Reviews with content warning for Confinement - Firestarter

Reviews tagging 'Confinement'

Firestarter by Stephen King

18 reviews

phantomgecko's review against another edition

3.0

dark sad slow-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: No

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: No

At first I thought, oh cool retro 80s setting. Except the book was published in 1980. And man, running from the government was hard then, but imagine trying to run now.

Also, the computer usage was....amusing.

Content Warnings

himpersonal's review against another edition

4.75

adventurous dark emotional tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: Yes

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I’ve had a Stephen King phobia my whole life. This the first book I’ve read by him. It was so good! Excited to read more of his works now. Still a bit trepidatious, but much more open minded now for sure.

Think it helped that this book wasn't actually a horror book. The only thing I'd ever heard about him was regarding his horror books. Plus, The Shining ruined me for decades after watching it on late night TV. For anyone else with a King phobia, this is a very good starter book.

Content Warnings

nishidake's review against another edition

4.0

adventurous dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Plot

Strong character development: Complicated

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

traceyanderson's review against another edition

4.25

challenging emotional mysterious tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: A mix

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Complicated

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Complicated

Content Warnings

myleejmiller's review against another edition

4.0

dark emotional mysterious sad tense fast-paced

Plot or Character Driven: Character

Strong character development: Yes

Loveable characters: Yes

Diverse cast of characters: No

Flaws of characters a main focus: Yes

I grew up hearing all about the legends of Stephen King. The King of Horror, many call him. I was only convinced to read the first book I have picked up by him since hearing rumors over the years: Firestarter, when I saw the movie release trailers for the second adaptation. I was not disappointed by the novel. The storytelling was beautiful and vivid. The characters were deep and astonishing. Everything came together with rhyme and reason in tandem. However, despite the greatness of the story and its writing, I note a few issues within it. One being that at some points the main characters knowingly and willingly walk into danger, dreading it, when they could easily avoid it altogether. Second, this book was marked as Science-Fantasy Horror-Thriller. I will preface this by saying I am not easily scared or excited, but this book did not feel scary or tense to me. I have read contemporary non-horror books with what felt like harsher and more gripping stakes. Third, I have to say that the end of the story is completely predictable, at least to me. I found it easy to assume which events would happen before they came to pass. Otherwise, Firestarter by Stephen King was a masterpiece. It showed his prowess in painting detailed settings and giving the readers an inside look of life through the eyes of Andy and Charlie McGee.

Content Warnings