Mx3 Review: The Night Eternal by Guillermo Del Toro and Chuck Hogan

• Hardcover:384 pages
• Publisher:William Morrow (October 25, 2011)
• ISBN-10: 0061558265
• Source: Publisher

Short review: Shut the front door this book is awesome! Just buy it!

Ok, for those of you who want a little more substance, read on…

Two years after the vampiric virus was unleashed, the planet is now covered in darkness due to a nuclear winter. The Master determines who will survive, based on how valuable they are to his vampire army. Human beings are harvested for their blood, literally locked up in internment camps, separated by “status.” Humans used for their blood are treated much like cows hooked up to milking machines. Women able to have children are fed well; their children are the future, a guaranteed food source.

The Master also controlled the number of vampires created, for too many vampires would decrease the “food” available:

“The Master had apparently calculated the right number, the exact balance, of vampires needed to establish dominance without overburdening the blood supply; its approach was methodological and indeed mathematical.  The elderly and inform were also collected and exterminated. It was a purge and a putsch.  Roughly one-third of the human population was exterminated over that seventy-two-hour period, which has been since known as, collectively, ‘Night Zero.'”

The gang of “rebels” from the previous two books continue their fight against the ancient and powerful vampire: Dr. Eph Goodweather, former CDC head; Dr. Nora Martinez, another doctor familiar with the inner workings of the vampires; Vasiliy Fet, the Russian exterminator; and  Mr. Quinlan, spawn of the Master, a half-human, have vampire. Their current mission: to save Eph’s son, Zack, from the Master’s grip.  Unfortunately, Zach has succumbed to the Master, for it is the Master’s blood that cures him of his respiratory illnesses. He feels alive in the presence of the master, the bond they share almost stronger than the bond with his father. His mother, a vampire, stays close to Zack; the love bond they share continues despite of her “status.”

The Master is still desperate to get his hands on the Occido Lumen,  the book that holds the history of the strigoi, this unique strain of vampires infected by worm-like creatures.  They do not not infect their victims in the means of the traditional vampires, instead a projectile shoots from their mouth, full of the worm-like creatures, to be injected into their victim. Once they change, they lose all resemblance to a human being; their bodies devoid of hair and sexual organs. This history also provides a glimpse of their weaknesses as well as insight into their demise.

Eph and the others must literally sacrifice themselves  in order to save the world for only they know how to put an end to the Master’s wave of destruction.

The Night Eternal is a stunning conclusion to an incredibly unique trilogy. When I read the first book in this series, The Strain,  I had an inkling as to how tremendous this trilogy would be. In reading The Night Eternal, however, my initial feelings were dwarfed by how tremendous this conclusion turned out to be.  Del Toro and Hogan provide a stunning history of the Master and of the existence of vampires in our country tracing back to Plymouth Rock. They trace back to the beginning of the trilogy, filling in blanks and answering questions I’ve had from the beginning. It’s obvious that they plotted out this series well; the pieces seemed to fall together magically; I often found myself saying “Ah yes, I get it!” The Night Eternal completely makes up for any doubts I felt after reading The Fall.

This is a trilogy that must be read in order. While each book provides a bit of back story, to get the true impact of the story you must start at the beginning. Highly recommended!