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Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Murder
Moderate: Alcoholism, Suicide
This book has an amazing, well-thought out, invigorating plot, for the most part. It's so interesting, and with the exception of the slower middle half of the book, it was a real page-turner. That middle part was kind of rough though. I'm not kidding when I say this took me a few years to get through. I wanted to persevere through this book because I liked the story, but the middle part just dragged on and on, and I put it down and then picked up several times the past few years. Once I got passed the middle part, however, I was back glued to the book.
I loved that this revolved around the trope of a historian-type figuring uncovering the truth about something that happened in the past, and I liked that it actually used time travel too. Stephen King, as he always does, successfully worked horror into the story as well, and I thought it was very well done in an understated kind of way. I didn't love the ending, but it was okay, and I was just happy to find out how it ended.
This book's romance was lacking, in my opinion. The book used the 'not like other girls' and 'man teaches woman what good sex is', and I really dislike those tropes. I feel like the romance could have written so much better than it was, but it wasn't the main plot that drew me in anyways.
Overall, I enjoyed it, felt 'meh' towards some aspects of the story, and will keep the book around in my personal library. Will I read it again? Not sure, but maybe someday.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Death, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Medical trauma, Stalking, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Sexual content, Slavery, Suicide, Violence, Blood, Grief, Car accident, Alcohol, War
Minor: Ableism, Xenophobia, Antisemitism, Pandemic/Epidemic
This is NOT a horror or thriller. It’s truly historical fiction meets science fiction.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Cursing, Suicide, Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Cancer, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Racism, Terminal illness, Violence, Vomit, Grief, Stalking
Graphic: Death, Gore, Violence, Murder
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Self harm, Suicide, Blood, Medical content, Medical trauma, Murder
Minor: Addiction, Cancer, Terminal illness, Grief, Pregnancy, War
Graphic: Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse, Toxic relationship, Violence, Blood, Medical trauma, Murder, Abandonment
I edited my rating to 5* a few months after finishing because I heard someone talk about it and remembered how great this book was, so I feel that is worthy of a 5* rating. Few books can evoke that kind of reaction from me.
Also check the content warnings - there are a few.
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Domestic abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infidelity, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexual content, Terminal illness, Toxic relationship, Violence, Grief, Toxic friendship, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Stephen King does not know how to write female characters in the slightest and this book is a shining example of that. There is exactly 1 female character in this book and she's fairly important to the plot yet her appearance (ie: body, how she's dressed) seems to be the main thing King feels the need to share about her. When her body isn't being discussed, the reader gets bombarded with tales of her traumatic previous sexual experiences/relationships and how only the main character can show her proper love *eye roll*
This book was a long, arduous, often boring slog with some interesting time travel elements.
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Physical abuse
Minor: Gun violence
- (Unnecessary) use of racial slurs and sexist language and the clearly white male perspective on those issues (in the past and present)
- There is too much happening with the characters, making the plot that the book is supposedly about, almost seem like an afterthought
- I really didn't like the protagonist..
- The ending.. (but that's to be expected I guess when you pick up a Stephen King novel)
But, I did finish it and there were parts that I was really enjoying it, but that doesn't make up for the story overall being underwhelming in the and, on top of the problems listed above..
Also, I read some positive reviews about the narrator of the audiobook, but I really cringed the way he portrayed the speech patterns and accents of certain characters, especially foreign, black and mentally challenged people.
Graphic: Alcoholism, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Suicide, Murder
Moderate: Domestic abuse, Racism, Sexism, Stalking
Minor: Cancer, War
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Violence, Suicide attempt
Graphic: Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Blood, Murder
Moderate: Child death, Death, Car accident
Minor: Cancer, War