Reviews

The Long Walk by Stephen King, Richard Bachman

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rocketqueen812's review against another edition

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dark reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

ljbarefoot's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

5.0

geneius's review against another edition

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challenging dark sad medium-paced

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

4.75

just by nature of the plot itself this was a bit slow at times but enough to keep me interested and reading, otherwise this 100% would’ve been a 5 star. funny at times, gory, emotional, and extremely well-written, there’s a reason why king is considered a master at horror

strawberryisscrumptious's review against another edition

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dark tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? It's complicated
Diverse cast of characters? No

5.0

embrcko's review against another edition

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dark emotional reflective tense medium-paced

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

4.5

rsiby_13's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? It's complicated
Loveable characters? No
Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

4.0

caroline77's review against another edition

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2.0

***SPOILERS HIDDEN***

How I was surprised--and disappointed--not to love this. I'd loved two King works prior to reading The Long Walk: [b:Hearts in Atlantis|11602|Hearts in Atlantis|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1374048926l/11602._SY75_.jpg|3166850] and [b:The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon|11564|The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1580235339l/11564._SY75_.jpg|1836389], but this is far inferior. Despite a premise that sounds intriguing, the story presents many questions but provides few answers, so I finished it with no closure and wondered why I wasted the time. This is one of King's earlier works, and it's clear he hadn't yet hit his writing stride.

One of the book's most glaring problems is the dialogue--and this is an extremely dialogue-heavy, character-driven book. Conversation is occurring among a group of teenage boys. Anyone who's listened to teenage boys interact knows they don't talk like this, yet the boys' dialogue mimics that of grown men. This flaw grated on me from beginning to end, try as I might to overlook it.

Also problematic is that King conceived of some kind of dystopian society, yet never established how this society operates. I simply had no idea whatsoever. The ultimate question--why are these 100 boys

Spoiler

walking continuously until only one is left alive?

--is never answered or even hinted at, and I found that extremely unsatisfying. Additionally, I desperately wanted to know:

Spoiler

what does it mean that the main character's dad was taken by the Squads?

What are the Squads anyway? Why do only boys participate in the walk? Why are all the boys teenagers? What's the winner's prize? There are so many, many questions yet so few answers.

I don't mind books that expect me to figure things out for myself or that leave things up to interpretation, but so little is answered or even constructed (for example, the dystopian society that would have a Long Walk in the first place) that the whole endeavor feels more like lazy storytelling than anything else. It's as if King dreamed up this unusual idea, then sat down to type it all up over the course of a week or less, when in reality this kind of story requires lots of fleshing out and a real, solid dystopian construct for it to be the incredible story it has the potential to be. It's a real shame King didn't do more with it.