as opposed to what happened in the main story? Was it because Lear fiddled with the virus? Or were the 'healthy' tourists familiar? I have never been able to figure this out.

I always assumed the story of the tourists was just a story they used to reel Walhgast and the subjects in with.

I have wondered about the Bolivia situation too, and particularly why the virus didn't take over the world THEN, given how quickly it spread in North America. But Laura I like your thought about what happened to the virus when it was being developed by the Army -- it was manipulated and changed as they tried to create their super race of soldiers. Another thing is that the test subjects were, most of them, very messed up psychopaths, so they were strongly inclined to murder and mayhem. I don't think the tourists were a made up story, because they were the reason that Lear and the other scientists (like Fanning) went to the jungle to investigate the virus. BTW I love that last line at the end of Lear's letters home "Now I know why the army is here." Chilling! (Sorry if the wording isn't quite right, I don't have the book here.)

Jill, I agree about about the "chill factor" in Lear's last email. The sentence by itself is chilling; the fact that the email is JUST that single sentence is even more so. So stark and scary!

Ha, it was after that comment that I questioned if I was going to be too scared by this book to finish it. I'm glad I didn't wuss out!