Reviews

Revival by Stephen King

selingarza's review

adventurous challenging dark emotional 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

2.0

deannad1005's review

dark mysterious slow-paced

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

3.5

ktxx22's review

4.0

Now that is how you write a book that is inspired by Lovecraft!! This book is a marathon, not a sprint. It builds and builds and you don't see where it's going... and then BOOM!! A bomb gets dropped and the shivers run up your spine, crawl into your brain, and make a fire to fuel your nightmares!

4/5 from me because it did take more time than I'm comfortable with to build towards the climax. But I still highly recommend to anyone who has read Lovecraft and needs another Cyclopean tale to add to their terrors!

pghreader's review

3.0

I'm a Stephen King fan, and this is the first time I've ever questioned the authenticity of authorship. While I enjoyed reading about Jamie's life and struggles, I felt that Charlie's story was secondary. In many ways, that storyline was almost unnecessary and because it was actually the primary storyline, it left me unsatisfied as a reader.

The ending seemed bizarre and significantly over-hyped. This was not King's best work and it's probably my least favorite of his novels.

While I rated it three stars, it's not a book I would recommend.

jonwesleyhuff's review

5.0

This one took a while to get going (it might have actually hurt me, for once, going into a book having no clue what it was actually about) because I didn't really know where it was all heading. But the careful, deliberately-paced setup was well worth the pay off.

jrayers97's review

dark mysterious medium-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? Yes

4.75

brymo's review

dark emotional mysterious reflective sad tense medium-paced

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

5.0

tweedlesmart's review

dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.25

abogges1's review

mysterious tense fast-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? Yes

4.0

n_ck's review

dark mysterious sad slow-paced

3.5

This is a very slow book building up to one major, 16 page Lovecraftian horror scene that's worthy of the name. Because of that extreme slow burn approach, that might me a little much for even the most dedicated King fans expecting what the book's title suggests: a revival of the author's old school 70s and 80s horror books. This is still very much his late period. It's ponderous, concerned with relationships, even more indulgent of nostalgic Americana, but I had a nice time reading it, even if it's tonally sadder than many of his other books. And that last horror scene is pretty good.