The Night Eternal

By: Guillermo del Toro, Chuck Hogan

Narrated by: Daniel Oreskes

Length: 13 hrs and 53 mins

Publisher's summary

The nail-biting vampire thriller from the world-famous director of Pan’s Labyrinth and Hellboy.

The night belongs to them, and it will be a night eternal… After the blasts, it was all over. Nuclear Winter has settled upon the earth. Except for one hour of sunlight a day, the whole world is plunged into darkness. It is a near-perfect environment for vampires. They have won. It is their time. Almost every single man, woman and child has been enslaved in vast camps across the globe. Like animals, they are farmed, harvested for the sick pleasure of the Master Race.

Almost, but not all. Somewhere out there, hiding for their lives, is a desperate network of free humans, continue the seemingly hopeless resistance. Everyday people, with no other options – among them Dr Ephraim Goodweather, his son Zack, the veteran exterminator Vassily, and former gangbanger Gus.

To be free, they need a miracle, they need divine intervention. But Salvation can be a twisted game – one in which they may be played like pawns in a battle of Good and Evil. And at what cost?

©2011 HarperCollins Publishers Ltd; 2011 Chuck Hogan, Guillermo del Toro

Critic reviews

"The climax, all fire and brimstone, nicely sets up the third and final volume." ( Financial Times)

"Enough blood-curdling action to set up a gory finale." ( News of the World)

anticlimax<br />

loved it. too predictable beyond a point. hope the fx series fixes that. otherwise great.

A solid conclusion to a fun trilogy

The Night Eternal rounds out a great trilogy. Set two years after the previous book, the world is now in the iron grip of the Master. The nuclear blasts that destroyed the other Ancients have cast darkness over the earth. It's a new world order where humans are harvested for blood in concentration camps and only a few still fight for a seemingly hopeless cause.

The most interesting parts of the book are the revelation of the Masters' true origin and the story of Mr Quinlan. Be warned that the story does take a bit of a religious turn, breaking away from the hard reality-ground logic of the first two books. But this adds strength and mystique to the story.

The narrator does a good job of bringing the characters to some sense of life. His range isn't always the best, but it's a better effort than Ron Perlman. I thoroughly enjoyed this conclusion to the series and am sorry to see it end, but it ends very neatly and every story thread is tied up.