You need to sign in or sign up before continuing.
Take a photo of a barcode or cover
3.43 AVERAGE
3.43 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
There's a saying that a writer sometimes repeats the same story a number of different ways. Back in the 1970s, Stephen King wrote The Stand, a story where most of the world is wiped out by a virus. He re-wrote the story in the late 1980s.
In 2006 he wrote The Cell, where an electronic pulse delivered to cell phones causes the majority of the population to go mad or die.
The Cell is structurally similar to The Stand. He's stripped out the science from the book and inserted the fact that those who received the pulse can communicate through their thoughts, but other than that the two books were too similar for my tastes.
In 2006 he wrote The Cell, where an electronic pulse delivered to cell phones causes the majority of the population to go mad or die.
The Cell is structurally similar to The Stand. He's stripped out the science from the book and inserted the fact that those who received the pulse can communicate through their thoughts, but other than that the two books were too similar for my tastes.
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This one starts out really strong. A lot of drama and action, the zombie apocalypse is upon us and we have to figure out what to do.
The second half is a bit meh. I didn't like what King did with the zombies, it's a bit too "special" for me. I did like the characters though, King always does a great job with those. Though I'm still a bit put-off by his way of describing female characters. If you don't read about a female character's boobs when she is introduced, it's not King.
(Sorry to everyone getting their feed spammed with my reviews right now.)
The second half is a bit meh. I didn't like what King did with the zombies, it's a bit too "special" for me. I did like the characters though, King always does a great job with those. Though I'm still a bit put-off by his way of describing female characters. If you don't read about a female character's boobs when she is introduced, it's not King.
(Sorry to everyone getting their feed spammed with my reviews right now.)
dark
emotional
reflective
sad
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
4.5/5
I liked it a lot. While I was reading the book I truly had no idea how it would all turn out in the end.
I liked it a lot. While I was reading the book I truly had no idea how it would all turn out in the end.
In which King Technophobe turns everyone with cell phones into zombies—or rather, into the Borg. I was more into this in the early chapters when it was survivors vs. zombies; the Borgian bits bored me a little. I was also a little skeeved that King chose to make a black man in a Harvard sweatshirt the leader of the Borg army—there’s so much nasty stuff one could read into an educated black dude being used as the representative of the mind-enslaving Big Bad. But I am afraid to touch Stephen “magical Negro” King’s racial issues with a ten-foot pole, so I’m just gonna leave it at that.
I’m focusing on the negative rather early here, aren’t I? That’s actually not all that fair—there was in fact a lot about this novel that I enjoyed. King is great at envisioning post-apocalyptic landscapes; what you’ve got here in Cell is basically a more succinct version of the good parts of [b:The Stand|149267|The Stand (The Complete & Unabridged Edition)|Stephen King|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1213131305s/149267.jpg|1742269]. So while it never achieves the heights of the best parts of The Stand, it never hits that book’s low points, either. Also, remarkably for King, one of the main characters is a gay man—a gay man who’s awesome! And who actually survives! The friendship between this fellow, Tom, and Clay, our everyman hero, is by far the best part of this novel. It’s also slashy as hell. At one point, oh-so-hetero Clay actually thinks about how much he is going to miss Tom’s smile. Hee! How has the internet seemingly failed to produce fic for this? I want to read all about Clay and Tom’s wacky post-apocalyptic adventures! Because if surviving the end of the world isn’t the perfect excuse to experiment with your sexuality, I don’t know what is.
I’m focusing on the negative rather early here, aren’t I? That’s actually not all that fair—there was in fact a lot about this novel that I enjoyed. King is great at envisioning post-apocalyptic landscapes; what you’ve got here in Cell is basically a more succinct version of the good parts of [b:The Stand|149267|The Stand (The Complete & Unabridged Edition)|Stephen King|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1213131305s/149267.jpg|1742269]. So while it never achieves the heights of the best parts of The Stand, it never hits that book’s low points, either. Also, remarkably for King, one of the main characters is a gay man—a gay man who’s awesome! And who actually survives! The friendship between this fellow, Tom, and Clay, our everyman hero, is by far the best part of this novel. It’s also slashy as hell. At one point, oh-so-hetero Clay actually thinks about how much he is going to miss Tom’s smile. Hee! How has the internet seemingly failed to produce fic for this? I want to read all about Clay and Tom’s wacky post-apocalyptic adventures! Because if surviving the end of the world isn’t the perfect excuse to experiment with your sexuality, I don’t know what is.
I can't even tell you how pissed I am at this ending. I feel like I wasted my time and got no explanation and a crappy ending.