Flyers, Have I Got Some Unanswered Questions!
September 20, 2010 6:11 AM Subscribe
Super-spoilery Questions on Justin Cronin's The Passage (only read if you've finished the book, m'kay?).
So, I just finished The Passage, and I have a couple of nagging plot-related questions:
1) Why did the FBI decide to pick up Amy? Was it just because she was a minor with an absent/fugitive mother? And if so, was it just coincidence that she also could apparently talk to animals and such? Did they ever explain what was different about her or why?
2) Do we know why the post-vampocalypse virus injection was able to turn Alicia into an Amy-like awesome vamp with no memory/mind/humanity loss? Wasn't the military's thinking that only a child's physiology would be able to take the virus without turning into a "flyer"?
3) Who was in the shed when Theo found the dog? What happened when Theo and Mausami were atacked by Galen?
So, I just finished The Passage, and I have a couple of nagging plot-related questions:
1) Why did the FBI decide to pick up Amy? Was it just because she was a minor with an absent/fugitive mother? And if so, was it just coincidence that she also could apparently talk to animals and such? Did they ever explain what was different about her or why?
2) Do we know why the post-vampocalypse virus injection was able to turn Alicia into an Amy-like awesome vamp with no memory/mind/humanity loss? Wasn't the military's thinking that only a child's physiology would be able to take the virus without turning into a "flyer"?
3) Who was in the shed when Theo found the dog? What happened when Theo and Mausami were atacked by Galen?
I just finished it this weekend.
1. Amy's name came up by "coincidence" as a unattached minor who wouldn't be missed by anyone. "Coincidence" in quotes, because it's Fate/Destiny/God that she came up on the list, and she happens to be something like a Chosen One.
Note that Peter also appears to be special, but we don't know in what fashion as yet. You can say the same thing about the Sister (whose name I can't remember), who was able to make it all the way to Colorado, dodge professional military guards, etc., because God was whispering in her ear.
2. Alicia was already infected with the "bad" virus. Presumably, the "good" virus overcame the "bad" virus to turn her into something like Amy, or, rather, more like the Sister, who was also infected with the "bad" virus by Carter, and was saved by the doctor with the "good" virus. One question may have to do with Alicia's lack fo psychic powers, even though she has the same virus as Amy. Was it because Amy was psychic beforehand and Alicia isn't? Or did the "good" virus interacting with the "bad" virus cause Alicia not to have psychic powers? I lean towards the former.
3. Whoever was in the shed will probably be revealed in the subsequent books. We can speculate that it was not a viral, as there was a can of food there, Galen was killed by shotgun, etc., so it's probably not Wolgras.
I found there to be an inconsistency with the defeat of the US Army and the survival of the Colony using crossbows. Really, if 100 people can survive for a century using gussied up street lamps and crossbows, the military probably would have recovered after its initial surprise. More realistically (for whatever value of "realistic" you want for post-apocalyptic vampire lit) you'd need a scenario like "I Am Legend", where the virus typically kills people, but turns some small percentage of them into vampires, and the human survivors are immune to the virus.
Anyway, it was a good read, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
posted by chengjih at 7:05 AM on September 20, 2010
1. Amy's name came up by "coincidence" as a unattached minor who wouldn't be missed by anyone. "Coincidence" in quotes, because it's Fate/Destiny/God that she came up on the list, and she happens to be something like a Chosen One.
Note that Peter also appears to be special, but we don't know in what fashion as yet. You can say the same thing about the Sister (whose name I can't remember), who was able to make it all the way to Colorado, dodge professional military guards, etc., because God was whispering in her ear.
2. Alicia was already infected with the "bad" virus. Presumably, the "good" virus overcame the "bad" virus to turn her into something like Amy, or, rather, more like the Sister, who was also infected with the "bad" virus by Carter, and was saved by the doctor with the "good" virus. One question may have to do with Alicia's lack fo psychic powers, even though she has the same virus as Amy. Was it because Amy was psychic beforehand and Alicia isn't? Or did the "good" virus interacting with the "bad" virus cause Alicia not to have psychic powers? I lean towards the former.
3. Whoever was in the shed will probably be revealed in the subsequent books. We can speculate that it was not a viral, as there was a can of food there, Galen was killed by shotgun, etc., so it's probably not Wolgras.
I found there to be an inconsistency with the defeat of the US Army and the survival of the Colony using crossbows. Really, if 100 people can survive for a century using gussied up street lamps and crossbows, the military probably would have recovered after its initial surprise. More realistically (for whatever value of "realistic" you want for post-apocalyptic vampire lit) you'd need a scenario like "I Am Legend", where the virus typically kills people, but turns some small percentage of them into vampires, and the human survivors are immune to the virus.
Anyway, it was a good read, and I look forward to seeing what happens next.
posted by chengjih at 7:05 AM on September 20, 2010
1) As far as we know it was random, but how did the FBI even find out about Amy so quickly after her having been abandoned? That part didn't make sense to me.
2) I thought it was because it was a later strain of the virus, maybe genetically engineered? The nun also gets injected with that strain without becoming a flyer.
3) Dunno. Several loose ends among many.
Man, the ending to that book pissed me off. Anyone know when the sequel is coming?
posted by libraryhead at 7:09 AM on September 20, 2010
2) I thought it was because it was a later strain of the virus, maybe genetically engineered? The nun also gets injected with that strain without becoming a flyer.
3) Dunno. Several loose ends among many.
Man, the ending to that book pissed me off. Anyone know when the sequel is coming?
posted by libraryhead at 7:09 AM on September 20, 2010
Wikipedia says he's in the middle of writing Book 2 (out of 3).
I think the FBI found out so quickly because the Sister had contact the local police about the missing mother/abandoned child. The beginning of the book takes place in the "near future", around 2018 or so, with the "war on terror" more intense than now, so presumably the Federal Government has better monitoring of what's coming over the local law enforcement bulletins.
posted by chengjih at 8:56 AM on September 20, 2010
I think the FBI found out so quickly because the Sister had contact the local police about the missing mother/abandoned child. The beginning of the book takes place in the "near future", around 2018 or so, with the "war on terror" more intense than now, so presumably the Federal Government has better monitoring of what's coming over the local law enforcement bulletins.
posted by chengjih at 8:56 AM on September 20, 2010
2) My take on this is that it was diluted enough and attenuated enough to have the same effects on Alicia as it did on Amy. As chengjih points out, the same virus dose gave Sister Lacey a similar kind of result. I also didn't think Alicia had been bitten--just gravely wounded.
posted by yellowcandy at 9:54 AM on September 20, 2010
posted by yellowcandy at 9:54 AM on September 20, 2010
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2) Wasn't it because she'd already been bitten? So it was like a vaccination?
I read this book a couple of months ago, so I'm a bit fuzzy on the details, but that's what I remember! Also, I heard it's the first in a trilogy, so maybe more will be explained in the next book.
posted by torisaur at 6:26 AM on September 20, 2010