The Strain TV series vs. The Books

[christinebcw]

I watched the first two TV episodes and welcomed the return of villainy in vampires.

Then I made the mistake of reading Book 1. Which was a quick read. Too bad. That left me returning it and there was Book 2, and the final one, Book 3.

I finished those before Episode 3 arrived on TV and I found myself bored and fidgety. "I think going outside will be more exciting" and, click, that was the end of the TV series for me. My mistake. I read the book's trilogy, I now know the direction YET I'm halfway curious.

Has anyone read the book AND is still following the TV series? Since the writers are part of the TV production, I have assumed "it was all the same" but, is that correct? Could they have reincarnated dinosaurs and opened up Jurassic Park IV in town?

 

[real ace]

Haven't read the book but the show is as good as hell man .The storyline and pacing are just wonderful.

 

[christinebcw]

Here it is - 8 weeks later? And I still haven't watched beyond Week 2 because of reading the books.

So, my counseling seems to be "If the TV show is good for you, stay away from the books!" The books are pretty 'quick reads' - I did all 3 in about 5-6 evenings, including at least one dusk-til-dawn "Because I couldn't find a slow spot!" session. I sorta hate books like that - too good to put down, too heavily paced to find a stopping point.

 

[real ace]

So i see its a trilogy of books ,as i am seeing the series now reading the books may not be as exciting but i will read them someday later on.

 

[christinebcw]

Since they were written by the TV series producer/director, I've only wondered how closely they followed the books. I might stop in sometimes and catch a bit, or maybe I need to check around and see if there's a "3 season intention" to them, therefore perhaps matching the 3 books.

 

[real ace]

Three seasons is perhaps too short,most probably the series will run longer.

 

[christinebcw]

The books had a few soap-opera aspects to it that, if the TV series drops, would be a huge boost to creativity. With the end of the world occurring, the old "He Loves Me/He Loves Me Not" routine seemed - even in the books - so contrived and were fortunately short-lived antics.

If you get tempted in the season break to find the books, DON'T. Use my experience and DO NOT READ THEM.

Instead, go find the BBC mini-series DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1981 version) and have fun with that. This version is close to the book and there are two excellent radio-series versions on Archive.ORG as well. Hopefully, that will give some distraction rather than reading THE STRAIN trilogy!

Of course, after this, you're rather stuck to find 1984's NIGHT OF THE COMET as your next step in 'blinding night-time experience', but instead of walking plants, we have zombies instead. Yawn.

 

[real ace]

The books had a few soap-opera aspects to it that, if the TV series drops, would be a huge boost to creativity. With the end of the world occurring, the old "He Loves Me/He Loves Me Not" routine seemed - even in the books - so contrived and were fortunately short-lived antics.

If you get tempted in the season break to find the books, DON'T. Use my experience and DO NOT READ THEM.

Instead, go find the BBC mini-series DAY OF THE TRIFFIDS (1981 version) and have fun with that. This version is close to the book and there are two excellent radio-series versions on Archive.ORG as well. Hopefully, that will give some distraction rather than reading THE STRAIN trilogy!

Of course, after this, you're rather stuck to find 1984's NIGHT OF THE COMET as your next step in 'blinding night-time experience', but instead of walking plants, we have zombies instead. Yawn.

Wow those are a lot of alternatives ,will check them out sometime.

 

[Deleted member 217926]

I read the books about 6 months ago around the time FX started marketing the series and I became aware of their existence. The books I found to be ...decent to pretty good. There are a few changes and character additions to the show but all in all the books were really written knowing they would be made into a screen play. They were quick reads and it showed that the series was written with a television adaptation in mind. I believe the 3 books are supposed to turn into 5 seasons of show or at least that's the initial plan.

The series was slightly disappointing especially considering FX has aired some of my favorite shows of all time in The Shield, The Americans, Damages, Fargo, The Bridge, American Horror Story, Justified etc. It's just really hard to do a good horror series in my opinion ( Edit: I did love me some Penny Dreadful earlier this year though! ). It's a good series but it's not so good that I just love it after reading the books. But then really the only series I love just as much as the books is Game of Thrones / A Song of Ice and Fire.

If you want to read another take on vampires try The Passage and The Twelve by Justin Cronin. There will be a third book as well and they are in the process of being picked up either for movies or television. Yes I'm one of those geeks who actually still reads actual books. No kindle or ebooks for me, I like good old fashioned paper.

I also just finished a book I was blown away by called Wool by Hugh Howey. Apparently he wrote it and self published it and by word of mouth alone it has now not only gone on to become a huge bestseller the series ( a trilogy ) has also been picked up for potential movies. No vampires but some amazing dystopian fiction. I just started the second book.