Reviews tagging 'Cursing'

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

17 reviews

phenomreads's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious 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? N/A

5.0

Awesome part of the series. The adventures of Roland, Eddie Dean and Odetta are so interesring and I am looking forward to see what is going to happen next. Got you hooked from the first page. Interesting story for those who can handle some gruesome details. But after all this is the style of King. Worth reading. Hot recommendation!

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Racism, Violence, Blood, and Vomit

imstephtacular's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated

4.0

I keep reading Stephen King because he's a hell of a storyteller. This story is GOOD. The writing is compelling, the pacing keeps you wanting to turn the pages, and the characters give you whiplash rooting for and against them. 

That being said, I didn't love the first book in the series, but am glad I continued.

However, this book is dated in a lot of ways. There are outdated slurs of all kinds and horrible ableist language. This is hard to overlook, despite the book's publishing date. I can forgive some of it, but not all of it.

Overall, I had a great time reading this and will continue reading the series over time

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Addiction, Body horror, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Violence, Blood, War, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Death, Fatphobia, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual content, Suicidal thoughts, Vomit, Medical content, Grief, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

Minor: Hate crime and Islamophobia

joshkiba13's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense 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? It's complicated

4.0

"In matters of the Tower, fate became a thing as merciful as the lighter which had saved his life and as painful as the fire the miracle had ignited. Like the wheels of the oncoming train, it followed a course both logical and crushingly brutal, a course against which only steel and sweetness could stand." 

What a trip. The Gunslinger served as a slow-burning prologue to this series; The Drawing of the Three was the race following a starting gun. It begins hours after the end of the first book, and follows Roland on a journey to survive and to fulfill one of the many prophecies from the first book.

Destiny (or ka) leads our gunslinger to people to aid him in his quest for the Tower. I love how unconventional his companions are. We have a guy in his 20s suffering from a heroin addiction and sticky dealings with the mob, and a legless woman plagued by a split personality. Roland doesn't understand why these people have been placed in his path, but he accepts it with radically relentless trust in ka and moves forward.

There were a lot of intense and gripping action sequences, and many tender moments between characters, as well as ones of great introspection. I loved this passage of Roland understanding that to live without love would mutate his quest beyond its worth:

"A heartless creature is a loveless creature, and a loveless creature is a beast. To be a beast is perhaps bearable, although the man who has become one will surely pay hell's own price in the end . . . If there is naught but darkness in your heart, what could you do except degenerate from beast to monster? . . . But to gain one's object as a monster . . . To pay hell is one thing. But do you want to own it?"

The entire nearly 500 page book took place over a few days, and in the grand scheme of the series it really seems like a prologue part II since it's completely the assembly of Roland's team. I'm excited to continue toward the Tower in The Waste Lands (following the reading a few offshoot books to prepare).

This book was waaay more King's regular style compared to the very prose-y first book, but there were still some cool phrases here and there, such as this one describing Roland from a mob boss's point of view:

" . . . a tall man with dirty gray-black hair and a face that looked as if it had been chiseled from obdurate stone by some savage god."

There are still a ton of questions from the first book left unanswered, principal among them being what set Roland on this quest to the Dark Tower in the first place. I really hope that is touched on early on in the next installment so that I can connect more with his determination. I know the fourth book, Wizard in Glass, is almost entirely a backstory for our gunslinger, but crossing my fingers that we can have just a little more to go on in the third book first. 

Overall a quick and fun read. Excited for more to come soon.

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Drug use, and Gun violence

Minor: Homophobia, Racial slurs, and Rape

dunkeldak's review

adventurous dark medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

The only lovable thing in this book is Eddie Dean

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Addiction

thecandiegirl's review

adventurous dark funny mysterious tense 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? Yes

5.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing

Moderate: Addiction, Death, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, Kidnapping, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Fire/Fire injury, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Child death, Homophobia, Sexual assault, and Sexual harassment

gethin_burke's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Hate crime, Racism, Sexual content, and Violence

briguy992's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Cursing, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Racism and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

victoriakerr131's review

adventurous dark tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Frank Muller did an incredible job narrating this audiobook! I didn't know what to expect going into this book; I didn't really enjoy the first book in the series, it was slow and not a lot happened - mostly world building. This one however was much more engaging and will make me continue the series. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Death, Hate crime, and Murder

axeltheredpanda's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional 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? Yes

5.0

By far one of the best books I’ve ever read. The characters are incredible, the pacing is perfect, and the situations the characters are put through are extremely impactful.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, Mental illness, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Medical trauma, and Toxic friendship

Minor: Animal death, Child death, Cursing, Death, Homophobia, Blood, Excrement, Medical content, Grief, and Classism

The hard r N word is used very liberally at times and a character is a racist caricature (though this is commented on within the book and she’s that way due to certain events)

dovahkiin_shea's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Gun violence, Mental illness, Racial slurs, Racism, Violence, Blood, Murder, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Injury/Injury detail