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3.82 AVERAGE
3.82 AVERAGE
dark
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
adventurous
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
N/A
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
N/A
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Skimmed through this one enjoyed my time but read a few of the stories
Within this collection you’ve got a few stories of note:
The Mist is the longest story perhaps actually a novella and is genuinely scary. Some of the story is a little weak but it’s probably King’s most genuinely unnerving stories.
Mrs Todd’s Shortcut was quite good. The story is beautifully written and fairy tale like. Great story.
The Jaunt is the best story in the collection. It is a brilliant piece of science fiction and perhaps my favorite King short story.
The rest of the stories are okay, a few are bad, and a few I couldn’t make sense of. The whole collection is worth it though for those three gems.
The Mist is the longest story perhaps actually a novella and is genuinely scary. Some of the story is a little weak but it’s probably King’s most genuinely unnerving stories.
Mrs Todd’s Shortcut was quite good. The story is beautifully written and fairy tale like. Great story.
The Jaunt is the best story in the collection. It is a brilliant piece of science fiction and perhaps my favorite King short story.
The rest of the stories are okay, a few are bad, and a few I couldn’t make sense of. The whole collection is worth it though for those three gems.
challenging
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
N/A
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
A mixed bag of short stories by Stephen King with a wide range of themes (sci-if, Lovecraft, classic horror, poems, etc…) The Jaunt, Mrs Todd’s Shortcut, the Reach, and the Raft were my favorites. Didn’t particularly enjoy Cain Rose Up or Wedding Gig.
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Like any anthology, some stories are better than others. But the highs are WAY higher than the lows are low. I loved it!
I consider myself a fan of Stephen King, and I've read an okay amount of his work, so I'm familiar with him and his Kingisms and the way his collections encompass the full range of writing quality. It's part of the experience. Because some of these stories were just tedious and straight-up bad (as is the thing) I can't give the collection a super high rating, but the high points were wonderful. Some of the stories here are really fun to read (even the endings), and of course this collection can't be all bad because it has "The Mist". Also, this has one of the best introductions to any collection written by anyone. Loved it and the end notes particularly. There's good stuff here.
Some of the best short stories of Mr. King can be found in this entertaining book.