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joshkiba13's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? No
3.5
". . . that was the Talisman. The axle of all possible worlds. How many worlds? God alone knew . . . A universe of worlds, a dimensional macrocosm of worlds---and in all of them one thing that was always the same; one unifying force that was undeniably good, even if it now happened to be imprisoned in an evil place; the Talisman, axle of all possible worlds."
This is one of those books I think I liked a lot more after finishing it than while reading it. It was indeed quite lengthy (Stephen's 6th longest book, in fact), and for a while it felt like King and Straub were just letting the story roll, seeing what happened. Once completed though, I see how it all flowed together and am able to appreciate the whole better.
This story has a lot of heart, which is something I always appreciate about King's work. Our protagonist is 12 year-old Jack Sawyer, whose mother, a "queen of the Bs" actress is ill with cancer. Jack finds out about a parallel world called the Territories, through which he may br able to find a mystical cure for his mother: the Talisman. We follow young Travelin Jack as he crosses from New England to California, also flipping over into the Territories on occasion in search of this magical object.
I reeally enjoyed Morgan Sloat as a villain. The brief interlude chapters from his perspective gave such interesting background on his past with Jack's father and their discovery of the Territories. Morgan was despicable, vile, and like all King villains, utterly hateable.
King and Straub's descriptions of evil were actually some of my favorite passages from the novel. Here's a few snippets:
"Like a human earthquake, like a man crumbling apart over the fault-line behind his eyes, like something all wound up and waiting to explode . . ."
"The lighter's flame danced deep in his black pupils, each deep spark a twinner of the other."
"A grin surfaced on his face, the corners of his mouth twitching irregularly, as if strings were attached to them, strings that were being pulled by a puppeteer who wasn't particularly good at this job."
"And he, Morgan Sloat, would finally have the canvas his talents deserved. For a second he saw himself spreading his arms over starry vastnesses, over worlds folded together like lovers on a bed, over all that the Talisman protected, and all that he had coveted . . ."
"But when you saw one of these trees obliquely, out of the side of your eye, then you saw a living creature in torment---the straining branches were arms thrown up over an agonized face caught in a frozen scream . . . They were cursing, pleading, howling at him---their unheard voices hung in the air like smoke."
The entire concept of Twinners was super interesting, and the connection between Jack and the Territories prince Jason proved for an interesting story which unfolded a tad at a time.
While the majority of the book was a slow burn, the last 100 pages were a frenzy of action, serving as a very satisfying climax to all that had been previously built up. That'd when it all added up for me; the detours to the Sunlight Home and Thayer school suddenly didn't feel like detours. The way everything came together made it all worth it. That's not to say it was borning though. I enjoyed reading about Jack's time at the Oatley Tap and at the Sunlight Home.
The descriptions of the Talisman and its infinite reach really reminded me of Roland's conversation with the man in black at the end of The Gunslinger, as they discussed the universe and the Dark Tower. Speaking of, I'm looking forward to seeing how this novel relates to King's multiversal magnum opus as I continue my journey toward the Tower.
I really enjoyed Jack as a character. Like many young fictional protagonists, he has to grow up quite fast in spite of everything around him. But he still retained a child-like sense of humor, thinking of references to media even in the midst of life threatening circumstances. He was in love with his mother and determined to save her, and he was oh so sweet to his childhood friend Rational Richard. And the wayJack's taking care of Richard (his herd) mirrored Wolf taking care of Jack was heartwarming .
Also in the climax,once Jack had the Talisman it was fun to jump perspectives and see all the places and people he'd met meet their positive or negative fate in one way or another .
Couple of gripes:
I thought it unlikely that in hitchhiking, Jack would run into so many predatory men. And it also feels homophonic to have every gay man in the story be predatory. I do realize the story is 40 years old, but still.
This is nitpicky, but having the werewolf character be named Wolf was very silly and felt a tad lazy.
I think it would have been easier to connect to the story early on if Jack had a liiitle more to go on about what he was looking for. Speedy Parker basically told him there was a magical cure in California, now go! I wish we'd had a little more to go on, but it worked out in the end.
Anyway, I'm not sure it's one I'd read again but I did enjoy it quite a bit, especially in hindsight after seeing the whole picture. After thr Tower, I'll be interested to see what became of Jack Sawyer in his sequel, Black House.
This is one of those books I think I liked a lot more after finishing it than while reading it. It was indeed quite lengthy (Stephen's 6th longest book, in fact), and for a while it felt like King and Straub were just letting the story roll, seeing what happened. Once completed though, I see how it all flowed together and am able to appreciate the whole better.
This story has a lot of heart, which is something I always appreciate about King's work. Our protagonist is 12 year-old Jack Sawyer, whose mother, a "queen of the Bs" actress is ill with cancer. Jack finds out about a parallel world called the Territories, through which he may br able to find a mystical cure for his mother: the Talisman. We follow young Travelin Jack as he crosses from New England to California, also flipping over into the Territories on occasion in search of this magical object.
I reeally enjoyed Morgan Sloat as a villain. The brief interlude chapters from his perspective gave such interesting background on his past with Jack's father and their discovery of the Territories. Morgan was despicable, vile, and like all King villains, utterly hateable.
King and Straub's descriptions of evil were actually some of my favorite passages from the novel. Here's a few snippets:
"Like a human earthquake, like a man crumbling apart over the fault-line behind his eyes, like something all wound up and waiting to explode . . ."
"The lighter's flame danced deep in his black pupils, each deep spark a twinner of the other."
"A grin surfaced on his face, the corners of his mouth twitching irregularly, as if strings were attached to them, strings that were being pulled by a puppeteer who wasn't particularly good at this job."
"And he, Morgan Sloat, would finally have the canvas his talents deserved. For a second he saw himself spreading his arms over starry vastnesses, over worlds folded together like lovers on a bed, over all that the Talisman protected, and all that he had coveted . . ."
"But when you saw one of these trees obliquely, out of the side of your eye, then you saw a living creature in torment---the straining branches were arms thrown up over an agonized face caught in a frozen scream . . . They were cursing, pleading, howling at him---their unheard voices hung in the air like smoke."
The entire concept of Twinners was super interesting, and the connection between Jack and the Territories prince Jason proved for an interesting story which unfolded a tad at a time.
While the majority of the book was a slow burn, the last 100 pages were a frenzy of action, serving as a very satisfying climax to all that had been previously built up. That'd when it all added up for me; the detours to the Sunlight Home and Thayer school suddenly didn't feel like detours. The way everything came together made it all worth it. That's not to say it was borning though. I enjoyed reading about Jack's time at the Oatley Tap and at the Sunlight Home.
The descriptions of the Talisman and its infinite reach really reminded me of Roland's conversation with the man in black at the end of The Gunslinger, as they discussed the universe and the Dark Tower. Speaking of, I'm looking forward to seeing how this novel relates to King's multiversal magnum opus as I continue my journey toward the Tower.
I really enjoyed Jack as a character. Like many young fictional protagonists, he has to grow up quite fast in spite of everything around him. But he still retained a child-like sense of humor, thinking of references to media even in the midst of life threatening circumstances. He was in love with his mother and determined to save her, and he was oh so sweet to his childhood friend Rational Richard. And the way
Also in the climax,
Couple of gripes:
I thought it unlikely that in hitchhiking, Jack would run into so many predatory men. And it also feels homophonic to have every gay man in the story be predatory. I do realize the story is 40 years old, but still.
This is nitpicky, but having the werewolf character be named Wolf was very silly and felt a tad lazy.
I think it would have been easier to connect to the story early on if Jack had a liiitle more to go on about what he was looking for. Speedy Parker basically told him there was a magical cure in California, now go! I wish we'd had a little more to go on, but it worked out in the end.
Anyway, I'm not sure it's one I'd read again but I did enjoy it quite a bit, especially in hindsight after seeing the whole picture. After thr Tower, I'll be interested to see what became of Jack Sawyer in his sequel, Black House.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Blood, and Death of parent
Moderate: Drug use, Homophobia, and Suicide
Minor: Racial slurs, Rape, and Sexual violence
hannahakins's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
sad
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
5.0
Content Warnings
Moderate: Bullying, Cancer, Child death, Drug use, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Cursing, Gore, Panic attacks/disorders, Slavery, Vomit, and Fire/Fire injury
matthewosborne's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A
4.25
There are parts of this book that I loved and parts that I found difficult to follow.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Chronic illness, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Forced institutionalization, and Blood
tifftastic87's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
A chosen one, a quest, an evil uncle.
Jack Sawyer is the kid all of us in the 90s played pretend at. We were given a magical quest by a mysterious traveler and there were to be no shortcuts. Jack's road is a bit darker than I'm sure most of us pretended, it is a King story after all, but it is both a coming of age tale and a chosen one quest. Being able to flip between our world, or the 1980s version of our world, and a parallel one called simply "the territories" Jack is special because he doesnt have a "twinner" and thus is single natured. His whole goal is to save his mom, and her twinner the Queen of the Territories. Everything tries to stop him. Nothing is easy and he wants to give up many many times. But he presses on.
I loved this as a teen, I loved it just as much as an adult. I sobbed, I laughed, I rooted for Jack and shouted at the villain. I would definitely read it a third time.
However, there are some questionable themes. Jack is only 12 and he gets beaten, propositioned, exploited and stalked. He is set on his mission by a common trope of King's "the magical black man." These things are hard to listen to and some made me cringe pretty hard, but the story itself is worth it.
Jack Sawyer is the kid all of us in the 90s played pretend at. We were given a magical quest by a mysterious traveler and there were to be no shortcuts. Jack's road is a bit darker than I'm sure most of us pretended, it is a King story after all, but it is both a coming of age tale and a chosen one quest. Being able to flip between our world, or the 1980s version of our world, and a parallel one called simply "the territories" Jack is special because he doesnt have a "twinner" and thus is single natured. His whole goal is to save his mom, and her twinner the Queen of the Territories. Everything tries to stop him. Nothing is easy and he wants to give up many many times. But he presses on.
I loved this as a teen, I loved it just as much as an adult. I sobbed, I laughed, I rooted for Jack and shouted at the villain. I would definitely read it a third time.
However, there are some questionable themes. Jack is only 12 and he gets beaten, propositioned, exploited and stalked. He is set on his mission by a common trope of King's "the magical black man." These things are hard to listen to and some made me cringe pretty hard, but the story itself is worth it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Body horror, Body shaming, Bullying, Cancer, Child abuse, Child death, Chronic illness, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Emotional abuse, Fatphobia, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Slavery, Suicidal thoughts, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Vomit, Kidnapping, Grief, Religious bigotry, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Gaslighting, Injury/Injury detail, and Classism
Moderate: Addiction, Misogyny, Pedophilia, Sexual content, Police brutality, Car accident, Toxic friendship, Sexual harassment, and War
Minor: Rape, Sexual assault, Sexual violence, and Vomit
ggcd1981's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
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? No
2.5
O Talismã foi uma experiência decepcionante para mim. Eu tinha algumas expectativas pois o resumo era interessante e tinha curiosidade sobre a escrita de Peter Straub mas a obra em si não atendeu essas expectativas. O enredo da obra segue: Jack Sawyer, parte de Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire, em uma tentativa de salvar sua mãe Lily, que está morrendo de câncer, para encontrar um cristal chamado "o Talismã". A jornada de Jack o leva simultaneamente a cruzar os Estados Unidos e pelos "Territórios", uma estranha terra de fantasia que se passa em um universo paralelo ao dos EUA de Jack. Indivíduos nos Territórios têm "gêmeos", ou indivíduos paralelos, em nosso mundo. Nascimentos, mortes e (é sugerido) outros eventos importantes da vida geralmente são paralelos para esses “gêmeos”. Esses indivíduos paralelos também podem "flip" ou migrar para o outro mundo, mas apenas compartilham o corpo do análogo de seu universo alternativo. Quando flipped, o gêmeo, ou a pessoa real, começará automaticamente a falar e pensar no idioma de onde está inconscientemente. Em casos raros (como o de Jack), uma pessoa pode morrer em um mundo, mas não no outro, tornando o sobrevivente "de natureza única", com a capacidade de alternar corpo e mente entre os dois mundos. O protagonista de O Talismã é Jack Sawyer, um menino de 12 anos que é enviado em uma missão para recuperar esse talismã e salvar sua mãe, Lily Cavanaugh Sawyer, da doença. O garoto é enviado nessa jornada por Speedy Parker, um funcionário do parque de diversões próximo a o hotel em que Lily e Jack estão hospedados. Speedy é velho e sábio e tem conhecimento sobre os “territórios”. Ao longo da jornada Jack encontra e viaja por um tempo com duas pessoas separadamente. Primeiro Wolf, um lobisomem de dezesseis anos, acidentalmente puxado dos Territórios para a América por Jack ele adota o protagonista como seu “rebanho” (nos Territórios os lobisomens em sua maioria cumprem o papel de pastores reais ou guarda-costas e, ademais das fases de lua cheia, às vezes, sob estresse, mudam voluntariamente para a forma de lobo). Wolf serve como companheiro do protagonista por uma parte da missão. Wolf é gentil, leal e amigável, embora sua natureza de lobo apareça ocasionalmente. O segundo companheiro de viagem de Jack é Richard Sloat, seu melhor amigo. Richard rejeita tudo que é mágico, fantástico ou que não tem uma explicação cientifica imediata, mas é fiel a Jack apesar do protagonista ir diretamente contra os desejos de seu pai Morgan Sloat. Sunlight Gardener é um personagem que é um subalterno de Morgan tanto nos EUA e nos territórios. Nos Estados Unidos Sunlight é o líder de uma instituição religiosa de correção de delinquentes juvenis onde jovens são sujeitos a tortura e lavagem cerebral. É nessa instituição que tendo sido capturados Wolf se sacrifica para salvar Jack. Morgan Sloat, também conhecido como Morgan de Orris nos Territórios, era o parceiro de negócios do pai de Jack e o homem responsável pela morte do mesmo e de seu gêmeo assim como o gêmeo de Jack. Nos Territórios, ele é um feiticeiro. Morgan é o principal antagonista e persegue o garoto, tentando impedi-lo de encontrar o talismã. Seu objetivo final é trazer armas para os Territórios e destruir o Talismã para que ele possa governar os Territórios com punho de ferro após a morte da rainha (a gêmea de Lily), e, eventualmente, o multiverso. No final da obra, após uma batalha final contra o protagonista, ele tenta destruir o Talismã, porém este reflete o ataque de Morgan de volta, incinerando e matando ele e seu gêmeo instantaneamente.
A princípio esse livro me interessou mas houveram muitos pontos fracos que influenciaram meu aproveitamento: os personagens Wolf e Richard foram irritantes e por muito tempo foram mais um obstáculo para Jack do que companheiros uteis de viagem, os dois eventualmente acabam ajudando mas foi no limite de “too little too late”; a atmosfera do livro não foi magica o suficiente o que é decepcionante considerando que a obra fala de um mundo alternativo e mágico, mas King e Straub mostraram o mínimo desse mundo e sua magia; a escrita foi muito dispersa e houveram longas cenas que não contribuíram em nada; pelos pontos fracos já mencionados a intriga do livro sofreu e em nenhum momento me senti realmente curiosa sobre a história; a lógica interna foi praticamente não existente, as coisas aconteciam por conveniência, por intenção do autor e não por progressão lógica. Personagens sabiam das coisas, sentiam as coisas ou coisas simplesmente aconteciam “porque sim”, e nenhuma explicação era dada tornando a história e lore complicada de compreender. Por todas essas razões o livro me frustrou e não me diverti tanto quanto em outros livros de King. Quanto a Straub acredito que vou dar outra chance ao autor especialmente a suas obras como autor único. O livro foi funcional, contou uma história, mas não foi particularmente divertido. Dou 2.5 estrelas.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Bullying, Child abuse, Child death, Confinement, Cursing, Death, Drug use, Genocide, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Physical abuse, Racial slurs, Racism, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Forced institutionalization, Blood, Police brutality, Grief, Religious bigotry, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Gaslighting
Drowningcourtwj's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
tense
slow-paced
3.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Cancer, Child abuse, Gore, Racial slurs, Sexual content, Violence, and Blood
Moderate: Cursing, Death, and Forced institutionalization
finn_vibing's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal death, Body horror, Death, Slavery, Torture, Blood, and Death of parent
katenovah's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
hopeful
sad
tense
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? Yes
4.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Gun violence, Torture, Forced institutionalization, Blood, and Religious bigotry
Moderate: Racial slurs
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