Reviews tagging 'Stalking'

The Stand by Stephen King

6 reviews

kirtreads's review against another edition

dark emotional mysterious tense

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

2.75

I do not see how people say that this is the best King novel that there is. I read the uncut version as is recommended and I can tell you that his publishers were correct for making him cut as much as they did. 

This book starts off so strong. I was gripped from the beginning and couldn't put it down. I wanted to know what happened to each of the characters. Everyone was interesting and dynamic. The book moves along at a nice pace until it doesn't. It comes to a screeching halt

the second that they find mother Abigail and start the Safe Zone in Colorado.

The character development stops, the plot does a hard pivot into something that is weirdly political and horrible to sit through. The lull in the middle is so hard to get through. It was just an absolute slog that added nothing to the story. 

Then, the story picks up again finally and there is movement again towards some kind of resolution.

After Nick's death

it feels like things are finally moving but it really doesn't kick off again. The whole back half of the book is a drag. It never got moving for me again. 

There also are some frustratingly huge issues with the ending.

If the end of the Vegas group was just Trash blowing them up with an atomic bomb, which would have happened anyways, why send the four to Vegas? I know that it was explained as "God requiring a sacrifice" but that just felt like such a stupid cop out to what could have been a really cool final battle. For a book titled "The Stand" there is no actual stand against evil. It is in fact the opposite. Evil consumes itself and there was no reason for Good to be involved in any way. If people had just ignored the Vegas group, the ending would have been the same with a lot less character death.

It was just incredibly frustrating to put in so much time to get such a poorly written and plotted ending. 

This book really highlights the best and worst of King. 

• Pro: Characters are amazing and really fleshed out. You end up feeling connected to each of them and rooting for them 
• Pro: It has a great premise and he has great world building at the beginning of the novel 
• Con: The ending blows and falls flat 
• Con: It is so long and needed some heavy editing. I know that people say that it "fleshes out the world" but you know what I didn't need?
  Chapters of council meetings that had literally no hold on the plot.

If you are a die hard King fan and you want to complete all his works, then this book provides some really great highs and I recommend it for the great characters. 

If you are not a huge King fan and are not sure if you are willing to put in the work, just stay away. The pay off is not worth it. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Infertility, Mental illness, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Suicide, Toxic relationship, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Excrement, Vomit, Medical content, Medical trauma, Stalking, Car accident, Suicide attempt, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Abandonment, Sexual harassment, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

gagereadsstuff's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

2.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Ableism, Alcoholism, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Child abuse, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Domestic abuse, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Rape, Sexism, Sexual assault, Suicidal thoughts, Forced institutionalization, Xenophobia, Grief, Cannibalism, Medical trauma, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, Alcohol, War, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Drug abuse, Drug use, Trafficking, Lesbophobia, and Colonisation

Minor: Abortion

josiew's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective tense slow-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: Body horror, Child death, Gun violence, Mental illness, Rape, Suicide, Violence, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Animal death, Trafficking, Grief, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis

sarutobu's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional tense slow-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

4.0

Es ist beeindruckend, wie King es schafft, ein Buch über 1700 Seiten interessant zu halten. 
Der Plot und die Charaktere sind sehr gut ausgeschrieben, man kann sich sehr gut in die Charaktere hineinversetzen und aufgrund der Menge dieser, ist es auch möglich sich mit einigen zu identifizieren. 

Der Anfang des Romans befasst sich mit dem Ausbruch der Seuche und den Konsequenzen, die dadurch für die unterschiedlichen Charaktere entstehen. Dieser Teil ist sehr gut geschrieben und man vergisst, wie viele Seiten man liest. Dabei werden viele verschiedenen Ethnien, Bildungshintergründe etc. von den Charakteren abgedeckt (z.B. der taubstumme Nick, der nur über Zettel mit den anderen kommunizieren kann.) Zudem wird in diesem Teil der Konflikt zwischen Gut und Böse (dargestellt durch Randall Flagg und Mutter Abigail) langsam vorgestellt. Dieser Konflikt zieht sich durch das ganze Buch. 
Anschließend werden die Geschehnisse in den zwei entstandenn Lagern beschrieben, bevor es zur Auflösung der Geschichte kommt. Leider ist diese Auflösung etwas kurz geraten, aber nichtsdestotrotz spannend und teils schockierend. Am Ende folgt noch eine Art Epilog, der einen Ausblick auf die Entwicklung der Welt nach dem Roman geben soll. Auch diese ist gut gelungen. 
King schreckt nicht davor zurück Charaktere, die vorher eine große Rolle eingenommen haben, umkommen zu lassen und auch sonst lassen sich die Geschehnisse im Verlauf des Buches nicht vorhersagen. 
Die Auswirkung, die eine solche Pandemie auf die Gesellschaft und das Land hat, sind sehr gut recherchiert und regen zum Nachdenken an. 

Alles in allem ist das Buch uneingeschränkt zu empfehlen. 
Neben der gut gelungenen Szenerie sind es vor allem die ausführlich beschrieben Charaktere und deren Gedankengänge, die das Buch lesenswert machen. 

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Content Warnings

Moderate: Death, Drug use, Genocide, Sexual content, Suicide, Blood, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Pregnancy, War, and Injury/Injury detail

ktdakotareads's review against another edition

adventurous dark slow-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Body shaming, Child death, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Fatphobia, Gore, Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, Torture, Violence, Blood, Grief, Murder, and Sexual harassment

Moderate: Homophobia, Misogyny, Racial slurs, Racism, Sexism, Suicidal thoughts, and Stalking

tatitos's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective sad tense slow-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

3.5

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Bullying, Child death, Chronic illness, Death, Domestic abuse, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Mental illness, Physical abuse, Rape, Self harm, Sexual violence, Suicidal thoughts, Suicide, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Medical content, Grief, Cannibalism, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, and Schizophrenia/Psychosis