Reviews

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

ambrose_7's review against another edition

4.0

Not many authors can write a sequel to a book almost 30 years after they wrote the original and pull it off. Stephen King did just that, and for me personally, wrote a book that was better then The Shining. It took me a bit to get into it, the first 200 pages were meaty and a little bit “let’s get on with it.” But after that I was hooked, the rest of the book was a page turner with some of the best characters I’ve ever read and a fantastically written storyline. Doctor Sleep has some of the best villains ever written, period. I loved all the ties into The Shining and how everything wraps up so beautifully. It was a satisfying and thrilling read. I think King done good.

remia1996's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious reflective tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

manji's review against another edition

dark emotional 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? Yes

4.0

sandymcosta's review against another edition

3.0

Why does Stephen King do such a good job of making raging alcoholics so CHARMING? Maybe it's just the Torrence men in general. Both those men have scenes where they legitimately almost kill a woman, but you're reading it like "awwww...Dan, stahp. You silly goose."

In that vein, this novel falls into the same trap as The Shining (and other King novels) in that the men are all charming, well-rounded, three-dimensional characters who have opposing thoughts and feelings, and then women are one thing, and one thing only. It's annoying, especially when some of the female characters in this particular story have SUCH potential to be so much more than they are.

As a horror novel, definitely not as spooky as The Shining, but few things really can be, so that's hardly a unique fault.

sarahlou79's review against another edition

dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

the_nerd_librarian's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

booksaremyparadise's review against another edition

dark mysterious slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.75

I don't know what it was about this book, but it put me into the biggest reading slump. There was nothing that was particularly bad about it, I just found it to be very boring. Like "The Shining" already didn't scare me as much as I hoped it would and "Doctor Sleep" is a snoozefest compared to that. So in my opinion, this sequel was quite unnecessary. I hope the reading slump is beaten now that I finished this book though.

quinnkane's review against another edition

dark mysterious fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No

4.5

yorky_pud21's review against another edition

dark mysterious sad fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? N/A
• Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.5

beckymar's review against another edition

slow-paced

3.5