Reviews

The Stand by Stephen King

florasin's review against another edition

4.5

I'm working my way through King's work in publishing order as audiobooks. This is the first one that I haven't read before. 

I absolutely love it. It's a favourite of my Mom's, but I remember being intimidated by it when I first started picking up King's books. Somehow, even after reading the Dark Tower series, I still hadn't picked this one up.

Anyway, I had no idea what I was missing. I don't know if this book benefits from my having read the universe already, but I was wholly invested from fairly early on. Right around the time someone was described as a slow mutant.

There were multiple characters in this book that I couldn't predict the outcome for. I worried about characters often. Especially later in the novel. 

I was listening to an audiobook (Grover Gardner does fantastic work here) and usually doing housework things at the same time. I regularly forgot what I was doing and got distracted just listening. Laundry half folded, dripping dish suds on the floor... Just lost in it. 

It's just fantastic.

roisin_marie's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-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? It's complicated

4.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Pandemic/Epidemic, Death, Suicide, Animal death, Bullying, and Mental illness

So you need to know about the dog? Kojak, the dog, is left behind because they leave on motorbikes. By himself. I know. He isn't mentioned again he just shows up asleep on a porch later. We learn he'd travelled, on foot, alone, for miles and miles to get back to Glen. He took on a pack of evil wolves and won. He is a hero and goes on to the stand. Stephen king kindly let's us know when kojak comes back that he survives to be 16 and goes on to be a doggy daddy. So you're able to relax then

jmszpicki's review against another edition

dark hopeful mysterious sad tense slow-paced

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

4.0

elleshel99's review against another edition

challenging dark mysterious 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

5.0

lilacullen's review against another edition

dark tense slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

5.0

jach's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious slow-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

4.25

ldelain11's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-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

5.0

charlietheraspberry's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-paced

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

4.0

kellymartin3702's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes

3.0

Excellent book.....until the end. The story had a long build up to a very short and disappointing climax.

betseyboo's review against another edition

4.0

Crazy to think this book was written in 1978. Reading it during a pandemic gave it a totally different feel. Although slow at times, I think the story will stick with me longer than those of other books.