BookRank

Reading order

The Passage reading order

Justin Cronin

  1. The Passage2010
  2. The Twelve2012
  3. The City of Mirrors2016
7.87.8 / 10
1,180 ratings
Score
3 volumes
Volumes
2010–2016
Published
about 40 h
Reading time
Completed
Status
Horror#3
Genre

Quick answer

The Passage
Start withThe Passage2010 · Volume 1 of 3
Open the volume →Buy the first volumeListen to the audiobook

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Publication order

3 volumes2010–2016Completed

  • A trilogy that starts as a government virus experiment gone wrong and spans a century of the world after it.
  • Read The Passage, The Twelve and The City of Mirrors in order.
  • The Twelve, which steps back to tell other survivors’ stories, rates lowest; the finale rates highest.

A plan for the whole series

3 volumes, 2,104 pages, about 40 hours. At 45 min a day that is about 7 weeks.

  • From volume 2 on, the number of ratings falls most before volume 3, “The City of Mirrors” (by 37%). Plan your break after volume 2, before the series plans it for you.

Stages

3 stages, with 2 short books from outside the series between them. You finish around January 2, 2027, 13 days later than in one go.

  1. Stage 114 h19 daysby November 17, 2026
  2. Short breakThe Fire Next Time · James Baldwin · 120 pp. · score 8.82 h, by November 21, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  3. Stage 211 h15 daysby December 6, 2026
  4. BreakMaus · Art Spiegelman · 295 pp. · score 9.05 h, by December 16, 2026. A short book from another shelf, so you come back to the series hungry.
  5. Stage 313 h17 daysby January 2, 2027
  6. The end of the series
    January 2, 2027
In one goDecember 19, 2026about 7 weeks
In stages, with breaksJanuary 2, 2027about 9 weeks · +8 h of other books

We count 1.1 min per page, the pace of an average novel reader. Faster? Move the slider.

How this plan is calculated

The plan comes from the pages and ratings of each volume: we split the series into stages of about three weeks’ reading, size each break to the stage before it, and read the chance of finishing from how many readers rate the last volume compared with the first. How we work out the plan →

Every volume in order

Read: 0 of 3
  1. The Passage
    The Passage2010 · 600 ratings · Not ranked yetStart here
    –Not ranked yet
  2. The Twelve
    The Twelve2012 · 291 ratings
    7.77.7 / 10
  3. The City of Mirrors
    The City of Mirrors2016 · 184 ratings
    7.97.9 / 10

Order checked by hand · Order and years: Wikidata (CC0). Spotted an error? Tell us. · Data updated October 29, 2026

Frequently asked questions

Which Passage book is the best?

By reader score, The City of Mirrors (7.9/10). The lowest-rated is The Twelve (7.7/10).

Which The Passage book is the longest?

“The Passage” is the longest at 784 pages; the shortest is “The Twelve” with 624 pages.