Amadan na Briona

This is not a perfect book, but it is perfect for what it's been marketed as: a great big entertaining blockbuster of a summer read. In many ways, it almost feels like a rip-off/homage to Stephen King's The Stand, and if you liked that novel, it's almost certain you will like this one. The book is divided into two parts: everything leading up to the vampire apocalypse, and then the post-apocalypse world, a hundred years later. There is a large cast of characters, a tangle of subplots, and a really annoying cliffhanger at the very end which makes it clear that there's going to be a sequel. Cronin's writing is good, though I found him to be sloppy on a number of details, and not as visceral as King (nor is Cronin as ruthless and bloodthirsty as King). But if you want a big doorstopper novel to settle down with and enjoy without expecting it to rock your world or change the way you look at literature, this will fit the bill.