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ckrush's review against another edition
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.
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 against another edition
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
remigves's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-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
3.75
flavoredowl's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
hopeful
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Racial slurs, Pedophilia, Physical abuse, Child abuse, Child death, and Slavery
subparcupcake's review against another edition
3.0
I went back and forth for a while with my rating for this book. Some sections were a solid five. Some a pretty solid four.. But then everything in between those.. It sort of dragged. There was just so much journeying, so so so much on the road type crap. Which I get! It's just that kind of book, a hero with a quest, obstacles along the way. I like that, it's classic fantasy. But it just got to be too much.. It seemed repetitive in a lot of ways. The stops along the way were interesting.. But the actual quest seemed to drag on and on.. It really hindered my enjoyment of the book as a whole.
My biggest annoyance - it took Jack about 3/4 of the book to go what seemed to be a pretty short distance in comparison to the whole of his journey.. And then wham bam he goes the rest of the way in no time at all. It was just poorly balanced, in my opinion of course, and left me at times wishing it would just get to the point already.
That said.. There was a lot of good in the book. A lot of good characters, interesting story lines.. It just couldn't make up for the endless monotonous journey that at points almost bored me to tears. Or rather, it made it so I just couldn't make myself bump a three star rating to the four star it deserved throughout most of the book.
My biggest annoyance - it took Jack about 3/4 of the book to go what seemed to be a pretty short distance in comparison to the whole of his journey.. And then wham bam he goes the rest of the way in no time at all. It was just poorly balanced, in my opinion of course, and left me at times wishing it would just get to the point already.
That said.. There was a lot of good in the book. A lot of good characters, interesting story lines.. It just couldn't make up for the endless monotonous journey that at points almost bored me to tears. Or rather, it made it so I just couldn't make myself bump a three star rating to the four star it deserved throughout most of the book.
badseedgirl's review against another edition
3.0
Read March 2017
Stephen King has made his name and his fortune as a horror writer. Ask people who Stephen King is and they will tell you he is a writer, ask him what genre, and most if not all will tell you "horror." This title is well earned, especially with his earlier works like [b:Carrie|10592|Carrie|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1166254258s/10592.jpg|1552134] and [b:The Shining|11588|The Shining (The Shining #1)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1353277730s/11588.jpg|849585]. Not as many people are familiar with his Fantasy work. This is of course rapidly changing with the pending release of the Movie "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger" based on his "Dark Tower" series. But even fewer people know that Mr. King has partnered up with [a:Peter Straub|6941|Peter Straub|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1200468903p2/6941.jpg] for another epic fantasy series and this book, is the first in this series.
World Building. This book is a lesson in how to build a world. The concept of "twinning" is not really that new. But Mr. King and Mr. Straub were able to create two fully formed worlds, this enabled a storyline that felt rich, in spite of the fact that the character development was just so-so in the secondary characters. To this day I still have no idea as to the motivation if any of Morgan Sloat. The main protagonistic characters of Jack and to a lesser extent Richard were fairly well fleshed out, the rest, meh.
I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series [b:Black House|10607|Black House (The Talisman, #2)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388263466s/10607.jpg|1738813]. This book is set 20 years after the events in The Talisman. It will be interesting to see what has happened with an adult Jack Sawyer.
Stephen King has made his name and his fortune as a horror writer. Ask people who Stephen King is and they will tell you he is a writer, ask him what genre, and most if not all will tell you "horror." This title is well earned, especially with his earlier works like [b:Carrie|10592|Carrie|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1166254258s/10592.jpg|1552134] and [b:The Shining|11588|The Shining (The Shining #1)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1353277730s/11588.jpg|849585]. Not as many people are familiar with his Fantasy work. This is of course rapidly changing with the pending release of the Movie "The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger" based on his "Dark Tower" series. But even fewer people know that Mr. King has partnered up with [a:Peter Straub|6941|Peter Straub|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1200468903p2/6941.jpg] for another epic fantasy series and this book, is the first in this series.
World Building. This book is a lesson in how to build a world. The concept of "twinning" is not really that new. But Mr. King and Mr. Straub were able to create two fully formed worlds, this enabled a storyline that felt rich, in spite of the fact that the character development was just so-so in the secondary characters. To this day I still have no idea as to the motivation if any of Morgan Sloat. The main protagonistic characters of Jack and to a lesser extent Richard were fairly well fleshed out, the rest, meh.
I am looking forward to reading the next book in the series [b:Black House|10607|Black House (The Talisman, #2)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1388263466s/10607.jpg|1738813]. This book is set 20 years after the events in The Talisman. It will be interesting to see what has happened with an adult Jack Sawyer.
julipetric's review
adventurous
lighthearted
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
2.75
mitchjjt's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
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? No
1.0
blaackhippy's review against another edition
3.0
A great read however the ending felt flat; starts okay, builds incredibly, ends meh.
closteroven's review against another edition
5.0
(9/10)- Very very good. I usually don't love collabs but this one was really interesting and I couldn't tell the difference between the styles. I grew attached to the characters, the plot was great, and even if I didn't understand everything that is like literally every other book. Overall, I really loved this, and it's probably one of my favourite Stephen King books now. Also the cover is super pretty and the next one may or may not mention Dark Tower stuff directly so... those are many reasons to love the book. But I actually did enjoy it.