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poorlyassembled's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence
Moderate: Homophobia
Minor: Sexual violence and Rape
lunarpancakes's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
I enjoyed ‘salem’s Lot overall! There were a few things that kept me from loving it loving it, y’know?
I didn’t like that it came down to a few dudes taking on the vampires — I wish the heroes were a bit more diverse.
I feel like my qualm with Barlow is similar to my qualms with Sauron. He is this looming evil figure who we don’t get to see all that much. I understand why we only see Barlow for a limited amount of time (the clock is ticking, after all, and Barlow was wise to lay low until he did), I just think the kind of villains I prefer are ones who are formidable, immovable, and incredibly involved with the story. My perfect villain is Annie Wilkes, IMO. So Barlow didn’t freak me out as much. He’s cruel, just not constantly in the picture.
Also — and I understand that this has to do with personal taste — I didn’t really care about all of the residents of the Lot. The little details and the named characters who hardly made appearances were hard to keep up with.
Either way, I enjoyed the twists and turns :)
I feel like my qualm with Barlow is similar to my qualms with Sauron. He is this looming evil figure who we don’t get to see all that much. I understand why we only see Barlow for a limited amount of time (the clock is ticking, after all, and Barlow was wise to lay low until he did), I just think the kind of villains I prefer are ones who are formidable, immovable, and incredibly involved with the story. My perfect villain is Annie Wilkes, IMO. So Barlow didn’t freak me out as much. He’s cruel, just not constantly in the picture.
Also — and I understand that this has to do with personal taste — I didn’t really care about all of the residents of the Lot. The little details and the named characters who hardly made appearances were hard to keep up with.
Either way, I enjoyed the twists and turns :)
Content Warnings
Graphic: Violence, Rape, and Sexual violence
a_davis's review against another edition
challenging
dark
mysterious
sad
tense
fast-paced
4.25
I don’t know if it’s because of Twilight or what, but I’ve never found vampires to be particularly spooky. this was fucking scary.
I fell into a bit of a slump in the middle but Stephen King did it again with the last 150 pages being absolutely buck wild!
I fell into a bit of a slump in the middle but Stephen King did it again with the last 150 pages being absolutely buck wild!
Content Warnings
Graphic: Murder
Minor: Rape
arivnnv's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Moderate: Homophobia, Child abuse, Child death, and Domestic abuse
Minor: Rape
yustika's review against another edition
3.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Physical abuse, Misogyny, Homophobia, and Rape
ktnl22's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
4.5
It took a little while to get into but then I couldn't put the book down. This is my 2nd Stephen King book I've read and I really enjoyed it, looking forward to reading more of his books.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Animal death, Death of parent, Death, Murder, and Rape
epeolatrist's review against another edition
dark
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, and Child abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Alcoholism, and Rape
Minor: Homophobia
zeldazonks's review against another edition
dark
sad
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? No
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.0
This is quintessential Stephen King; troubled writer, precocious kid, a few abused/traumatised women, an alcoholic etc. So make of that what you will. I found the start pretty slow going, but once the action kicks in I was gripped. There are aspects of King's writing that I struggle with (jahoobies and liberal use of slurs) but I also love the way he writes. I feel like you really marinate in the mindsets of each of his characters and there are certain passages of prose that blow me away. So I give King a lot of free passes that I probably wouldn't if he wasn't such a staple on the bookshelf of my youth. As far as a Stephen King novel goes, I liked it.
Content Warnings
Moderate: Sexual violence, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Rape, Murder, Animal death, Sexual assault, and Homophobia
x_tora's review against another edition
dark
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.25
Content Warnings
Minor: Rape, Domestic abuse, and Animal death
the_cheerful_necromancer's review against another edition
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
4.5
Ported over from my now-abandoned Goodreads:
Quite frankly this is my favourite King book. It's terribly bleak, but it manages to be tentatively hopeful too. The tension and the pacing kept my attention all the time, and I inhaled the book over the course of a day or so.
I found myself really, truly rooting for every one of the POV characters. It's a product of its time, of course, and features quite a few very heavy themes and detestable side characters (what else is new?) but overall this one holds up brilliantly. I know I'll be coming back to it again.
Quite frankly this is my favourite King book. It's terribly bleak, but it manages to be tentatively hopeful too. The tension and the pacing kept my attention all the time, and I inhaled the book over the course of a day or so.
I found myself really, truly rooting for every one of the POV characters. It's a product of its time, of course, and features quite a few very heavy themes and detestable side characters (what else is new?) but overall this one holds up brilliantly. I know I'll be coming back to it again.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Child death, Death of parent, and Child abuse
Moderate: Animal death, Alcoholism, and Rape
Minor: Homophobia
Buyer beware: This book was written in the 1970's, and sometimes goes out of its way to make snide remarks about gay people. It's almost funny how much of a non-sequitur every inclusion of homophobia is; literally none of the characters are actually gay, at least as far as we see.