Reviews tagging 'Alcohol'

Doctor Sleep by Stephen King

31 reviews

_masha_'s review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious tense medium-paced

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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Cancer, Child abuse, Death, Drug use, Gore, Sexual assault, Sexual content, Sexual violence, Terminal illness, Torture, Violence, Blood, Medical content, Kidnapping, Grief, Medical trauma, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Cursing, Domestic abuse, and Car accident

taliatalksbooks's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional tense medium-paced

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

3.0

 Doctor Sleep by Stephen King couldn’t hold a flame to its predecessor, The Shining, but was entertaining all the same. I loved getting to see a grown up Danny Torrence, and King’s approach was certainly meant to push some buttons. In King fashion, Doctor Sleep deals with tough topics in addition to its plot, such as addiction, which I think he handles extremely well. With that being said though, even though I genuinely loved The Shining, King’s sequel fell short in a lot of key areas. First off, the characters. I genuinely didn’t feel an attachment to any character, so things happening to them felt weightless and inconsequential. Not to mention that the villain (the True Knot and Rose the Hat) was one of the worst villains I’ve seen to date. Evil for evil’s sake, the True Knot is certainly bad, there’s no doubt, but WHY. Why them? Why now? There were a lot of unanswered questions and so many factors trying to break them that it felt chaotic and convenient. Second, the book lacked a reliance on the events of the Overlook in my opinion. Yes, there were mentions and a few characters, but I was largely disappointed in how the final battle ends, due to the potential of the location and host of characters that once wandered the halls of the Overlook. Third, the plot. The plot was so simple and predictable, which is typically not something I’d attribute to King and his writing. You pretty much knew where the story was going, even if you weren’t sure how you were going to get there, whether it be an Earth cruiser or The Helen Rivington, someway somehow, you knew where the book would end. I think this book had potential, but it tried to separate itself from the original while holding on to minor aspects (instead of using the major callbacks from The Shining: the roque mallet, Jack Torrence, the hornets nest, the hedge animals, the boiler). Obviously some of these couldn’t make a return, but, then again, it’s a Stephen King novel. Anything is possible. If you’re a fan of the Shining and want more Doc, then I’d say it’s worth the read, but try not to compare it to the Shining too heavily, or you may be disappointed. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Alcoholism, Cancer, Death, Drug abuse, Drug use, Terminal illness, Violence, and Alcohol

alaskan_bull_worm's review against another edition

adventurous dark sad tense medium-paced

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

3.25

The beginning of this book is horrible, but mostly because you have to accept precious little Danny is no longer precious little Danny. After you’ve let that sink in, the book is pretty good. But having to see Danny as he is as an adult in the beginning was so hard I nearly quit right off the bat. 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Child abuse, Death, Violence, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Addiction, Alcoholism, Child death, Gore, Sexual content, Torture, Cannibalism, and Alcohol

Minor: Body horror, Cursing, and Blood

smeyer's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective tense 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

5.0

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Domestic abuse, Physical abuse, Terminal illness, Violence, Kidnapping, Murder, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

eliasiexil's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious sad tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Moderate: Body horror, Child death, Blood, Vomit, Death of parent, and Murder

Minor: Drug use and Torture

a_alves00's review against another edition

dark mysterious tense fast-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? No

4.0

Stephen King did not disappoint with this one! 

I watched the movie last year and I was curious to see how different the ending was gonna be, since in the shining movie, the overlook didn't burn down. Although it was a great movie, I barely remembered most of it and the book brought all the memories back! 

SK Books are always amazingly written but sometimes also quite hard for me to follow. But the writing of this one was very clear, even though it still took me days to finish it 🤣 

When I first heard of this book, I didn't know what to think. I really enjoyed the shining, to me its one of his best works, and I wasn't sure whether a Sequel was necessary. But it was. I loved Danny in the shining (the book, NOT the movie) and I love him even more now. He could have easily let Abra do her own thing and not bother to help but he did! And I love him for it.
 

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Death, Blood, Kidnapping, Stalking, Death of parent, Murder, Fire/Fire injury, and Alcohol

unboxedjack's review against another edition

dark mysterious reflective tense fast-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

---

Content Warnings

Moderate: Alcoholism, Child death, Physical abuse, Suicidal thoughts, Violence, Grief, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Cancer, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Kidnapping, and Car accident

carrionkid's review against another edition

4.0

An interesting sequel to a timeless horror work, although it was kind of crude at times. Was NOT thrilled that a book written in 2013 had a character called by a racial slur. But the theme of healing from cycles of abuse and trauma was surprisingly well done!

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Body horror, Child death, and Alcohol

Moderate: Child abuse, Domestic abuse, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Grief, and Death of parent

yodamordecai's review against another edition

challenging dark emotional inspiring 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

3.5

Not as good as the original, but I read it in three days and  was engaged through the whole thing. I feel like it was a bit disconnected from the original, which is okay but wasn't to my liking.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, and Alcohol

Moderate: Sexual assault, Sexual content, and Kidnapping

dannybrown59's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious tense 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

4.5

I really loved this book. Almost as much as The Shining. It was just written so well. There was a lot going on in the beginning but it all tied in together so well.

---

Content Warnings

Graphic: Addiction, Alcoholism, Pedophilia, Sexual assault, Grief, Murder, and Alcohol