Reviews

Firestarter by Stephen King

alanp's review against another edition

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5.0

8.5/10

_marycappiello3's review against another edition

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dark emotional sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0


Expand filter menu Content Warnings

tgannon's review against another edition

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3.0

Though entertaining, "Firestarter" lacks the substance of King's earlier work. Paced oddly, King is more interested in getting to the "on the run from the government" side of the story, yet he fills The Shop and its experiments with more intrigue than that side of the story. I would, however, like to know what Charlie gets up to as an adult. She has great potential as a character and a story McGuffin -- a revisit to her story akin to "Doctor Sleep" might have some legs to it.

toph821's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.75

qjbrown96's review against another edition

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4.0

You don’t hear much about this book from people but it’s one of my favorites of his for sure. I would give it 5 stars but I hate inconclusive endings. The story follows a man and his daughter running from a secret government agency called “The Shop”. He has the ability to control your mind and she controls fire. Together they use their powers to stay on the run as long as they can from being killed or being captured and used as lab rats. A fast paced thriller with and interesting antagonist.

hillaryallison's review against another edition

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adventurous dark medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.0

jenmat1197's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? It's complicated
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? No
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

 
This is the story of Andy McGee and his daughter Charlie.  Andy and his late wife, Vicky, had volunteered in college as test subjects.  While they developed psychic abilities, their child Charlie developed pyrokinesis, and has become extremely dangerous because she cannot control it.  Charlie and her dad are on the run from "The Shop" - the folks that ran the experimental testing on her parents - to end Charlie's life because they fear that she may set the world on fire. 

This was a weird book.  King is a gifted writer, but the story itself was a bit strange.  It started out strong, and then it started to drag a bit.  There was so much dialogue, that I found myself wanting Mr. King to just get on with it and get back to the point.  It was a good novel (and an old one) but not his best in my opinion.

Stars: 3.5 

bookwoom's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Plot
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.25

letamcwilliams's review against another edition

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5.0

Stranger things origin text

cody_madden's review against another edition

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

4.5