Reviews

The Stand by Stephen King

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squire's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? No

Atrocious vanity project (that King is certainly entitled to) that takes a masterpiece and makes it an unfocused, trashy mess. Sure it ties in to his Dark Tower mythology (which was a big misstep), but he ruined one of the best books of his career. Since both time lines are part of the DT story arc, it makes no sense not to keep publishing both.

There. I said it. Avoid if you can help it.

Content Warnings

squire's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional inspiring mysterious medium-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? No

5.0

Stephen King's first masterpiece. The story of the Captain Trips superflu that ravages the world and the .6 percent of the population that survives (99.4% pure--justlike Ivory soap). It becomes a morality play as survivors in the States choose sides and gather around the demonic Randall Flagg and angelic Mother Abigail. A testiment to what makes America great unencumbered by needless Dark Tower tie-ins, this is the version to read and the one King's legacy will rest on (he either won't admit it or doesn't realize it yet). Too bad King has taken it out of print.

Have read 4 times.

kylesafgt's review against another edition

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adventurous dark slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Character
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

youngthespian42's review against another edition

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2.0

I found myself returning to King and working through some of the Classics in the last few years after being totally drawn in again by Doctor Sleep. This has always been one of his highest regarded works and understanding The Man in Black is critical to the Dark Tower Series I hope to get to someday. Maybe it's just cause I've read a lot of post-apocalypse fiction at this point but this book did not hit for me at all. Way too much build and not enough actual conflict with the Man in Black himself. Read Justin Cronin's Passage trilogy instead. The worldbuilding, Lore, and characters are way more compelling. Also, The Stand's audio book was over 48 hrs long. Woof.