- Hardcover: 371 pages
- Publisher: William Morrow & Company (25 Oct 2011)
- Language English
- ISBN-10: 0061558265
- ISBN-13: 978-0061558269
- Product Dimensions: 23.2 x 16.2 x 3.2 cm
- Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars See all reviews (1 customer review)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: 1,990,626 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Hardcover
The final book of the Strain trilogy is a fun-enough read: after The Strain, which was a modern-day retelling of Dracula where he does not die at the end, The Fall is about opening up a whole new world, and the stripping away of illusions. The Night Eternal then opens 2 years later with the world under nuclear winter: perfect for vampires, and the Master (in a new body) rules them all. The opening is well done: starting with absolute despair we are shown a glimmer of hope which is all we can focus on to keep the story moving. After that though the road gets a little rocky.
After the events of The Fall, Ephraim Goodweather, Fet and Nora remain alive and kicking: Setrakian is dead. Goodweather is still a very flawed character, or at least selfish and self-indulgent. Yes, he has lost everything, but so has everybody else too. The chilling "new" world we see is intriguing - and given the past human tendency towards collaboration, all too horribly realistic. We don't see much of this though - just a few hints, including that the UK has somehow stayed vampire-free - as the focus is largely on Eph and his son Zach, now a pet of the Master.
I wont talk specific plot points so to spoil the story. The descent into a strange religiousity - literal deus ex machina in some cases - is surprising given the tone of Strain and Fall, and also raises questions about the total absence of religion per se: no one even thinks that talking to a priest might be a good idea (probably it would not, but if I was in their shoes it sure would not have hurt). I found the end effectively tolerable if not great.
All in all, I think that the story might have better left as simply the Strain, with the good guys winning at the end. Not everything needs to be a trilogy, and its easier to relate to (and be thrilled by) horror when it does not become post-apocalyptic sci-fi with an Old Testament twist in the last third of the story.
After the events of The Fall, Ephraim Goodweather, Fet and Nora remain alive and kicking: Setrakian is dead. Goodweather is still a very flawed character, or at least selfish and self-indulgent. Yes, he has lost everything, but so has everybody else too. The chilling "new" world we see is intriguing - and given the past human tendency towards collaboration, all too horribly realistic. We don't see much of this though - just a few hints, including that the UK has somehow stayed vampire-free - as the focus is largely on Eph and his son Zach, now a pet of the Master.
I wont talk specific plot points so to spoil the story. The descent into a strange religiousity - literal deus ex machina in some cases - is surprising given the tone of Strain and Fall, and also raises questions about the total absence of religion per se: no one even thinks that talking to a priest might be a good idea (probably it would not, but if I was in their shoes it sure would not have hurt). I found the end effectively tolerable if not great.
All in all, I think that the story might have better left as simply the Strain, with the good guys winning at the end. Not everything needs to be a trilogy, and its easier to relate to (and be thrilled by) horror when it does not become post-apocalyptic sci-fi with an Old Testament twist in the last third of the story.
Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
136 reviews
16 of 18 people found the following review helpful
Non-spoiler - Good.. not great... end to the Strain Trilogy
7 Nov 2011
Format:Hardcover|Amazon Vine™ Review
(What's this?)
If you are reading this review, you've already made it through the first two books, and you want to see if the conclusion is worth your time.
It is.
This is an action-packed story, set two years after the Fall of humanity at the hands of the vampires. The characters from the first books appear to be the only resistance, and they have to figure out how to win back the world. All while the main character, Eph Goodweather, tries to also free his son, taken captive by his vampire ex-wife in the last book.
What follows is a page turning thrill-ride, with narrow escapes, decent characterization, and finally, a backstory explanation and conclusion. As with the previous books, this is very well paced and will hold your attention as you read through to the very end.
It is not without flaws, however. The backstory was adequate, but a departure from the rest of the series. From the start, the authors have soaked us in the scientific aspects of vampirism, including its spread and the biology of a vampire (to be fair, ripped from Del Toro's movie, Blade II). The ultimate explanations are more mystical than scientific, and it seems odd to have gone to all the trouble of making two main characters scientists and exhaustively explaining the biology of vampires, only to make the origin decidedly non-scientific.
Whatever. It wasn't enough of a problem for me to have not really enjoyed the book, just not getting the fifth star from me.
If you have gotten through the first two books, you really should finish the trilogy. You'll have fun, and that's really what these types of books are about, isn't it?
It is.
This is an action-packed story, set two years after the Fall of humanity at the hands of the vampires. The characters from the first books appear to be the only resistance, and they have to figure out how to win back the world. All while the main character, Eph Goodweather, tries to also free his son, taken captive by his vampire ex-wife in the last book.
What follows is a page turning thrill-ride, with narrow escapes, decent characterization, and finally, a backstory explanation and conclusion. As with the previous books, this is very well paced and will hold your attention as you read through to the very end.
It is not without flaws, however. The backstory was adequate, but a departure from the rest of the series. From the start, the authors have soaked us in the scientific aspects of vampirism, including its spread and the biology of a vampire (to be fair, ripped from Del Toro's movie, Blade II). The ultimate explanations are more mystical than scientific, and it seems odd to have gone to all the trouble of making two main characters scientists and exhaustively explaining the biology of vampires, only to make the origin decidedly non-scientific.
Whatever. It wasn't enough of a problem for me to have not really enjoyed the book, just not getting the fifth star from me.
If you have gotten through the first two books, you really should finish the trilogy. You'll have fun, and that's really what these types of books are about, isn't it?
12 of 14 people found the following review helpful
"Night" more like wool over our eyes...(spoilers!)
27 Dec 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I enjoyed the first two installments of the trilogy, so when this climactic book finally hatched I grabbed it like a starving strigoli. Unfortunately, it wasn't nearly as tasty as it should have been. What a shame.
In this episode, we join our heroes many months after the events in the second book. Earth is mostly overrun with vampires, all controlled by the Master with two purposes in mind: 1) breed mankind for food, and 2) stop Eph Goodweather from finding the Master's Achilles heel. With the excellent setup from " The Strain" and "The Fall", what could go wrong with this scenario?
Plenty - here are my "unholy trinity" of disastrous literary tropes: First, the authors trot out some turgid Old Testament angel mythology to explain the vampire genesis, thus mutating the story into R-rated Judeo-Christian fiction. In addition, blatant deus ex machina helping hands pop up a couple of times to save our heroes and propel the plot. Finally, the influence of the second and third "Blade" movies is so shameless you might as well watch them vs. reading this book.
Most of the other problems with "Night Eternal" stem from the above three issues, with the only redeeming factor being our previously well-earned investment with the main characters. "Night Eternal" feels like a totally different book than the other two, and not in a good way. It's easily one of the most disappointing conclusions to a series that I've ever read. You have been warned.
In this episode, we join our heroes many months after the events in the second book. Earth is mostly overrun with vampires, all controlled by the Master with two purposes in mind: 1) breed mankind for food, and 2) stop Eph Goodweather from finding the Master's Achilles heel. With the excellent setup from " The Strain" and "The Fall", what could go wrong with this scenario?
Plenty - here are my "unholy trinity" of disastrous literary tropes: First, the authors trot out some turgid Old Testament angel mythology to explain the vampire genesis, thus mutating the story into R-rated Judeo-Christian fiction. In addition, blatant deus ex machina helping hands pop up a couple of times to save our heroes and propel the plot. Finally, the influence of the second and third "Blade" movies is so shameless you might as well watch them vs. reading this book.
Most of the other problems with "Night Eternal" stem from the above three issues, with the only redeeming factor being our previously well-earned investment with the main characters. "Night Eternal" feels like a totally different book than the other two, and not in a good way. It's easily one of the most disappointing conclusions to a series that I've ever read. You have been warned.
38 of 51 people found the following review helpful
Disappointed ** SPOILERS **
28 Oct 2011
Format:Kindle Edition|Amazon Verified Purchase
I loved the first two books in this trilogy ("The Strain", and "The Fall"). The authors' take on vampires was interesting, the action was great, and the characters are well developed. But, I think they totally changed the tone in this third book. The plot of "The Night Eternal" reminds me of the Star Trek episode with the Borg. The plot has been written into a corner with an enemy too powerful to defeat, so Data logs into the Borg and tells them to go to sleep. Or in "Independence Day" - turns out you can log into an advanced alien network with a Mac computer and blow them all to hell. I was very disappointed with this tedious third book in The Strain trilogy.
** SPOILERS **
"The Night Eternal" has way too many "deus ex machina" moments that really cheesed me off. The ISS falls at just the right time to save the characters. Why did it fall? Because God's dog told the astronaut on board to bring the ISS down. At the end, another ray of sunshine appears suddenly to help the bomb go off.
But what really set my teeth on edge was the Old Testament origin BS. Sodom and Gomorrah? Lot? Archangels? Pieces of an archangel turning into vampires? Stupid prophecies? In the first two books, it is apparently clear that the vampires are some sort of product of nature. Ephraim and Nora determine the complex life cycle of the vampires (virus, worms, etc.), and with Setrakian's help figure out the creatures' weaknesses. As it turns out, it's all just magic, and really stupid magic at that.
I found the plot in this book to be quite tedious and unbelievable compared to the first two books. The malnourished and beaten down heroes somehow manage to wheel around Manhattan, New Jersey, and beyond without any problem, hacking hundreds of vampires in every battle. The Master and his two dozen helicopters for some reason can't stop them from reaching the magic island. It was all too easy. I suppose everything is easy when god himself is helping you defeat the ultimate evil. And it doesn't hurt that the ultimate evil is apparently quite moronic. Though why god would create the ultimate evil in the first place ... never mind.
** SPOILERS **
"The Night Eternal" has way too many "deus ex machina" moments that really cheesed me off. The ISS falls at just the right time to save the characters. Why did it fall? Because God's dog told the astronaut on board to bring the ISS down. At the end, another ray of sunshine appears suddenly to help the bomb go off.
But what really set my teeth on edge was the Old Testament origin BS. Sodom and Gomorrah? Lot? Archangels? Pieces of an archangel turning into vampires? Stupid prophecies? In the first two books, it is apparently clear that the vampires are some sort of product of nature. Ephraim and Nora determine the complex life cycle of the vampires (virus, worms, etc.), and with Setrakian's help figure out the creatures' weaknesses. As it turns out, it's all just magic, and really stupid magic at that.
I found the plot in this book to be quite tedious and unbelievable compared to the first two books. The malnourished and beaten down heroes somehow manage to wheel around Manhattan, New Jersey, and beyond without any problem, hacking hundreds of vampires in every battle. The Master and his two dozen helicopters for some reason can't stop them from reaching the magic island. It was all too easy. I suppose everything is easy when god himself is helping you defeat the ultimate evil. And it doesn't hurt that the ultimate evil is apparently quite moronic. Though why god would create the ultimate evil in the first place ... never mind.
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