Reviews

The Talisman by Peter Straub, Stephen King

trygalle_trade_guild's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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? No

4.0

lorenaalexia's review

adventurous challenging dark funny tense medium-paced

5.0

this is the story of a boy
who traveled east and then traveled back west
he needed a charm to reverse his mum’s death
i absolutely loved it
when he flipped

mikeyb25's review against another edition

adventurous dark medium-paced

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

3.0

aidi98's review

adventurous slow-paced

3.5

kristen1416's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

3.0

milly_mv_'s review against another edition

2.0

no sé si 2 o 2.5, la vdd no me gustó mucho,,,

jamiemonster's review against another edition

Too slow paced and dated for me. 

thebestmark's review

dark mysterious tense slow-paced

A queasy mixture of extreme grindhouse-cinema violence and the boyish high fantasy of The Neverending Story, The Talisman is essentially a mechanism of torture for its 12 year-old protagonist, Jack Sawyer. Throughout The Talisman, Jack is enslaved, menaced by a sex pest, bears witness to cannibalism and is haunted by the guilt of accidentally murdering half a dozen adult men, along with countless other psychological punishments. The constant repetition of Jack's incredible misery takes on an almost fetishistic quality thanks to the novel's narrator, who possesses a sardonic, mocking detachment from Jack's infinite misery. Because Jack's trauma is both escalatory and cyclical, rising and falling as regularly oceanic tides, The Talisman almost achieves a kind of Hellraiser-esque reverse-zen philosophy, in which only the worst possible outcome can be achieved, and in which the reader learns to anticipate whatever's worse than the worst thing imaginable. Because of this, the hands of the authors weigh heavily over The Talisman, as if both King and Straub are playing a game of chicken to see who's definition of 'too far' is the broadest. It feels less like a comprehensive, full-bodied novel than it does a writing class exercise about committing to the bit that's gone on way too long.

ckrush's review

3.0

I decided to read this book because of it's (and the sequel's) connection to the Dark Tower, and it was strongly recommended by a friend. To start, the story was slow in the beginning. I didn't find any real interest or desire to continue reading until I was about 150 pages in. The only reason I kept at it was because my friend said it would be worth it.

While the story is pretty good, it certainly peaks as Jack travels across the country and he passes through the Blasted Lands. Without giving anything away, the events that take place at the end of the book lead toward a conclusion you know is coming, but takes a very long time to get to.

High Points: Jack's Relationship with Wolf; the Sunlight Home; the Blasted Lands; Camp Readiness

Low Points: The 200 page slow start, the ending

It will be interesting to see how this takes shape as a graphic novel and mini-series.

greathornedowl's review

adventurous funny fast-paced

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

3.75