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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
3/5
This book is somewhat notorious among King's work for being two things: weirder than normal and way too long. Even though I enjoyed it, both of these assumptions are almost completely correct.
It's a book about an alien invasion, an unusual group of friends and... disregard of human rights by the US military? Yeah, that's about it. The first two are the best parts of the book: King is good at writing the supernatural, even if we're talking about aliens, and the same goes for weird friend groups in shitty situations. The problem comes from... the rest.
It's an interesting book, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that isn't extremely familiar with King's other works, specially because there are a lot of other, better, books that could fit that space.
This book is somewhat notorious among King's work for being two things: weirder than normal and way too long. Even though I enjoyed it, both of these assumptions are almost completely correct.
It's a book about an alien invasion, an unusual group of friends and... disregard of human rights by the US military? Yeah, that's about it. The first two are the best parts of the book: King is good at writing the supernatural, even if we're talking about aliens, and the same goes for weird friend groups in shitty situations. The problem comes from... the rest.
Spoiler
More than half of the book is taken up by a chase that just goes on and on and on and on... It makes the book feel much much longer than it actually is. Not to mention the quite polemic portrayal of Down Syndrome being a major plot point in the book. Overall, these things combine to make a great example of the problems in King's works. Which is ironic, because the positive aspects of his writing are what hold this book together.It's an interesting book, but I wouldn't recommend it to anyone that isn't extremely familiar with King's other works, specially because there are a lot of other, better, books that could fit that space.
adventurous
dark
medium-paced
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
Malheureusement j'ai DNF le livre au milieu. Je n'ai plus compris ce qu'il se passait, j'étais un peu perdue et ça m'a empêche de continuer. Mais la première partie est excellente!
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
I love Stephen King, all his genres. Except sometimes his horror books. This was one for those — just too visceral and unbelievable for my stomach. So didn’t finish. Sorry, Stephen!
There were many parts of this book that I loved. I loved Duddits, and the bond of friendship between the main characters was so well written and beautiful. The aliens? Not such much. It’s just not my thing. The writing was great but there were times I thought I was never going to make it through.
Read as a mixture of physical book and audiobook.
Just goes to show that you shouldn't rely on other people's opinions/recommendations. Dreamcatcher is often listed as one of King's least-liked books but I thought it was pretty good. Certainly not top-tier King but far from some of the ones I like least. Having said that, I'm not sure that I've met a King book that I actively disliked but there are certainly some that were less enjoyable and a bit of a chore to get through (looking at you Regulators).
My only real complaints about this book are; 1) I think the ending/chase section of the book was far too long. This section takes up the final 200 pages of the novel and honestly probably could've been half that easy. 2) I didn't particularly like the narrator for the audio version. This obviously has nothing to do with the quality of the story itself but it was a lot less enjoyable than listening to IT.
King wrote this book by hand during his recovery from being hit by a car and, like the final Dark Tower novels, this bleeds through into the story. One of the characters in this book is himself hit by a car which shatters his hip.
King's depiction of a character in this story with Down's Syndrome is a bit cringey but you can tell that he's doing it with the best of intentions.
I enjoyed the tie-in to IT that occurs in this book. Having just read that book recently, it was fun to have a certain event from that book play a role in this one.
All in all, this was an enjoyable read and I shouldn't have put it off for as long as I did simply because of the negative press it tends to get (and neither should you!).
Just goes to show that you shouldn't rely on other people's opinions/recommendations. Dreamcatcher is often listed as one of King's least-liked books but I thought it was pretty good. Certainly not top-tier King but far from some of the ones I like least. Having said that, I'm not sure that I've met a King book that I actively disliked but there are certainly some that were less enjoyable and a bit of a chore to get through (looking at you Regulators).
My only real complaints about this book are; 1) I think the ending/chase section of the book was far too long. This section takes up the final 200 pages of the novel and honestly probably could've been half that easy. 2) I didn't particularly like the narrator for the audio version. This obviously has nothing to do with the quality of the story itself but it was a lot less enjoyable than listening to IT.
King wrote this book by hand during his recovery from being hit by a car and, like the final Dark Tower novels, this bleeds through into the story. One of the characters in this book is himself hit by a car which shatters his hip.
King's depiction of a character in this story with Down's Syndrome is a bit cringey but you can tell that he's doing it with the best of intentions.
I enjoyed the tie-in to IT that occurs in this book. Having just read that book recently, it was fun to have a certain event from that book play a role in this one.
All in all, this was an enjoyable read and I shouldn't have put it off for as long as I did simply because of the negative press it tends to get (and neither should you!).