A review by samdalefox
The Institute by Stephen King

adventurous funny mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Strong character development? Yes
  • Loveable characters? No
  • Diverse cast of characters? Yes
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? No

2.25

This was a friend's choice for our book club. He's a big fan of Stephen King, whereas I find his works hit and miss. This was more miss than hit, not because it's a badly written book or not enjoyable, but because it's very much what to expect of this genre, there was nothing novel or surprising for me. If this story wasn't written by King, I don't think people would rave about it so much. The storyline is predictable and the writing is average. As with most of King's longer works it's adventurous and maybe has too much unecessary detail, but it's easy enough to read. 

I was drawn in at the start following Tim, then it flipped to follow the child protagonist Luke and it took me some time to reinvest. I'm not convinced making him a child genius actually helped serve the character and story themes, but acted more as a plot device so King could shoehorn in convenient facts that wouldn't come up organically otherwise. From the heavy referencing to Nazi concentration camps I suspect King is trying to introduce the same questions of horrors and amorality to a different audience (abuse of power, authority, utilitarianism, scientific advancement through non-consent etc.). The largest threat
that their torture was preventing the 'end of the world'
didn't land for me at all and was rushed/not adequately explored in my opinion. 

I'm sure King fans will love this, for more casual readers enjoy it for what it is; don't expect too much. 
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