Night Eternal (Strain book 3)

The Night Eternal

By Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

Well, I finally reached the end of my Strain journey- a journey I enjoyed whole-heartedly and couldn’t wait to complete. I loved the beginning, I cherished the middle, and boy oh boy was I disappointed by the end.

I am so bummed right now.

This is the third and final book of The Strain trilogy. If you have followed my reviews, you know that, despite not being the best written books in the world, this series was a lot of fun and I absolutely loved this new, animalistic take on vampires. It spreads like a horribly violent and out-of-control plague. Everything seemed so hopeless, so unstoppable, so wild…but then I got to the last book.

Of all of the places Hogan and Del Toro could have taken it… I never would have expected this… I never would have recommended this. It was a complete 180 from where the series seemed to be headed.

SPOILER ALERT!!!!!!!!!

Suddenly, these vampires are like a hive of bees: very coordinated, very controlled, and have completely taken over the entire world, all operating under the perfect direction of the Master (the main vampire). Humans basically live subservient lives or are taken to blood camps to be bled out. Let’s face it- Del Toro freaking loves WWII and just can’t resist incorporating it in almost everything he does. But okay, okay, I can deal with this Holocaust theme as it existed since the first book.

BUT then apparently he just HAD to bring in his interest in Christianity. So, now we aren’t dealing with vampires, we are dealing with fallen angels who are still being punished for acts from the bible.

WHY? Why couldn’t they stick to the animalistic plague idea? Why does it have to be mystical and the culmination of huge biblical events and god’s wrath? Ugh. I am so annoyed.

So here is my recommendation: read the first two books. Then stop. The third book never happened. Do you hear me?? IT NEVER HAPPENED!!