Lisey's Story

Average customer rating:

Boring!
My Least Favorite King Novel
On the fence
I am only about 1/2 way through,
A Big Smucking Review

Lisey's Story
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Scribner
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Hardcover

Contemporary | General | Literature & Fiction | Subjects | Books
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ASIN: 0743289412
Release Date: 2006-10-24

Lisey's Story is, at its core, a love story--heart-wrenching, passionate, terrifying and tender. It is the multi-layered and expertly crafted tale of a twenty-five year marriage, and a widow's journey through grief, through discovery and--this is King, after all--through a nightmare scape of the ordinary and extraordinary. Through Lisey's mind and heart, the reader is pulled into the intimacies of her marriage to bestselling novelist Scott Landon, and through her we come to know this complicated, troubled and heroic man.

Two years after his death, Lisey sorts through her husband's papers and her own shrouded memories. Following the clues Scott left her and her own instincts, she embarks on a journey that risks both her life and her sanity. She will face Scott's demons as well as her own, traveling into the past and into Boo'ya Moon, the seductive and terrifying world he'd shown her. There lives the power to heal, and the power to destroy.

Lisey Landon is a richly wrought character of charm and complexity, of realized inner strength and redoubtable humor. As the central figure she drives the story, and the story is so vividly textured, the reader will draw in the perfumed air of Boo'ya Moon, will see the sunlight flood through the windows of the Scott's studio--or the night press against them. Her voice will be clear in your ear as you experience the fear and the wonder. If your heart doesn't hitch at the demons she faces in this world and the other, if it doesn't thrill at her courage and endurance, you're going to need to check with a cardiologist, first chance.

Lisey's Story is bright and brilliant. It's dark and desperate. While I'll always consider The Shining, my first ride on King's wild Tilt-A-Whirl, a gorgeous, bloody jewel, I found, on this latest ride, a treasure box heaped with dazzling gems.

Book Description

Lisey Debusher Landon lost her husband, Scott, two years ago, after a twenty-five-year marriage of the most profound and sometimes frightening intimacy. Scott was an award-winning, bestselling novelist and a very complicated man. Early in their relationship, before they married, Lisey had to learn from him about books and blood and bools. Later, she understood that there was a place Scott went -- a place that both terrified and healed him, that could eat him alive or give him the ideas he needed in order to live. Now it's Lisey's turn to face Scott's demons, Lisey's turn to go to Boo'ya Moon. What begins as a widow's effort to sort through the papers of her celebrated husband becomes a nearly fatal journey into the darkness he inhabited. Perhaps King's most personal and powerful novel, Lisey's Story is about the wellsprings of creativity, the temptations of madness, and the secret language of love.

Customer Reviews:

Boring!.......2007-10-17

When I get a new Stephen King book, I check out of the world for a while... I just read, read, read from the opening paragraph until the last word. I am spellbound by his books. An electric connection. I LOVE Stephen King. Can't put one down.

I took this one back to the library without finishing it. I kept TRYING to read it. I kept hoping it would get better.

I don't think he wrote this one.

My Least Favorite King Novel.......2007-10-14

I consider myself a fan of Stephen King, and have spent countless hours reading most of his work. Unfortunately, I've never had an experience quite as bad as LISEY'S STORY, a meandering mess of a novel.

There are many fine Amazon reviews of this book, and I agree with the spirit of nearly all of the negative reviews. In LISEY'S STORY, King spends way too much time on the internal monologues of his main character, Lisey Landon. Most of this book consists of her thought processes, at the expense of any action.

Unfortunately, Lisey is not much of a character in the end. She is not particularly likable, and almost completely defines her identity as the appendage of her famous novelist husband. For the majority of this book, she is an angst-ridden bore who merely reacts to the events around her. She is ultimately a flat and uninteresting character, and it's sheer torture to read her endless ramblings, which constitute about eighty percent of this book's 700 or so pages.

I was also disappointed with this LISEY STORY's overall plot. I found it rather silly, overwrought and hard to follow in spots, given King's endless use of flashback. Ultimately, I found the plot a mere rehash of King's earlier novel ROSE MADDER. There is really very little original material in this novel, and I was shocked to hear that King considered it his best.

I think King is a fine wordsmith, but most of his recent novels contain very little story, and a great deal of literary bloat. If you've never read King before, my advice is to skip LISEY'S STORY and focus on his earlier books (before 1988 or so) where he was able to construct decent plots.

On the fence.......2007-10-12

I wasn't sure how to review this book. On the one hand, the good parts are brilliant. On the other hand, the flaws pretty much broke this book for me.

First, the bad stuff.
1. About 5% of this book seems to be quotations from various authors, musicians, etc. The quotes from Hank Williams (aka "Ole Hank") were enough to make me wish King would just knock it off (strap it on?) and use *his* words to tell *his* story instead of borrowing other people's. That's what an author is supposed to do, isn't it? If I want to read song lyrics, I'll buy the CD, thanks. I can't think of a single quote that illuminated the text or enhanced this book. They could all have been edited out with no loss to this reader.

2. Lisey's behavior. Another reviewer mentioned Lisey's reaction to finding a dead cat in her mailbox. For me, it is utterly unbelievable that any person would make this discovery and think, "Oh well, he's just messing around. I'm sure he'd never do anything like that to *me*. I might as well just scream at him over the phone and tell him to smuck off. That'll make him go away."
This is the same Lisey who *knows* what crazy psycho fans of her husband's work are capable of (or has she succumbed to the temporary amnesia she appears to suffer from periodically in this book and forgotten about that man who shot her husband?)
Then when the pyscho stalker is torturing her, I can't help thinking, "Well, duh. What did you think he was going to do to you, you idiot?" She had plenty of time, opportunity and money to protect herself from this predictable event and to prevent this from happening, but (because the plot requires it) she "decides" (i.e. the author decides) to leave herself vulnerable to him. Then, when she's lying mutilated in her husband's study, possibly bleeding to death and the deputy calls up the stairs to see if she's okay. She calls back down and says, yes she is. Because why? Oh yeah, the plot requires it of her.
Her sister mutilates herself. Does she immediately call an ambulance to have her taken to a hospital for her own protection? Well, no. She and her other sister clean her up and put her bed. Because why? That smucking plot-thing again.
Are the female characters believable? They're not believable as people to me, let alone as women (despite the interminable references to Lisey's bras). I've never had a sister, but these "sisterly" relationships seem to border on the women being pests to each other (except for Lisey, who is just generally better and more mature and together and everything than all of her sisters--in the author's opinion) except when the plot requires them to suddenly get along swimmingly, all grudges forgotten. Note to King: Women tend to hold grudges longer than men.).

3. Twenty-five years of marriage and just one fight (before they're married, he arrives late for a date and she reams him out. He cuts himself up and all's right with the world and they get engaged.). Why? Because they love each other more than any couple in the world ever has before.
He might be selling it, but I'm not buying it.

4. I bought this book assuming it was a mainstream novel. I was completely thrown when, well into the book, the spec-fic element suddenly appears (Scott's ability to travel to an alternate world). I guess I'm just used to reading spec-fic and assumed that the conventions of the genre are hard-and-fast rules. If the story is spec-fic, you let the reader know up front. Otherwise, the book comes off as being a bit of a whacked-out hybrid that isn't sure what it is.

The above might give the impression that I hated this book. I didn't. There were parts of it that I loved. There are little flashes of the kind of amazing writing that made me want to get out a highlighter and mark them so I could read them again. You know, the writer-envy green-gilled jealousy kind of passages.

King's portrayal of the relationship between Scott and his brother and father was genuinely moving. There's a big idea at the heart of this book that just verged on blowing me away. Almost enough to make me overlook the rest of the book's flaws. But not quite.

I would give this book a conditional recommendation to friends: If you don't mind occasional irrational behavior/characters, don't mind skipping over quotations, and you want to get your head into a really cool idea, buy this book.

I am only about 1/2 way through,.......2007-10-09

so take this with a grain of salt. I would (speaking as a woman married to one) swear that this was not written by Stephen King, but by another woman. It's just not his voice, and dunno...I don't think a man could have written this. It's too dead on. Good though :) not brilliant, but just really satisfying. I'll probably read it again in the future.

A Big Smucking Review.......2007-10-08

I bought this book on a whim because I needed something to read.
I wish I hadn't.

Lisey's Story is all about The Widow Landon as she sorts through her husband's crap after his death.
I can't really remember what causes her to start her journey to Boo'Ya Moon, her husband's other world.

What really annoyed me was her and Scott's inner language, such as "bool" "Smucking" "puffickly hoo-yuge" etc...

That's always annoyed me about King's work; the way he inserts weird little sayings like that into his work.

Other than that, It was alright.

Average customer rating:

insider's guide to writing
Great Audio
Delighted
For any writer who loves Stephen King...
Inspiring

On Writing
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0743455967

Amazon.com

Short and snappy as it is, Stephen King's On Writing really contains two books: a fondly sardonic autobiography and a tough-love lesson for aspiring novelists. The memoir is terrific stuff, a vivid description of how a writer grew out of a misbehaving kid. You're right there with the young author as he's tormented by poison ivy, gas-passing babysitters, uptight schoolmarms, and a laundry job nastier than Jack London's. It's a ripping yarn that casts a sharp light on his fiction. This was a child who dug Yvette Vickers from Attack of the Giant Leeches, not Sandra Dee. "I wanted monsters that ate whole cities, radioactive corpses that came out of the ocean and ate surfers, and girls in black bras who looked like trailer trash." But massive reading on all literary levels was a craving just as crucial, and soon King was the published author of "I Was a Teen-Age Graverobber." As a young adult raising a family in a trailer, King started a story inspired by his stint as a janitor cleaning a high-school girls locker room. He crumpled it up, but his writer wife retrieved it from the trash, and using her advice about the girl milieu and his own memories of two reviled teenage classmates who died young, he came up with Carrie. King gives us lots of revelations about his life and work. The kidnapper character in Misery, the mind-possessing monsters in The Tommyknockers, and the haunting of the blocked writer in The Shining symbolized his cocaine and booze addiction (overcome thanks to his wife's intervention, which he describes). "There's one novel, Cujo, that I barely remember writing."

King also evokes his college days and his recovery from the van crash that nearly killed him, but the focus is always on what it all means to the craft. He gives you a whole writer's "tool kit": a reading list, writing assignments, a corrected story, and nuts-and-bolts advice on dollars and cents, plot and character, the basic building block of the paragraph, and literary models. He shows what you can learn from H.P. Lovecraft's arcane vocabulary, Hemingway's leanness, Grisham's authenticity, Richard Dooling's artful obscenity, Jonathan Kellerman's sentence fragments. He explains why Hart's War is a great story marred by a tin ear for dialogue, and how Elmore Leonard's Be Cool could be the antidote.

King isn't just a writer, he's a true teacher. --Tim Appelo

Book Description

"Long live the King" hailed Entertainment Weekly upon the publication of Stephen King's On Writing. Part memoir, part master class by one of the bestselling authors of all time, this superb volume is a revealing and practical view of the writer's craft, comprising the basic tools of the trade every writer must have. King's advice is grounded in his vivid memories from childhood through his emergence as a writer, from his struggling early career to his widely reported near-fatal accident in 1999 -- and how the inextricable link between writing and living spurred his recovery. Brilliantly structured, friendly and inspiring, On Writing will empower and entertain everyone who reads it -- fans, writers, and anyone who loves a great story well told.

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For years I dreamed of having the sort of massive oak slab that would dominate a room.... In 1981 I got the one I wanted and placed it in the middle of a spacious, skylighted study in the rear of the house. For six years I sat behind that desk either drunk or wrecked out of my mind.... A year or two after I sobered up, I got rid of that monstrosity and put in a living-room suite where it had been....In the early nineties, before they moved on to their own lives, my kids sometimes came up in the evening to watch a basketball game or a movie and eat pizza....I got another desk -- it's handmade, beautiful, and half the size of the T. rex desk. I put it at the far west end of the office, in a corner under the eave....I'm sitting under it now, a fifty-three-year-old man with bad eyes, a gimp leg, and no hangover. I'm doing what I know how to do, and as well as I know how to do it. I came through all the stuff I told you about ... and now I'm going to tell you as much as I can about the job.... It starts with this: put your desk in the corner, and every time you sit down there to write, remind yourself why it isn't in the middle of the room. Life isn't a support-system for art. It's the other way around. --

Customer Reviews:

insider's guide to writing.......2007-10-17

Stephen King's "On Writing" is one of those rare gifts that seem to comealong at just the right time. I thought I might be the only one who has experienced the transition from, "I wanna," to "I haffto." He lets us in on his mastery of the wriiten word along with many many meaningful moments in his own life. Very practical and powerful. Thank you Mr. King.

Great Audio.......2007-10-09

This was such a treat. I listened to the six, eight hour cassettes, and it was a thrill. Stephen King is such an eloquent speaker. He is frank and funny-like when he does other voices in reading from other literature.

I enjoyed the authors honest style. It is so refreshing to hear a candid and friendly voice who offers the pearls of wisdom from his years of experience as a published author.

His mother offered him some advice when she heard that he wanted to be a writer: She urged him to get his teaching credentials so that he would have something to fall back on. After college, he was able to get one teaching position. The job didn't pay well. His manuscript for "Carrie" saved his family from poverty-as well as made his dying mother proud.

He writes because he loves it-so the pay was just icing on the cake.
It does show in his work and in this non-fiction book. He also urges other would-be writer's, also, to love their work.

My first book is Dreams in August: Life, Love, and Cerebellar Ataxia

Delighted.......2007-10-09

The book arrived in a timely fashion and in excellent condition. I had read a library copy of the book and I enjoyed it so much that I purchased this book for my son who also found it a great read.

For any writer who loves Stephen King..........2007-10-09

If you enjoy Stephen King novels and his method of storytelling and are looking to do some writing on your own, this book is for you. King carefully and comically explains his pet peeves, suggestions for greatness, and ideas for writing anything in this book. His anecdotes make On Writing read like a narrative rather than a how-to book. King gives creative and straightforward advice for all writers (not just the newbies). Definitely a recommended read!

Inspiring.......2007-10-08

The book can be broken into two sections, an autobiographical section and Stephen King's thoughts and tips on what is important for good writing.

The autobiographical part is limited to the parts of his life that he feels shaped and influenced him as a writer. Interesting and relevant though it is, this section really plays second fiddle to the other, which contains gems of his knowledge right from the first few lines. While reading the first section, I found myself constantly wanting to get through it to get to the second section.

That section, On Writing, I found instantly more useful than any other single source of writing tips or advice.

King begins with grammar and a few of his pet peeves before progressing to the more subtle points of quality writing and then to editing your own work. It is by no means an A-Z, all encompassing encyclopedia of how to be a writer, but what he does provide is what he thinks are relavent, useful pointers on how to improve. Here he completely succeeds. What he says makes perfect sense, and gives the reader actual tools that can be put into place immediately.

He does not beat around the bush and add in superfluous material in order to make the book seem more complete, which adds to the reader's confidence (as if there should ever have been a doubt) that what King has written is truly worth taking in.

King has a no-nonsense approach to writing, and I found myself laughing at regular attacks on sub-par writing or examples of writer commitment. He comes down heavy anyone who might think they have a god-given talent to write well without putting in the work. Writing, for him, is a part of everyday life and he believes that for any true writer it must be that way.

Overall, I found the book to be not only a very useful reference, but an inspiring account of what it takes to succeed as a writer.

Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #2 (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born)

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The Dark Tower #2
The Dark Tower Comic 2

Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #2 (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born)
Robin Furth , and Peter David
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

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ASIN: B000NUQWWC

Product Description

Roland has incurred the wrath of the evil sorcerer Marten, and must flee his home in Gilead with two of his young friends. But arriving in the supposedly friendly town of Hambry may be no safer, for the dreaded agents of Marten are abroad The Coffin Hunters! Though its not all completely bleak as Roland meets the woman who will become the love of his young life the beautiful Susan Delgado. Plus: Learn more about the land of the Dark Tower with exclusive bonus material!

Customer Reviews:

The Dark Tower #2.......2007-09-15

I'm giving the same review to all the comics in this series. It's too bad that King's epoch is so monumental that this comic serialization represents only a miniscule slice but for an abridgement it is excellent and,in my opinion, they've chosen the best segment. The writing is good, the art work alone is worth the purchase of the series. The insightful essays following each segment were enlightening. The down side was the back-slapping, self-gratification-fest that ended each book. If I felt any need to know how talented each of the contributers felt the others in the group were I'd go on the internet and look it up. I'm paying for a book, not an awards dinner. bg

The Dark Tower Comic 2.......2007-04-24

This was such a cool idea, and the artwork is awesome, but I have one problem with it. I kind of feel slighted that these comics are telling the story of the 4th book. I know that the title is Gunslinger Born but I still really want to get more of the story. Maybe it could have discussed what happened between the events of the 4th and the 1st novel. I was hoping there would be more story to the Dark Tower world, and, as a Tower junkie, I was a little let down.

That said, however, the comic book looks awesome and I can't wait to keep reading.

Average customer rating:

A Must Read Series
I love Roland
Forget books 5, 6, and 7. These are the real Dark Tower novels.
Brilliant!
The Gunslinger Series

The Dark Tower Boxed Set (Books 1-4)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 0451211243

Book Description

Now Available in a box set-the first four Dark Tower Books -- with new material from the author!

The Gunslinger
The Drawing of the Three
The Waste Lands
Wizard and Glass

In this brilliant series, Stephen King introduced readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, Roland of Gilead, The Last Gunslinger. Roland's quest for the Dark Tower took readers on a wildly epic ride-through parallel worlds and across time. A classic tale of colossal scope-crossing over terrain from The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, Insomnia, The Talisman, Black House, Hearts in Atlantis, Salem's Lot, and other familiar King haunts-the adventure took hold with the turn of each page...

In a major publishing event, the quest for the Dark Tower continues in Wolves of the Calla (Volume V), Song of Susannah (Volume VI), and The Dark Tower (Volume VII), coming from Scribner, beginning in November 2003.

Now readers can go back to where it all began with this box set of the first four Dark Tower titles, each featuring a new packaging and new introduction. Plus Book I, The Gunslinger, has been completely revised and expanded throughout.

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read Series.......2007-10-09

Roland is the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers. The world he lives in is quite different from our own, yet it bears striking similarities to it. Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West, as well as bearing magical powers and the relics of a highly advanced, but long vanished, society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to either be, or be located at, the nexus of all universes. Roland's world is said to have "moved on," and indeed it appears to be coming apart at the seams -- mighty nations are being torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish from the face of the earth without a trace, time does not flow in an orderly fashion; even the sun sometimes rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland's motives, goals, and even his age are unclear, though later installments shed light on these mysteries.

This series was mostly inspired by the epic poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, the full text of which was included in an appendix to the final volume. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger, King also identifies The Lord of the Rings, the Arthurian Legend, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name" character as one of the major inspirations for Roland. King's style of location names in the series, such as Mid-World, and his development of a unique language abstract to our own, are also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien's work.

The Dark Tower is often described in the novels as a real structure, and also as a metaphor. Part of Roland's fictional quest lies in discovering the true nature of the Tower. The series incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror, and western elements. King has described the series as his magnum opus; beside the seven novels that comprise the series proper, many of his other books are related to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses.

I love Roland.......2007-09-21

I bought by mistake Wizard and Glass, and I got so hooked to it that I have not stopped till I've bought the whole series of the Dark Tower!!

Forget books 5, 6, and 7. These are the real Dark Tower novels........2007-08-25

Man, these four novels are great! Stephen king did an excellent job on the first 4 entries in The Dark Tower series. But I would advise you to stop here and avoid the last three books and do not read them, because they are crap and they suck. Again, I say that you'll really like these four books. They have great depth in their storytelling. But, you will have to draw your own conclusions for what happens next after part 4. this set is highly recommended.

Brilliant!.......2007-08-11

What more is there to say? The guy is a genius (King) and the dark tower series is like no other. A must have for any sci-fi addict or just pure fantasy.

The Gunslinger Series.......2007-08-03

I have read all of Stephen Kings books in the Gunslinger or Dark Tower series. I sent this boxed set to a friend who needed an escape from reality for a while. It was received and after the second book was read couldn't put it down. I loved every second and dreaded it ending. I think it is one of Stephen Kings best accomplishments!!!A must for any SciFi fan!!

Average customer rating:

I wish I'd never started.
dont go beyond the warning!...spoilers!!!
The Crimson King Revealed
A little disappointing.
I liked it ...

The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1416524525
Release Date: 2006-08-29

Amazon.com

At one point in this final book of the Dark Tower series, the character Stephen King (added to the plot in Song of Susannah) looks back at the preceding pages and says "when this last book is published, the readers are going to be just wild." And he's not kidding.

After a journey through seven books and over 20 years, King's Constant Readers finally have the conclusion they've been both eagerly awaiting and silently dreading. The tension in the Dark Tower series has built steadily from the beginning and, like in the best of King's novels, explodes into a violent, heart-tugging climax as Roland and his ka-tet finally near their goal. The body count in The Dark Tower is high. The gunslingers come out shooting and face a host of enemies, including low men, mutants, vampires, Roland's hideous quasi-offspring Mordred, and the fearsome Crimson King himself. King pushes the gross-out factor at times--Roland's lesson on tanning (no, not sun tanning) is brutal--but the magic of the series remains strong and readers will feel the pull of the Tower as strongly as ever as the story draws to a close. During this sentimental journey, King ties up loose ends left hanging from the 15 non-series novels and stories that are deeply entwined in the fabric of Mid-World through characters like Randall Flagg (The Stand and others) or Father Callahan (Salem's Lot). When it finally arrives, the long awaited conclusion will leave King's myriad fans satisfied but wishing there were still more to come.

In King's memoir On Writing, he tells of an old woman who wrote him after reading the early books in the Dark Tower series. She was dying, she said, and didn't expect to see the end of Roland's quest. Could King tell her? Does he reach the Tower? Does he save it? Sadly, King said he did not know himself, that the story was creating itself as it went along. Wherever that woman is now (the clearing at the end of the path, perhaps?), let's hope she has a copy of The Dark Tower. Surely she would agree it's been worth the wait. --Benjamin Reese

Visit the Dark Tower store
Over 30 years in the making, spanning seven volumes, Stephen King's epic quest for the Dark Tower has encompassed almost his entire body of fiction. Find every volume of this fantastic adventure, an interview with the master himself, and much more in our Dark Tower Store.

Authors on Stephen King
Mystery writer Michael Connelly thinks Stephen King's "one of the most generous writers I know of." Thriller author Ridley Pearson says "King possesses an incredible sense of story..." Read our Stephen King testimonials to find out what else they and other authors had to say about the undisputed King of Horror.

The Path to the Dark Tower
There are only seven volumes in Stephen King's Dark Tower series but more than a dozen of his novels and short stories are deeply entwined with the Mid-World universe. Take a look at the non-series titles, from Salem's Lot to Everything's Eventual. Can you find the connections?

History of an Alternate Universe
Robin Furth, an expert on Stephen King's Dark Tower universe if ever there was one, has created a timeline of Mid-World, the slowly crumbling world of gunslinger Roland Deschain. Read it and get up to speed on a world of adventure.

Hail to the King
Fans applauded and critics howled when Stephen King was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Service to American Letters. In typical fashion, King accepted the honor with humility and urged recognition for other "popular" authors. Listen to a clip of his acceptance speech, then order the entire speech on audio CD.

Book Description

Creating "true narrative magic" (The Washington Post) at every revelatory turn, Stephen King surpasses all expectation in the stunning final volume of his seven-part epic masterwork. Entwining stories and worlds from a vast and complex canvas, here is the conclusion readers have long awaited -- breath-takingly imaginative, boldly visionary, and wholly entertaining.

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet have journeyed together and apart, scattered far and wide across multilayered worlds of wheres and whens. The destinies of Roland, Susannah, Jake, Father Callahan, Oy, and Eddie are bound in the Dark Tower itself, which now pulls them ever closer to their own endings and beginnings . . . and into a maelstrom of emotion, violence, and discovery.

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"All good things must come to an end, Constant Reader, and not even Stephen King can make a story that goes on forever. The tale of Roland Deschain's relentless quest for the Dark Tower has, the author fears, sorely tried the patience of those who have followed it from its earliest chapters. But attend to it a while longer, if it pleases you, for this volume is the last, and often the last things are best. Roland's ka-tet remains intact, though scattered over wheres and whens. Susannah-Mia has been carried from the Dixie Pig (in the summer of 1999) to a birthing room -- really a chamber of horrors -- in Thunderclap's Fedic; Jake and Father Callahan, with Oy between them, have entered the restaurant on Lex and Sixty-first with weapons drawn, little knowing how numerous and noxious are their foes. Roland and Eddie are with John Cullum in Maine, in 1977, looking for the site on Turtleback Lane where ""walk-ins"" have been often seen. They want desperately to get back to the others, to Susannah especially, and yet they have come to realize that the world they need to escape is the only one that matters. Thus the book opens, like a door to the uttermost reaches of Stephen King's imagination. You've come this far. Come a little farther. Come all the way. The sound you hear may be the slamming of the door behind you. Welcome to The Dark Tower. "

Customer Reviews:

I wish I'd never started........2007-10-03

Other (negative) reviews seem to sum up my opinion pretty well. Please don't start this series. If you start, please don't read the last book. It's really just bad. And it could have been so good.

dont go beyond the warning!...spoilers!!!.......2007-09-13

when i finally put down book six of this epic adventure i found myself relishing every page of the 7th and last book. before i could start the last book i had to get myself in the right mind set, it was that important to me. for all those who say the whole series was ruined by this books, i feel sorry they feel so strongly. this book is really a great book. the only problem is the ending of it all. after Roland leaves patick to go to his finally won dark tower i should have stopped reading. even stephen king tells the reader to stop if you enjoy the first ending. and i was close to putting the book down then,so close.
but i kept reading.
i remember telling a good friend who had finished the series already that i though the worst ending to the series would be if all the main characters had forgotten what they had achieved. i told him i would hate such a cop-out ending. well i cant say jake and eddie really forgot, since they died and Susanah, i could have over looked her memory loss since i was glad to see she found her way back to new york.
but when i finished the book, the one thing i had feared had come true. Stephen king ended the series with such a cop-out ending, the one i had told my friend i would hate. Roland standing in the desert he began in. "the man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." and he remembers nothing of his preiviouse adventure. really. i wanted Roland to die in that tower. i wanted him to have his final resting place in the top room of his finally won tower. in my mind that is where Roland died. in the worst way possible. THANKs KING. THANKS FOR COPIN-OUT!!!!!!

The Crimson King Revealed.......2007-09-13

this is the one we've been waiting for! Those stalwart souls who have journeyed with Roland,the gunslinger, and his cohorts finally arrive.
It's ben rough going,to put it mildly;my designated source of disgust were the "lobstrocities"Although the Wolves in the Calla were "no picnic".
Book 7, "The Dark Tower" introduces us to a revolting little half baby half spider but when The Crimson King is encountered this entity disintigrates into ashes to ashes dust to dust.
Stephen King"s "Crimson King is a shock but not really for "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came" by Niina Lockwood
fermbois@yahoo.com

A little disappointing........2007-09-07

I started the Dark Tower series with anticipation of a really good epic tale and for the most part it was...at least until Steve decided to interject himself into the story. Sigh..how self-serving and unimaginative can you get. I actually stopped reading and said out loud, "You have got to be kidding! Oh, Steve, no". I only continued on with the series because, in spite of this egotism, he had written some truly memorable characters and I just had to see what happened next. I particularily loved that he wasn't afraid to kill them off. Most writers are too insecure to trust their readers enough to do away with a really good character. I think this just enhances the experience of a good story. All in all, I would recommend this series as a whole just for the plain good storytelling of King at his most imaginative and to just overlook the author's intrusion.

I liked it ..........2007-09-06

Especially the part when Roland sings the names of all the people who helped (and died) so he could reach the Tower. If this series could be made into a movie or movies (which I doubt) that would be one of the best moments in cinema ever, it gave me goosebumps and haunted me (that night I dreamed of the Tower and what could be inside - I hadn't read the Coda yet). The ending is cruel, but I think it worked as a metaphor for the cleansing of one's karma (ka - karma?). I also hoped that Roland could get his much deserved rest when he reached the Tower, but maybe his whole quest perfected him somehow, and now he will make the right choices through his journey, so he can be worthy of entering the White and be at ease at last... Just my opinion.

Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1 (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born)

Average customer rating:

The Dark Tower #1
Ka is the wind
amazing
Highly satisfying
Wow

Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born #1 (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born)
PETER DAVID , and ROBIN FURTH
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

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ASIN: B000N9FJYA

Product Description

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." With those words, millions of readers were introduced to Stephen King's Roland -- an implacable gunslinger in search of the enigmatic Dark Tower, powering his way through a dangerous land filled with ancient technology and deadly magic. Now, in a comic book personally overseen by King himself, Roland's past is revealed! Sumptuously drawn by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, adapted by long-time Stephen King expert Robin Furth (author of Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance) and scripted by New York Times Best-seller Peter David, this series delves deep into Roland's origins -- the perfect introduction to this incredibly realized world, while long-time fans will thrill to adventures merely hinted at in the novels. Be there for the very beginning of a modern classic of fantasy literature!

Customer Reviews:

The Dark Tower #1.......2007-09-15

Ka is the wind.......2007-09-09

"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."

Those words opened the first book of Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, and they open the chilling, richly-drawn "Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born." This opening comic introduces a younger, less cynical Roland, and the harrowing tale of how he became a true gunslinger.

It opens with the gunslinger and the man in black, endlessly pursuing and pursued across the desert, and introduces us to their timeless natures.

Then the comic takes us back many years, to when Roland of Gilead was a teenage boy learning how to be a warrior. He and a bunch of other boys are being tutored by Cort, a bondsman who knows all the fighting tricks, and is supposed to teach them to be gunslingers -- or be exiled forever.

But during his training, he accidentally stumbles on his mother Gabrielle, naked in the wizard Marten's bed. Enraged, Roland goes to Cort and challenges him, taking the ultimate risk so he can become a gunslinger... but it's a lethal battle that will take a terrible sacrifice to win.

"Gunslinger Born" is basically adapted from the flashbacks from Stephen King's "Wizard and Glass," so fans of the book will probably already be acquainted with the tragic story of Roland's past. But it's almost as striking in comic form as in book form.

Part of that comes from Jae Lee and Richard Isanove. A lot of adaptations fall flat ("Anita Blake", anyone?), but their detailed artwork gives vibrant life to the story -- sun-dried fields, ruined buildings, ominously darkened chambers, and faces that seem to be riddled with shadows. There are moments of beauty (the last pages) and others of pure ugliness like Roland's fight with Cort.

But artwork alone doesn't make a comic book good. Robin Furth and Peter David recrafted King's prose for this -- the dialogue is spare and understated, while the narration has an ironic, regretful quality, as if Roland himself were telling the readers of his story. It's even peppered with the language of this postapocalyptic world ("... set your watch and warrant on it.")

And we get to see Roland back when he was a brash young teenager, very different from the grizzled gunslinger at the start. He's strong, brave and honorable, but also very young and impatient. And we get to see other characters from his past -- his careworn father, the malignant Marten, his childhood friends, and his junkieish mother.

The first part of the "Gunslinger Born" comic series is a dark, ominous experience, and a haunting look at this classic anti-hero's past.

amazing.......2007-08-28

the artwork in this comic is amazing. I am really impressed and plan to buy all of them for a collection.

Highly satisfying.......2007-08-23

Any fan of the DARK TOWER epic should add these wonderfully written and illustrated comics to their collection. I can't wait for the next release....

Wow.......2007-06-13

I collected comics as a teenager, and ten years later the reason I am back into it is because of this series! I read the Dark Tower books last year and LOVED it. If you haven't read the 7 novel series, do it! Now!
This comic is EXTREMELY well done. It's obvious those involved really care about this story. The artwork is beautiful. While I do appreciate the background and art sketches they give towards the end of each comic, I would definitely enjoy having more pages devoted to the actual story while keeping all the additional material. If you like the Dark Tower and comics, this is something you will love.

Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)

Average customer rating:

A Must Read Series
Gutsy
Dumber than part five.
Dark Tower VI - Song of Susannah
good!

Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 1416521496
Release Date: 2006-05-23

Book Description

SONG OF SUSANNAH

THE DARK TOWER VI

Susannah Dean is possessed, her body a living vessel for the demon-mother Mia. Something is growing inside Susannah's belly, something terrible, and soon she will give birth to Mia's "chap." But three unlikely allies are following them from New York City to the border of End World, hoping to prevent the unthinkable. Meanwhile, Eddie and Roland have tumbled into the state of Maine -- where the author of a novel called 'Salem's Lot is about to meet his destiny....

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"Stephen King The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah with 10 full-color illustrations by Darrel Anderson The next-to-last novel in Stephen King's seven-volume magnum opus, Song of Susannah is at once a book of revelation, a fascinating key to the unfolding mystery of the Dark Tower, and a fast-paced story of double-barreled suspense. To give birth to her ""chap,"" demon-mother Mia has usurped the body of Susannah Dean and used the power of Black Thirteen to transport to New York City in the summer of 1999. The city is strange to Susannah...and terrifying to the ""daughter of none,"" who shares her body and mind. Saving the Tower depends not only on rescuing Susannah but also on securing the vacant lot Calvin Tower owns before he loses it to the Sombra Corporation. Enlisting the aid of Manni senders, the remaining katet climbs to the Doorway Cave...and discovers that magic has its own mind. It falls to the boy, the billy-bumbler, and the fallen priest to find Susannah-Mia, who, in a struggle to cope -- with each other and with an alien environment -- ""go todash"" to Castle Discordia on the border of End-World. In that forsaken place, Mia reveals her origins, her purpose, and her fierce desire to mother whatever creature the two of them have carried to term. Eddie and Roland, meanwhile, tumble into western Maine in the summer of 1977, a world that should be idyllic but isn't. For one thing, it is real, and the bullets are flying. For another, it is inhabited by the author of a novel called 'Salem's Lot, a writer who turns out to be as shocked by them as they are by him. These are the simple vectors of a story rich in complexity and conflict. Its dual climaxes, one at the entrance to a deadly dining establishment and the other appended to the pages of a writer's journal, will leave readers gasping for the saga's final volume (which, Dear Reader, follows soon, say thank ya)."

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read Series.......2007-10-09

Gutsy.......2007-09-25

If you think you have Stephen King pegged think again. In this ingenious novel we follow the continued story of Roland of Gilead's ka-tet as they split up to fulfill their destinies and, hopefully, save the Dark Tower and all of the worlds it encompasses.

Roland and Eddie head to Maine in 1977 to save the life of Calvin Tower who owns the lot on which the Rose, the incarnation of the Dark Tower on Earth, grows. Along the way they meet a character who is possibly the strangest and the biggest risk of Stephen King's career. Either King is a genius or on an immense ego trip. I go with the former, and enjoyed that scene immensley. Meanwhile Mia has totally taken over Susannah Dean's body in order to get to New York in 1999 so she can bear her "chap" for the Crimson King. There are suprises in store in this thread of the story and you will learn who Mia actually is. In another story-line Pere Callahan and Jake follow Susannah-Mia to 1999 New York to save Susannah from the clutches of the Crimson King.

Dark Tower fans will love this sixth installment. It was one of the most satisfying and down-right fun books I've read all year.

Dumber than part five........2007-08-31

If part five wasn't crappy enough, we get this. The writting and story are worse here than the last one. The great tale that was was strong with books 1-4 is soured here. Ignore 5-7 and stick with 1-4.

Dark Tower VI - Song of Susannah.......2007-08-11

Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)
This is a great continuance of the Dark Tower series. Reading the DT series I-V is a must to fully appreciate all the nooks and crannies of Song of Susannah. It always amazes me how King ties the smallest details into completely different scenarios and goes back to explain why and how other events happened based on that.
If you're a Stephen King fan, you don't want to pass up the Dark Tower series!

good!.......2007-07-28

It was a really good read! Since it wasn't as thick as the others, I finished it quickly and was able to start The Dark Tower a few days later. :)

Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)

Average customer rating:

A Must Read Series
Epic storytelling and more
The Dark Tower series went from classic to rubbish in this entry.
Stephen the king
Stephen King Dark Tower Series

Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Pocket
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Paperback

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ASIN: 141651693X
Release Date: 2006-01-24

Book Description

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, the DARK TOWER series is unlike anything you have ever read.

Here is the fifth installment, "one of the strongest entries yet in what will surely be a master storyteller's magnum opus" (Locus).

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World on their quest for the Dark Tower. Their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis. But beyond the tranquil farm town, the ground rises to the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is stealing the town's soul. The wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to. Their guns, however, will not be enough....

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"Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World, the almost timeless landscape that seems to stretch from the wreckage of civility that defined Roland's youth to the crimson chaos that seems the future's only promise. Readers of Stephen King's epic series know Roland well, or as well as this enigmatic hero can be known. They also know the companions who have been drawn to his quest for the Dark Tower: Eddie Dean and his wife, Susannah; Jake Chambers, the boy who has come twice through the doorway of death into Roland's world; and Oy, the Billy-Bumbler. In this long-awaited fifth novel in the saga, their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a tranquil valley community of farmers and ranchers on Mid-World's borderlands. Beyond the town, the rocky ground rises toward the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is slowly stealing the community's soul. One of the town's residents is Pere Callahan, a ruined priest who, like Susannah, Eddie, and Jake, passed through one of the portals that lead both into and out of Roland's world. As Father Callahan tells the ka-tet the astonishing story of what happened following his shamed departure from Maine in 1977, his connection to the Dark Tower becomes clear, as does the danger facing a single red rose in a vacant lot off Second Avenue in midtown Manhattan. For Calla Bryn Sturgis, danger gathers in the east like a storm cloud. The Wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to, and they can give the Calla-folken both courage and cunning. Their guns, however, will not be enough. "

Customer Reviews:

A Must Read Series.......2007-10-09

Epic storytelling and more.......2007-09-05

With the Dark Tower series Stephen King has managed to combine an epic fantasy quest with classic Old Westerns, a bit of gothic horror, and urban fantasy thrown in for good measure. What you get from this mix is a series destined to be a classic.

Roland the gunslinger from Gilead and his ka-tet, having survived a giant mechanical bear and other evils in Wizard and Glass, stumble upon the small town of Calla Bryn Surgis. Once in a generation this town with an unusually large number of twins, must give up half of its children to "the Wolves" who take them to the dark land of Thunderclap for a few days and send them back as raving idiots who eventually grow into giants and die in their thirties. Just like the little Mexican town in the classic Western the farmers of this small community ask the traveling gunslingers to help them fight off the bad guys, but this is no ordinary Western.

King has his heroes traveling back and forth to 1970s New York on their quest to save the rose that is the Dark Tower, too, fighting bad guys along the way and discovering the bizarre connections between his world and ours. Also, thrown into the mix is the disgraced Father Callahan of 'Salem's Lot, Maine who just happens to be the local priest in the Calla. Add to that Susannah, a recovering schizophrenic member of the ka-tet, who is carrying something unspeakable in her womb, a robot named Andy who serves the farmers of the Calla by carrying messages and telling horoscopes, and you've got the most unusual adventure story to come out in years.

Amid all this King spins out a story that is both compelling and homey somehow. I felt like I was listening to him tell it by a campfire on a crisp autumn night. Even if you are not normally a Stephen King fan b/c you don't read horror fiction give this book, and this series a try. Fantasy and Sci-fi fans will especially love it.

Beware if you are offended by violence and language. It is not the worst out there, but this is adult stuff.

The Dark Tower series went from classic to rubbish in this entry. .......2007-08-31

I love the first four books in this series, but when this crappy follow-up came out, I found that it sucks hard. The story is stupid and the writing is lame. Its garbage. Ignore this rubbish and stick with Dark Tower Novels 1-4.

Stephen the king.......2007-08-29

I admire Stephen Kings work. He is one of the few writers out there, who actually gets better with every book he writes. The Dark Tower series, I feel is quite simply Kings quintessential story, his master piece.

It has taken him most of his adult life to write his tale of the 'The Gun Slinger', but my wasn't it worth the wait. I fully recommend this book, most people who are considering this book, I imagine will already be fans of the series, and you will not be disappointed! For those who are new to Roland's tale, what are you waiting for, 'The Tower' awaits......

Stephen King Dark Tower Series.......2007-07-25

tThis book arrived in a timely in excellant condition, and packaged very good. I was pleased with all

Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born No. 3 (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, Volume #3)

Average customer rating:

King's Tower #3
The Gunslinger Born 3

Stephen King's Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born No. 3 (Dark Tower: The Gunslinger Born, Volume #3)
Robin Furth , and Peter David
Manufacturer: Marvel Comics
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Comic

ASIN: B000P1A3N8

Product Description

Young Roland Deschain and friends have fled for the city of Hambry, as their home in Gilead is now too dangerous. But, once there, Roland learns to his horror that he is no safer. Hambry's leaders have switched allegiance and the assassins known as the Big Coffin Hunters have marked Roland and company for death! Plus articles and bonus features galore! In this comic book series, personally overseen by King himself, Roland's past is revealed! Sumptuously drawn by Jae Lee and Richard Isanove, adapted by long-time Stephen King expert Robin Furth (author of Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance) and scripted by New York Times Best-seller Peter David, this series delves deep into Roland's origins -- the perfect introduction to this incredibly realized world, while long-time fans will thrill to adventures merely hinted at in the novels.

Customer Reviews:

King's Tower #3.......2007-09-15

The Gunslinger Born 3.......2007-04-27

Great story
Great art work
Cool conversation with King at the end...get this one if you've got the others.

The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet)

Average customer rating:

Just my opinion
Horrible Book
This one still haunts me........thanks a lot, Mr. King
An incredible post-apocalyptic journey
Great condition and great service

The Stand: Expanded Edition: For the First Time Complete and Uncut (Signet)
Stephen King
Manufacturer: Signet
ProductGroup: Book
Binding: Mass Market Paperback

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ASIN: 0451169530

Amazon.com

In 1978, science fiction writer Spider Robinson wrote a scathing review of The Stand in which he exhorted his readers to grab strangers in bookstores and beg them not to buy it.

The Stand is like that. You either love it or hate it, but you can't ignore it. Stephen King's most popular book, according to polls of his fans, is an end-of-the-world scenario: a rapidly mutating flu virus is accidentally released from a U.S. military facility and wipes out 99 and 44/100 percent of the world's population, thus setting the stage for an apocalyptic confrontation between Good and Evil.

"I love to burn things up," King says. "It's the werewolf in me, I guess.... The Stand was particularly fulfilling, because there I got a chance to scrub the whole human race, and man, it was fun! ... Much of the compulsive, driven feeling I had while I worked on The Stand came from the vicarious thrill of imagining an entire entrenched social order destroyed in one stroke."

There is much to admire in The Stand: the vivid thumbnail sketches with which King populates a whole landscape with dozens of believable characters; the deep sense of nostalgia for things left behind; the way it subverts our sense of reality by showing us a world we find familiar, then flipping it over to reveal the darkness underneath. Anyone who wants to know, or claims to know, the heart of the American experience needs to read this book. --Fiona Webster

Book Description

It's the end of the world...

as only Stephen king could imagine it.

Humanity has been all but wiped out by a lethal virus. But the survivors are divided by light and darkness, and must face a final battle that will decide the fate of more than their lives: their very souls...

Customer Reviews:

Just my opinion.......2007-10-17

Everyone else has provided such a wonderfully detailed synopsis of what happens in The Stand. There's no way I can improve on what has already been said.

I just want to add my voice (and that of my daughter, as well) to those who believe this is King's best novel ever. I originally read the abridged edition, and was somewhat intimated by the length of the unabridged version. Once I started, I couldn't put it down. King has such a wonderful way of describing events and places and people that stimulate your own imagination ... you can actually *see* everything he describes.

My daughter is currently reading it again for the 2nd time; I have to admit I've read it at least 3 times. Yes, you know what's going to happen. But there is always something new every time you read it that you didn't quite catch the first time.

I realize not everyone liked it. That's fine. People are entitled to their opinions. I'm not trying to coerce anybody ... I just want to add my voice to those who enjoyed The Stand. Stephen King will always be "king" to me!!

Horrible Book.......2007-09-29

Be warned!: if you value your time and sanity, do not read this book!

I've often wondered about abandoning books. As a youth I thought it was almost criminal to stop reading a book in mid-read. I figured everyone had something worthwhile to say and, besides, the book might get better. My best example is Sir Walter Scott's Ivanhoe. The first seventy pages or so are tedious but after that it becomes a great historical adventure/romance.

But as I get older I find I no longer have the patience or the time to spend with a book that just doesn't interest me that much. Some books are just so awfully bad it's hard to justify spending so much time with them (Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard springs to mind). Some books I feel I'm not prepared for yet. Some books just seem to have a lot of promise and eventually go straight downhill. The Stand by Stephen King is one such book.

Let me give you a description of my experience so you'll understand my revulsion:

First, the book opens with a scene describing some awful/weird happening going on. The opening is full of action. It is kind of disorienting. You're not sure who these characters are or why they are going through what they're going through. It is a great opening scene. It is intriguing and makes you want to keep reading to understand what is going on here.

Then the characters are introduced. Background is given on each character while sections are interspersed explaining the larger story concerning the epidemic. You get to learn about the characters, believe in them, understand them, care for them, and worry about what will happen to them when the epidemic hits them. By the time the epidemic starts affecting all the characters Stephen King has got you where every author wants you, a rapt listener to his tale.

So the second part begins--a major event has occurred and you want to know how these characters will deal with it. But a nagging voice inside your head keeps wondering when this story will pick up steam. There is plenty to see and experience but you start to wonder if maybe it isn't just a bit too much. There are so many characters to deal with and you start wishing that Stephen King didn't feel the need to go into minute detail about each characters' idiosyncracies and thoughts and lives. When every character is important, none of them are. But the story is so strong at this point that you let that voice subside for awhile.

Now you find yourself at page 300 or 400 and you're still not exactly sure where this story is going. A story concerning an epidemic hitting the world, decimating 75 or 80% of the population, and the consequent anarchy and loss experienced is a gripping tale. But Stephen King keeps inserting these annoying glimpses about something supernatural. By page 200 or 300 you don't need something completely new inserted. The story was interesting just as a tale of survival in a post-apocalyptic world. Why do we need some pabulum about prescience and good vs. evil now? You start to feel tricked by the author. It's almost as if he had this idea about writing some grand epic on good vs. evil, chose a vehicle (the epidemic) to tell that tale, and when the background tale was better than his original conception he refused to let go of his original idea.

But, like a Scientologist who figures, "I've spent a lot of time and money believing this, I might as well keep on going," you read on.

I've got a pretty good memory and I think I'm an attentive reader. But after awhile you either start to forget the characters or you just don't care. When that happens, reading becomes a chore, not a pleasure. I would read The Stand right before going to bed and it would truly help in putting me to sleep. I wanted to scream at Stephen King to bring back the good story he had going, not this cosmic good vs. evil stuff. I was interested in how people could live after such a disaster (a great, human story) not some banal metaphysical rubbish. Now there's some evil man trying to conquer the world with cosmic powers and some annoying, saintly woman who is somehow going to stop all this because of her faith in God.

Stephen King, you robbed me of several hours where I could've been sleeping or farting or reading a better book. Needless to say, I abandoned the book. I couldn't go on. Around page 700 I gave up. The story wasn't interesting anymore. The characters became flat and mere vehicles to further the cosmic agenda. You fooled me again, Stephen King.

Stephen King is not a bad writer. People who refuse to read him or disdain him because he writes horror are snobs. But he is far from being a great writer. Some of his worst qualities are abundantly in evidence in this novel: prolixity (get an editor once in a while, please?); lack of discipline (stories told not because they need to be told, but because they can be told); and an obsession with the minutiae of everything to the point where the story becomes obscured. But the worst sin Stephen King commits in this novel is abandoning a good story for a poor one. He should've let his muse take him where she would and not allow his own internal editor try to make this into something it was not.

If you like Stephen King read The Shining or Four Past Midnight. He has done some good work in the past. But this horrible, tedious, pointless novel should be left for future literary critics to disembowel.

This one still haunts me........thanks a lot, Mr. King.......2007-09-11

I admit it. I am one of those people (just like in the not-so-recent poll everyone keeps referring to on here) who believe that this is Stephen King's greatest literary work. A bit long......yes. A book oozing just about every emotion that one could experience in the face of death and the end of the world.......check. Vivid characters that seem so real you still think of them more than your mother..........affirmative. This book has it all (maybe that explains why it's 1100+ pages) and the fact that King wrote this earlier in his career is quite impressive. His portrayal of the ultimate struggle between Good and Evil will have a place in my heart (not to mention my bookshelf) until the end of times (hopefully, not tomorrow).

An incredible post-apocalyptic journey.......2007-09-08

It's easy to be drawn deeply into this book, to feel so connected to the characters that to finish it is a kind of death. I still feel slightly depressed and it's been about a week since I finished it. King is constantly underrated and glossed over by elitist critics (such as Master Snob Harold Bloom, who never published any fiction worth reading), but this novel is truly a masterpiece and deserves respect. You know the plot - a superflu kills 99% of the population. The survivors migrate west to Colorado and Vegas, attempting to rebuild society, trying to figure out the meaning of their collective dreams. What is the "good" dream really about? Who is the "dark man"?

King created several strong characters. Among my favorites are Glen, Tom, and Kojak; I still grieve for Nadine, Harold, and Trashcan Man, all clever and pathetic in their own ways - and I believe many readers can sympathize with them. Trashcan Man began to thrive in Vegas, only to regress to his former ways and thought patterns because of a random comment made by a person from his new life. You can feel on top of the world, feel as if you're "fixed"...until you hear those words again, which trigger painful memories ("unquiet corpses come back to life"), and you might lose all progress made up to that point. You realize how fragile you are, and this can be terrifying.

Nadine and Harold are both disturbed souls, though Harold is driven more by revenge and Nadine is driven by evil. Nadine is tormented by and attracted to the dark man, but she is also drawn to Larry, who is desperate to make the right choices this time around to atone for his pre-plague life of darkness. The lines "Only this time the boy would catch her. She would let him catch her. It would be the end. But whe