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Graphic: Gore
Moderate: Religious bigotry
Minor: Sexual assault
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Vomit, Fire/Fire injury
Graphic: Cancer, Death, Drug use, Gore, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Violence
Moderate: Suicide, Death of parent, Alcohol
Minor: Sexual content
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Gore, Homophobia, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Kidnapping, Grief, Murder
Jack Sawyer is the kid all of us in the 90s played pretend at. We were given a magical quest by a mysterious traveler and there were to be no shortcuts. Jack's road is a bit darker than I'm sure most of us pretended, it is a King story after all, but it is both a coming of age tale and a chosen one quest. Being able to flip between our world, or the 1980s version of our world, and a parallel one called simply "the territories" Jack is special because he doesnt have a "twinner" and thus is single natured. His whole goal is to save his mom, and her twinner the Queen of the Territories. Everything tries to stop him. Nothing is easy and he wants to give up many many times. But he presses on.
I loved this as a teen, I loved it just as much as an adult. I sobbed, I laughed, I rooted for Jack and shouted at the villain. I would definitely read it a third time.
However, there are some questionable themes. Jack is only 12 and he gets beaten, propositioned, exploited and stalked. He is set on his mission by a common trope of King's "the magical black man." These things are hard to listen to and some made me cringe pretty hard, but the story itself is worth it.
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Police brutality, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, War
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Vomit
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, Gaslighting
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Death, Forced institutionalization
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse
Graphic: Homophobia, Racial slurs, Racism
Moderate: Cancer, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Pedophilia, Violence