Reviews tagging 'Death'

The Running Man by Stephen King

20 reviews

rikh's review

dark emotional sad fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Death, Panic attacks/disorders, Racial slurs, Violence, and Classism

isabelleceline's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racism, Violence, Blood, Kidnapping, and Murder

sabrinaleaf's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

1.25

1.5 ⭐️ 

What was this Stephen?? What was this 💀 

Ive heard great things about his writing, but one can only wonder if people were lying to her after reading this. I could only take so much of descriptions of shit, perky boobs, rape and balls. Not to mention the numerous homophobic and racist passage that were entirely unnecessary. 
I know this is an older book; doesn’t negate how I felt about it.
The plot started off very weird and fast, and I didn’t like its execution. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Gore, Gun violence, Homophobia, Racial slurs, Sexism, Blood, and Sexual harassment

Minor: Sexual assault

sighclopss's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark sad tense fast-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? No

3.5

Quick read 3.5⭐

This concept again plays on (as many of Kings works do) the age old "humans are the real monsters" trope. In a totalitarian future, society is kept in check with entertainment of human suffering (not much of a difference from what the 2020's of our current lives have to offer.) I think there's lots of good concepts in this one, and considering it was written over 40 years ago it can be eerie what elements have been prophesied in a way. 

In terms of writing, it's not as waffle-ly as some of King's other works, this one definitely made a good go at an "action" genre, while still having the in-depth complex character thought that I enjoy about King's books. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Body horror, Death, Gore, Gun violence, Violence, Blood, Police brutality, Car accident, Murder, Injury/Injury detail, and Pandemic/Epidemic

Moderate: Racial slurs, Racism, and Fire/Fire injury

angelroomba's review against another edition

adventurous dark fast-paced

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

3.75

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Cursing, Death, Drug use, Gore, Gun violence, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Murder, and Fire/Fire injury

Moderate: Child death, Sexism, and Police brutality

Minor: Homophobia

readingiscool96's review against another edition

adventurous dark tense fast-paced

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

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Gun violence, Homophobia, Police brutality, Grief, Murder, Pregnancy, and Injury/Injury detail

Minor: Body shaming, Cancer, Child death, Death, Fatphobia, Racial slurs, Rape, Sexism, Suicide, Terminal illness, Violence, Stalking, Car accident, and Fire/Fire injury

lukel's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective 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? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death and Violence

Moderate: Child death and Racial slurs

Minor: Sexual assault

dibiz116's review against another edition

adventurous dark funny tense fast-paced

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

3.0

 Overall I enjoyed this book, but I feel like there are just so much better dystopian reality tv books out there (including King/Bachman's other book The Long Walk). I imagine this was fairly original in its year of publication (1999) but even aside from that I don't feel like this had the depth of character that Stephen King is known for and that I have grown to love so much. I know the Bachman books tend to be much faster paced and less suspenseful, but this didn't accomplish the balance the other Bachman books do (the adrenaline packed character study that is Roadwork will forever be one of my favorite books so it's not an issue with King's style when writing as Bachman). It honestly feels like he tried to make something too fast paced for his own writing style and ended up with a story that fell flat. It didn't help that the attempted social commentary didn't make sense. 

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Murder, and Classism

Moderate: Child death, Racism, and Violence

laurenadkins's review against another edition

dark emotional sad tense fast-paced

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

4.0

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Death, Racial slurs, Rape, and Blood

11black_cats's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional fast-paced

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

4.0

Good book, I didn't love Richards but I didn't hate him either. All in all a solid main character and a good dystopian book.

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Content Warnings

Graphic: Child death, Cursing, Death, and Classism

Moderate: Racial slurs and Kidnapping