The Night Eternal

Book Three of the Strain Trilogy

By: Chuck Hogan, Guillermo Del Toro

Narrated by: Daniel Oreskes

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

It’s been two years since the vampiric virus was unleashed in The Strain and the entire world now lies on the brink of annihilation. There has been a mass extermination of humans orchestrated by the Master - an ancient vampire possessed of unparalleled powers. The future of humankind lies in the hands of a ragtag band of freedom fighters - Dr. Eph Goodweather, Dr. Nora Martinez, Vasiliy Fet, and Mr. Quinlan, the half-breed offspring of the Master who is bent on revenge. It’s their job to overturn this devastating new world order. But good and evil are malleable terms now, and the Master is most skilled at preying on the weaknesses of humans.

Now, at this critical hour, there is evidence of a traitor in their midst... And only one man holds the answer to the Master’s demise, but is he one who can be trusted with the fate of the world? And who among them will pay the ultimate sacrifice - so that others may be saved?

©2011 Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan (P)2011 HarperCollinsPublishers

The cure for sparkly chested effeminate "vampires"

If you could sum up The Night Eternal in three words, what would they be?

Dark. Surprising. Bittersweet.

What did you like best about this story?

I like how it challenged my concept of who I thought the main protagonist was to be.

What three words best describe Daniel Oreskes’s voice?

Husky. Inconsistent. Monotonous.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

I really began to dislike Dr. Ephram Goodweather. I felt like his understanding of his own changes came too little, too late.

Any additional comments?

This will make an excellent mini-series, but I doubt it will ever be made into a feature length film, due to the extreme gore, but one can always hope.

Good, but not as good as the first two books

Would you recommend this audiobook to a friend? If so, why?

Not sure I would recommend the series as book three was a bit of a letdown.

Loved the series!

Great series over all! I wish it was longer because I would still be listening

Great conclusion

Awesome trilogy and great ending get all three all listen back to back you won't be disappointed. Great story telling

Better than the TV show

Enjoyed it. The Narrator was good. unique ending very powerful. enjoyed the whole strain series.

a little rote considering the talent involved

So I listened to the entire trilogy. Actually I read the first book and listened to the next two, and it was probably a better read than a listen. They probably thought Daniel Oreskes had a good, deep voice for the material, but I mostly just found it boring and too easy to tune out. That's my two biggest complaints with the audiobooks: 1) for whatever reason I frequently found myself completely tuning out and 2) it didn't really make much difference if I was paying attention or not. I listened to the entire Game of Thrones series and didn't have that problem at all!

#2 just makes my point that the story is not especially groundbreaking or novel. We've heard most of this before more or less. Just a few new twists involved. Del Toro is obviously very creative and Chuck Hogan is a really talented writer. So I think my expectations were high.

These criticisms aside, I would say that the books aren't bad and are probably still worth your credits and time to listen. Its a vampire story without the romance-sookiestackhouse-twilight goop. Along the lines of Justin Cronin's recent (and much better) novel. It also has an unusual sci-fi, post-apocalypse element to it. So if you've already read The Passage and Carrion Comfort and Swan Song, etc; and you're looking for something familiar, entertaining and not especially taxing, the Strain Trilogy is ok.

Terrific closing to an outstanding series.

I started with The Strain because I dug the TV series (which I still like despite unpopular reviews). I ran through that in a day and a half I immediately had to get the rest. I devoured all three books in 5 days. Just as Stephen King knows how to develop characters to the point that you feel that you know them, Del Toro and Hogan write action so well it's as if you're watching a movie in your head. I can't recommend this series enough.

great story good ending

Great book the reader kept me wanting more and it was easy to tell when there was a character change. I'll definitely listen to it again and watch the tv series.

An exciting and satisfying conclusion

This is a truly original and terrifying new vampire lore. This third entry in the series does not disappoint. It is both satisfying, but tonally equal to its predecessors. No yub yub Ewoks making it artificially light. There is gravity to the consequences of the characters' actions, and you continue to empathize with all of them, even when they're trying to kill each other. I kind of wish the events of The Strain and The Fall happened in the first novel so we had 2 novels to explore this post vampire world more, but that's a small quibble.

Best narrator of the series

Enjoyed it alot Daniel Oreskes is a great narrator best on of the series. Book was good predicable ending but it doesn’t hurt it.