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thisotherbookaccount 's review for:
Revival
by Stephen King
Revival is a different kind of Stephen King book, which is incredible, considering the fact that this book was published in 2014, and this man already has more than 70 books under his belt. To evolve as a writer this late into your career is something seldom seen elsewhere, and I certainly wasn't expecting Revival to be any different from Stephen King's later works.
Don't get me wrong, I still love Stephen King as a writer. It's just that, if I were to touch my heart, I would say that Stephen King hasn't written a truly great book since 2011's 11/22/63. While the Bill Hodges Trilogy was brainless and entertaining, it never rose out of the bottom pile of Stephen King books for me. So I didn't have much hope coming into Revival, a book written square in the middle of his career in the 2010s, right between Mr Mercedes (an OK thriller) and Finders Keepers (a somewhat better thriller).
So is Revival the — ahem — revival of Stephen King since 2011's 11/22/63?
No, but King sure does a good job at reinventing himself as a writer.
Revival is Stephen King's HP Lovecraft book. This is his take on the Lovecraftian horror. It's not that he hasn't attempted anything like this before — we've seen that in short stories like 'N'; the macroverse in IT and the todash space in The Dark Tower series, etc. However, I think this was the first time Stephen King decided to write a book in the exact footsteps of Lovecraft.
Which is refreshing, because you tend to fall into a cadence of sorts if you have written more than 70 books like he has — and, let's face it, Stephen King has fallen into a bit of a rehash mode in the last 10 years. His more recent books tend to follow a familiar structure. Creepy shit happens in a small town, members of the small town freak out, members of the small town band together to investigate, members of the small town band together to defeat the villain, the end. He's even started to take creative cues from his previous works. As much as I enjoyed the first two-thirds of The Outsider, his latest book, even I have to admit that the turn in the last act is basically straight out of his 1996 book, Desperation. Both feature a 'shapeshifting' villain, and the origins of both villains revolve around an evil cave that collapsed long ago. Been there, done that, no matter how entertaining the ride is.
Now, Revival doesn't follow those formulas. Instead, this is a book written by a writer who is super sure of his footing. Instead of sprinkling mini climaxes throughout the book, King baits the reader with a central mystery. He promises to reveal it to the characters and, in turn, the readers, by the end of the book. He also knows that the mystery is alluring enough for readers to go along for the ride. So he tightens the screw little by little — or increases the temperature of the water, if you will — and builds the tension like an old hand. Instead of the neat endings that King sometimes falls prey to, Revival doesn't shy away from the kind of endings that he used to be known for. This one is a gut punch, and leaves the readers with such dread and hopelessness that it hangs around long after the last page — no, the last line — is done. As a fan of his body of work, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.
While it doesn't quite rise to the height of 11/22/63, I am happy to report that Revival may very well be my favourite Stephen King novel since 2011. A very well written book by an accomplished horror writer who continues to impress and surprise.
Don't get me wrong, I still love Stephen King as a writer. It's just that, if I were to touch my heart, I would say that Stephen King hasn't written a truly great book since 2011's 11/22/63. While the Bill Hodges Trilogy was brainless and entertaining, it never rose out of the bottom pile of Stephen King books for me. So I didn't have much hope coming into Revival, a book written square in the middle of his career in the 2010s, right between Mr Mercedes (an OK thriller) and Finders Keepers (a somewhat better thriller).
So is Revival the — ahem — revival of Stephen King since 2011's 11/22/63?
No, but King sure does a good job at reinventing himself as a writer.
Revival is Stephen King's HP Lovecraft book. This is his take on the Lovecraftian horror. It's not that he hasn't attempted anything like this before — we've seen that in short stories like 'N'; the macroverse in IT and the todash space in The Dark Tower series, etc. However, I think this was the first time Stephen King decided to write a book in the exact footsteps of Lovecraft.
Which is refreshing, because you tend to fall into a cadence of sorts if you have written more than 70 books like he has — and, let's face it, Stephen King has fallen into a bit of a rehash mode in the last 10 years. His more recent books tend to follow a familiar structure. Creepy shit happens in a small town, members of the small town freak out, members of the small town band together to investigate, members of the small town band together to defeat the villain, the end. He's even started to take creative cues from his previous works. As much as I enjoyed the first two-thirds of The Outsider, his latest book, even I have to admit that the turn in the last act is basically straight out of his 1996 book, Desperation. Both feature a 'shapeshifting' villain, and the origins of both villains revolve around an evil cave that collapsed long ago. Been there, done that, no matter how entertaining the ride is.
Now, Revival doesn't follow those formulas. Instead, this is a book written by a writer who is super sure of his footing. Instead of sprinkling mini climaxes throughout the book, King baits the reader with a central mystery. He promises to reveal it to the characters and, in turn, the readers, by the end of the book. He also knows that the mystery is alluring enough for readers to go along for the ride. So he tightens the screw little by little — or increases the temperature of the water, if you will — and builds the tension like an old hand. Instead of the neat endings that King sometimes falls prey to, Revival doesn't shy away from the kind of endings that he used to be known for. This one is a gut punch, and leaves the readers with such dread and hopelessness that it hangs around long after the last page — no, the last line — is done. As a fan of his body of work, I must say that I was pleasantly surprised.
While it doesn't quite rise to the height of 11/22/63, I am happy to report that Revival may very well be my favourite Stephen King novel since 2011. A very well written book by an accomplished horror writer who continues to impress and surprise.