Review: The Twelve (The Passage #2), by Justin Cronin (Audiobook)

Publisher: The Random House Publishing Group 
Release Date: First published October 16, 2012 / Audio unabridged edition released October 16, 2012 by Random House Audio
Format: MP3
Pages: 568 (Hardcover) / Audio Length: Approx 27 hours
Narrator: Scott Brick
Source: Library Borrow
Genre: Fantasy/Post Apocalyptic/Dystopia/Horror
Review Date: February 19, 2014
Rating: 4 bookmarks

Synopsis: At the end of The Passage, the great viral plague had left a small group of survivors clinging to life amidst a world transformed into a nightmare. In the second volume of this epic trilogy, this same group of survivors, led by the mysterious, charismatic Amy, go on the attack, leading an insurrection against the virals: the first offensives of the Second Viral War.

To do this, they must infiltrate a dozen hives, each presided over by one of the original Twelve. Their secret weapon: Alicia, transformed at the end of book one into a half human, half viral—but whose side, in the end, is she really on?

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Initially I thought this book would get a rating of 3, but after thinking on it a few days I pushed it up to a 4 because after finishing the book, I kept thinking about it. The longer I thought about it, the more I liked it.

The Twelve essentially picks up 5 years after The Passage. The Twelve refers to the twelve original virals, the death-row-inmate subjects turned-virals from the blood of Zero during "Project Noah". To save the world, all twelve must be eliminated.

Peter and Alicia are still hunting down the remaining eleven virals, Amy has settled in a community, Sara and Hollis both find themselves in an unfortunate situations.  As we learn about the current status of the surviving first colony characters, Cronin also give us several flashback scenes of the weeks immediately following the viral outbreak.  In between we see what has happened to those characters during the past five years  Along with the flashbacks, we meet a whole lot of new characters all from various places, who also have their roles to play.

This installment was a crazy ride to say the least. There are many ups and downs and I felt bad for some of the characters at certain points. Not to give anything away, but Sara really went through hell in this book thanks to the Homeland...What's the Homeland? Let's just call it, hell on earth.

My advice for this type of book: Don't focus on the "when".  As I mentioned before, there's time jumping, so you don't want to get caught up on that because it'll most likely just frustrate you. Just go with the flow. Trust me, everything will click into place without any effort as you continue to read, or listen in my case.  

Fan art created by Shane-01

We find out how Wolgast relates to Carter...which in turn relates to Amy. I know that statement is vague, but I don't want to spoil anything.  If you recall, Wolgast was married to Lila and protected Amy the best he could when he first kidnapped her. We know he died in The Passage, so his resurfacing had a very interesting story behind it all. At first it didn't make sense to me, but it came together and I liked that Amy and Wolgast got thier resolution.

Lila had a large role in this book. If you recall in the last book, when the government apprehended Lawrence Grey, they got Lila as well.  She was pregnant at the time. The woman has been crazy ever since the viral outbreak. Hell, maybe she'd been crazy ever since she lost Wolgast's baby. Or possibly after she lost her second husband's baby.  Lila isn't meek in this book, she's very powerful and dangerous.  That is when she can shake off the crazy.

There is a lot going on, so many different subplots and yet somehow it all comes together seamlessly. Don't get me wrong. This audio book is long...just as the book is long. At times, I wondered if Cronin could have achieved the same end result, similar depth and complexity, with less words. There were lulls here and there, but then something high energy and exciting would happen or a huge discovery would occur, and I'd be sucked back in.

If you like audio books, this is an absolute on audio.  The narrator is amazing. He's captivating and you feel like you're hearing each character, each moment. Curious about listening? Check out Scott Brick reading a sample from The Twelve. 

I will finish this trilogy because I must know what becomes of Zero and what roles our original characters play when it's all said and done. I want to know when the dust settles, what happens to Amy, Alicia, Peter, Michael, Sara and Hollis.  I have a feeling that the whole group will play their part.  Also I want to know what happens to the world after Zero. I hope book three, The City of Mirrors, provides us with that. I'm anxious for everything to come full circle.  The City of Mirrors is due out this October so I won't have too long to wait.

If you enjoyed The Passage, and you're up for the challenge, I recommend this book for you.  If you haven't read The Passage, please do! It's really a work of art.

Want a crib notes summary? Confused by all the characters? There's a really good synopsis on Wikipedia. Check it out.

Want this on audio? Pick it up on Audible.com! 

Happy Reading & Listening,
~Tamara

Read my review of The Passage (The Passage #1), by Justin Cronin

Get the Kindle version here:

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