Reviews with content warning for Violence - The Stand

Stephen King is one of my favourite authors so I was excited to read this but had put it off a while. It's a big book and I needed time to prepare myself for it haha.

As is to be expected with King, his descriptions are so good that it feels like you're there with the characters, experiencing what they're experiencing, both good and bad.

I really liked the plot, exactly my kind of thing and I appreciated the characters development throughout the book. You get to experience both sides in this and it's interesting comparing the "bad" and "good" people in it.

I didn't give a full 5 stars because even though I enjoy long books, I sometimes felt that it wasn't necessary for this particular book to be over 1000 pages.

If you like post apocalyptic thrillers with creepy bad guys in, you're in for a treat!

Content Warnings

ladawson's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional hopeful reflective sad tense slow-paced

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

3.5

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muzik_izak1's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? Yes

4.25

I don't have any words to express how happy I am to finally finish this book. I love King's writing but this was insanity. The sure length of the book was intimidating enough. But the story did not disappoint. From the first second of craziness to the somewhat twist ending, I was enthralled in this story. There were some boring parts, but there always are. I thoroughly enjoyed this book.

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mxpringle's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring tense medium-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

5.0

Best Stephen King novel of all time. It was so masterful and complex and I think that I'll be thinking about this book for a long long time.

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laird_br0wn3's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark informative reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

Though it took me 3 years to read this, it has one of the biggest impacts on me that any book has offered. I don't say that lightly. While some denigrate it as "silly Christian fiction" toward the end, I think they miss a certain literary style used in the 2nd half, Southern Gothic, so it uses many symbols to add emphasis as plot devices.
I gotta say, it still felt like it could've gone longer and I'd still feel satisfied.

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zazzyb'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? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

I don't think there is anything I could say about this book to do it justice. its just so so good. I was told/ordered to read this book by a friend who told me its one of his fave books ever and that no I should read the uncut version.
It didn't matter that I had never read stephen king, I needed to experience this book and if I didn't like it within 5 chapters I could give up.
I didn't give up, this book kept me on tenterhooks. I would find myself reading and reading until hours had passed, this book got me out of a reading slump and turned me into a stephen king fan.
I bought my own copy of the stand uncut and I will be reading this again.
Covid really made the stand all the more harrowing and it gives such relief that this wasn't our journey as well.

What else can I say about this book apart from the characters were in depth and well written, the story and plot were well paced. It did feel long but that's what I signed up for when I read the uncut version, I can't imagine how some bits were cut out because everything seems to fit so perfectly together.

I never wanted to put it down and its a classic that will be staying on my shelf for a long time.

Content Warnings

mswarning's review against another edition

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dark mysterious

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

Omg I finished this M-O-O-N, that spells monster, of a book. Jesus. Fucking. Christ. As someone who did not read a book over 500 pages until mid September, I deserve a gold star for reading a book this long. Holy shit.

I know this tells you nothing of what I thought of the book itself. Well, I added a lot of notes while I read this book. Allow me to share:

2%: "The n-word usage is not my fave." - SG
2%: "This one is sooo long. Hoping I can finish in 18 days 😬 " - Instagram
5%: "I'm not super into this narrator." - SG
30%: "I'm getting there, slowly but surely. Waaaaay too many characters and POVs. And I'm so-so on the narrator." - GR
30%: "I'm listening to the extended uncut version, btw. I'm sure the original one is better." - GR. At this point, I was still naïve AF.
30%: "Took awhile to get into it, especially with so many povs. 12 days to finish now. 🤞" - Instagram
43%: "M-O-O-N spells slog." - GR
53%: "The first 40% was way too long. I can't believe I didn't know that this book is over 1100 pages. 😂" - GR
69%: "I have to finish in 5 days, which I think is doable. If I had to do this over again, I would stick to the print." - GR
69%: "Semi-regular 'The Stand' update. Feeling less irritable about the length now. Pretty confident I'll finish in 5 days. I can't say it's been a pleasurable experience racing to the end. I can tell this book sits better on the buildup of anticipation with dread steadily increasing - as all good King books do. Get a copy without a due date and stay away from the audiobook. Or if you do get it, prepare to increase the speed or you'll feel it suck the life out of you. I miss listening to music or letting myself think in silence. I feel guilty when I watch TV, that I should be listening to this book. Ugh." - Instagram
82%: "I might make it? The book is due in 3 days. Less than 9 hours left [in the audiobook]." - GR
95%: "I'm gonna make it after allllll." - GR
100%: "Finished with 5 hours to spare! I feel like all of my complaints were 1) the audiobook narrator and 2) the loan period. So don't make those mistakes, and you'll be fine." - Instagram

Highlights: Walking at the lake this past weekend listening to the book aloud because my bluetooth headphones had no battery left. The, uh, sex scenes and n-word usage while doing so was a bit sketchy. I had to pause the book or turn down the volume as I passed people.

Overall, I still ended up liking this book. You can tell how naïve I was about the length. I mean I knew it was 47 hours long, but I didn't really know ANYTHING about what that meant. I kept thinking I knew where this book was going or how it would end. I think that's the point, you're prepared for certain tropes or plot twists because authors tend to pull the same shenanigans. I was pleasantly surprised. I wouldn't say it's my favorite King book, but I think it's definitely my favorite King reading experience. Because of all my thoughts and feelings and the fact that I documented it all here.. and on GR and Insta. 😂

I still stand by all the updates/comments I made while I listened to The Stand. It's too long. As time went by and all the characters met up, I kind of forgot about the slog of the beginning. Part of that is recency bias, I think. But I understand why it's so long. I can appreciate it more on this side of it, even if I hated it while it was happening.

And yeah, check out the content warnings. There are a lot.

Content Warnings

snowypineapples's review against another edition

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adventurous dark tense slow-paced

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

4.0

This was a very good book, the story and plot and journey were incredible, thought provoking and interesting. However the conclusion to the plot is rather silly:

the literal hand of God appears in the sky

The silliness really ruined that part of the boom for me and although I loved the majority, there was lots of areas, not just that, where the boom felt like a chore to read

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