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3.35 AVERAGE
3.35 AVERAGE
Previously this novel was the one King book sitting on my DNF list. This time I pushed through and after 600+ pages the book earned an additional star. I actually enjoyed the beginning this time around and I didn’t lose the thread until the middle. I was not a fan of the military characters; moreover, the storyline was certainly more engaging this time around and I was able to reach the crux of the plot, but I’d still classify this as one of my least favorite of King’s books.
I split this read up between a few months and think I would have enjoyed it even more had I read it in one go. Call me simple, but I thoroughly enjoyed this read. King is one to sometimes add backstories that I feel are unnecessary to the overall plot, but even though this is a thick(ish) King book, I feel all of the backstories were necessary for the overall story. I really enjoyed this book. It was weird, wild, and so beautifully Stephen King. If I ever have a lot of time on my hands, I will be rereading
I'll preface this review by saying I really love Stephen King's writing, but I am not usually a fan of alien type horror books, so take this review with a grain of salt. I tried reading this book a couple years ago, and couldn't get into it so it was added to the pile of "to read later" books.
However, I read The Tommyknockers not long after, and really enjoyed it so figured I'd give this one a try again. I found lots of similarities of The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher, but felt the latter handled the horror/mystery/intrigue a lot better. I really tried to love this book, but the alien butt babies just... turned it into a laugh instead of a scare.
On the second read, the first couple chapters of the book really piqued my interest. Especially the back story, and the "knowing" aspect of the men, along with the gap of memory from the accident. I was quite invested in the characters at first, but felt the story lines for each just dwindled unsatisfactorily. I think I could have even gotten past the sulphur farts, and the aliens being shot out of the butts of their victims, but it felt like two or three separate stories, all unfinished, and shoved into one book, with weak strings trying to tie them together.
It was a true struggle to get through this book, and I've never felt more relief to be finished.
However, I read The Tommyknockers not long after, and really enjoyed it so figured I'd give this one a try again. I found lots of similarities of The Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher, but felt the latter handled the horror/mystery/intrigue a lot better. I really tried to love this book, but the alien butt babies just... turned it into a laugh instead of a scare.
On the second read, the first couple chapters of the book really piqued my interest. Especially the back story, and the "knowing" aspect of the men, along with the gap of memory from the accident. I was quite invested in the characters at first, but felt the story lines for each just dwindled unsatisfactorily. I think I could have even gotten past the sulphur farts, and the aliens being shot out of the butts of their victims, but it felt like two or three separate stories, all unfinished, and shoved into one book, with weak strings trying to tie them together.
It was a true struggle to get through this book, and I've never felt more relief to be finished.
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
dark
mysterious
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I will never, ever read Stephen King again.
1st read: from April 16th 2012 to June 4th 2012
2nd read: from July 9th 2013 to July 12th 2013
1st read: from April 16th 2012 to June 4th 2012
2nd read: from July 9th 2013 to July 12th 2013
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
Complicated
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
dark
emotional
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
No
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
This novel is just a hot freaking mess. It's hot garbage. It's a dumpster fire.
The first time I read this, I remember being not overly impressed, but I didn't actually hate the thing.
This time around, I was ready to just stop at least five times...in five days. Through the entire miserable experience, I kept wondering if this was a trunk novel he'd had kicking around during his drug-addled days. After I finished I found out he wrote it longhand while recovering from the accident.
My problems are many with this novel, but there's a couple of overriding elements that just ruined this experience for me.
The first is, King can't really write SF. He obviously loves the genre, and it's obvious that he tries to bring a human element into it. He tried it with TOMMYKNOCKERS and he'll give passing nods to it down the road in UNDER THE DOME and a little less in THE INSTITUTE. But, at least for me, while it always starts out really promising, it never works out.
The second reason—again, just for me—that it doesn't work out, and why this book is so much of a dumpster fire is because of all the "in the head" stuff that King slathers into this novel. We're in Henry's head. We're in Jonesy's head. We're in Mr. Gray's head. There's rooms in there. And boxes. And fax machines.
And it, to me, comes across as really amateurish and boring.
There's other stuff. The chase scene that runs about a third of the novel. Even the set up that runs a third of the novel before the military shows up. Kurtz is easily one of the worst characters King's ever dreamed up.
And yet...
There's smaller, far less important (and often completely unneeded) scenes, mostly centred around the four guys and Duddits when they were young that hinted at the incredible writer King can be.
This, at times, felt like a twisted IT pastiche, and I also (once again, personal opinion) feel that, had King done alternating young group/older group chapters, it would have been a better paced novel.
It's absolutely not the worst book that has Stephen King's name on it (that is, and always will be the toilet paper replacement GWENDY'S FINALSHIT TASK) however, I'd always considered King's other SF travesty TOMMYKNOCKERS as his worst solo novel. I've reconsidered that. It's now only second worst.
This one now sits comfortably in that spot.
The first time I read this, I remember being not overly impressed, but I didn't actually hate the thing.
This time around, I was ready to just stop at least five times...in five days. Through the entire miserable experience, I kept wondering if this was a trunk novel he'd had kicking around during his drug-addled days. After I finished I found out he wrote it longhand while recovering from the accident.
My problems are many with this novel, but there's a couple of overriding elements that just ruined this experience for me.
The first is, King can't really write SF. He obviously loves the genre, and it's obvious that he tries to bring a human element into it. He tried it with TOMMYKNOCKERS and he'll give passing nods to it down the road in UNDER THE DOME and a little less in THE INSTITUTE. But, at least for me, while it always starts out really promising, it never works out.
The second reason—again, just for me—that it doesn't work out, and why this book is so much of a dumpster fire is because of all the "in the head" stuff that King slathers into this novel. We're in Henry's head. We're in Jonesy's head. We're in Mr. Gray's head. There's rooms in there. And boxes. And fax machines.
And it, to me, comes across as really amateurish and boring.
There's other stuff. The chase scene that runs about a third of the novel. Even the set up that runs a third of the novel before the military shows up. Kurtz is easily one of the worst characters King's ever dreamed up.
And yet...
There's smaller, far less important (and often completely unneeded) scenes, mostly centred around the four guys and Duddits when they were young that hinted at the incredible writer King can be.
This, at times, felt like a twisted IT pastiche, and I also (once again, personal opinion) feel that, had King done alternating young group/older group chapters, it would have been a better paced novel.
It's absolutely not the worst book that has Stephen King's name on it (that is, and always will be the toilet paper replacement GWENDY'S FINAL
This one now sits comfortably in that spot.