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3.73 AVERAGE
3.73 AVERAGE
dark
sad
medium-paced
Look, I know people tend to not like this book because of the ending! I was actually terrified during my time reading this because I loved this book so much and didn’t want the ending to ruin it for me! I am so glad I didn’t listen to those that told me they didn’t like it. This is one of the best King books (in my opinion) that I’ve read recently and probably one of his best of the past decade!
I was enthralled in this book from page one (which is often hard for me to say with most King books) and I constantly found myself questioning everything that I was reading. Up until the end, you would be hard-pressed to convince me who the true villain of this story was! Wonderfully crafted and amazing storytelling!
Highly recommend!!
I was enthralled in this book from page one (which is often hard for me to say with most King books) and I constantly found myself questioning everything that I was reading. Up until the end, you would be hard-pressed to convince me who the true villain of this story was! Wonderfully crafted and amazing storytelling!
Highly recommend!!
A bit of a different angle for Stephen King. Turned out creepy as always, but for a while I was definitely wondering where this was going. I wasn't overjoyed with the novel and it won't be in my top lists of King books, but it was a good escape while I read it.
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
As a long time Stephen King fan, I'd always been nervous about post-2000 Stephen King works. At the time of my reading Revival, I hadn't read many post-2000 books by King. I was relatively surprised at how much I enjoyed this book. It has one of King's most unforgettable and terrifying endings. I thought I was going to have nightmares after completing this book. We are told the life story of a man from his young childhood through his older adult years. We're told his trials and tribulations and how one man, a former minister obsessed with electricity, affects and even saves him. What's the truth behind this "other" electricity this former minister keeps talking about, though? Hold onto your seats, for this Revival is truly a shocking one.
One if Kings best in recent years imo, so dark...
"Revival" by Stephen King, a relentless exploration into the darker corners of the human soul, is profound storytelling at its best. King succeeds once again in captivating his audience with his intuitive understanding of human complexity and otherworldly encounters. It impressively hammers home a hard-hitting narrative connecting two individuals - Jamie Morton and Charles Jacobs - across the full spectrum of their lives.
The novel opens with a touching portrayal of Jamie Morton’s childhood in Harlow, Maine, his discovery of hardship, love, and loss, and his first fleeting interaction with Charles Jacobs, the dynamic new local minister. As the novel unfolds, it offers a ringside view into Jamie's life journey, tackling prevailing themes like substance addiction and faltering personal relationships.
Simultaneously, Jacobs, as intriguing to the readers as to young Jamie, confronts a divine despair after a tragic accident involving his wife and child. His resulting acrimonious sermon scandalizes the town's folks leading to his eventual excommunication. However, this tragedy triggers Jacobs’ lifelong obsession with harnessing the power of Electricity, or rather ‘secret electricity’.
King’s dramatic mastery of suspense burgeons as Jamie, now an itinerant guitarist, crosses path with Jacobs again, introduced as the carny manager peddling an electricity act at the Dutchess County Fair. Jacobs uses his ‘secret electricity’ to cure Jamie of his heroin addiction. However, this miracle cure comes with bizarre side effects like prophetic nightmarish dreams. The shocking part is that Jacobs’ every patient reports experiencing these eerie visions, pointing towards an alarming revelation.
The story fast-forwards, and we find a wealthy Jacobs successfully passing off as a faith healer under the awning of a miracle worker. Their lives intersect once again when Jamie confronts Jacobs about the disturbing aftermath of the ‘treatments’. However, his pleas fall on the deaf ears of Jacobs, who has tumbled irredeemably deep into the precipice of fanatic obsession.
The climax is a surreal nightmare on Midworld Craig, where Jacobs aims to capture his magnum opus via Jamie, a metaphysical photograph of the ‘beyond.’ The show ends in a chaotic catastrophe, evident of Jacobs’s descent into lunacy. The final revelation of the ‘beyond’ as an alien entity, ‘Mother,’ who feeds off human suffering, seals the fates for both Jacobs and Jamie and illuminates King's favorite trope - sometimes dead is better.
"Revival" provides an electrifying cocktail of themes from obsession-paved downfalls to a savage critique of religious hypocrisy, the horrors of drug addiction, and the illusionary promise of eternal life. King’s remarkable character development, particularly of the tragic antihero Jacobs, his indulgence into the human fear of the unknown, and his trademark mix of reality and supernatural elements, makes‘Revival’ a must-read.
Stephen King has bent the force of his extraordinary talent into crafting "Revival", an uncanny novel that channels Lovecraft but remains purely King, a revelation into the terrors of the afterlife that is sure to haunt the reader. Be warned, though, this may be his most chilling ending yet! The vivid and visceral horrors of "Revival" echo long after reading, making it arguably Stephen King's best.
The novel opens with a touching portrayal of Jamie Morton’s childhood in Harlow, Maine, his discovery of hardship, love, and loss, and his first fleeting interaction with Charles Jacobs, the dynamic new local minister. As the novel unfolds, it offers a ringside view into Jamie's life journey, tackling prevailing themes like substance addiction and faltering personal relationships.
Simultaneously, Jacobs, as intriguing to the readers as to young Jamie, confronts a divine despair after a tragic accident involving his wife and child. His resulting acrimonious sermon scandalizes the town's folks leading to his eventual excommunication. However, this tragedy triggers Jacobs’ lifelong obsession with harnessing the power of Electricity, or rather ‘secret electricity’.
King’s dramatic mastery of suspense burgeons as Jamie, now an itinerant guitarist, crosses path with Jacobs again, introduced as the carny manager peddling an electricity act at the Dutchess County Fair. Jacobs uses his ‘secret electricity’ to cure Jamie of his heroin addiction. However, this miracle cure comes with bizarre side effects like prophetic nightmarish dreams. The shocking part is that Jacobs’ every patient reports experiencing these eerie visions, pointing towards an alarming revelation.
The story fast-forwards, and we find a wealthy Jacobs successfully passing off as a faith healer under the awning of a miracle worker. Their lives intersect once again when Jamie confronts Jacobs about the disturbing aftermath of the ‘treatments’. However, his pleas fall on the deaf ears of Jacobs, who has tumbled irredeemably deep into the precipice of fanatic obsession.
The climax is a surreal nightmare on Midworld Craig, where Jacobs aims to capture his magnum opus via Jamie, a metaphysical photograph of the ‘beyond.’ The show ends in a chaotic catastrophe, evident of Jacobs’s descent into lunacy. The final revelation of the ‘beyond’ as an alien entity, ‘Mother,’ who feeds off human suffering, seals the fates for both Jacobs and Jamie and illuminates King's favorite trope - sometimes dead is better.
"Revival" provides an electrifying cocktail of themes from obsession-paved downfalls to a savage critique of religious hypocrisy, the horrors of drug addiction, and the illusionary promise of eternal life. King’s remarkable character development, particularly of the tragic antihero Jacobs, his indulgence into the human fear of the unknown, and his trademark mix of reality and supernatural elements, makes‘Revival’ a must-read.
Stephen King has bent the force of his extraordinary talent into crafting "Revival", an uncanny novel that channels Lovecraft but remains purely King, a revelation into the terrors of the afterlife that is sure to haunt the reader. Be warned, though, this may be his most chilling ending yet! The vivid and visceral horrors of "Revival" echo long after reading, making it arguably Stephen King's best.
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
4 ⭐️ I'm in a terrible reading slump but this had my attention the whole way through.
It's true, the last 50 pages are just insanity. I think the build up is worth it, I predicted something similar but wow.
Kind of loved Jamie's character. And at the start really thought I was going to love Charles Jacob's too.
It's true, the last 50 pages are just insanity. I think the build up is worth it, I predicted something similar but wow.
Kind of loved Jamie's character. And at the start really thought I was going to love Charles Jacob's too.