werenotwolf's review against another edition
4.0
4 stars
Firestarter is the story of a fugitive father and his daughter who is able to light fires with her mind.
The book itself is great, a real page turner. There were of course a couple of more dull moments and in King fashion he definitely stretched the final part of the book but it was all round very enjoyable.
Firestarter is the story of a fugitive father and his daughter who is able to light fires with her mind.
The book itself is great, a real page turner. There were of course a couple of more dull moments and in King fashion he definitely stretched the final part of the book but it was all round very enjoyable.
cpruden's review against another edition
4.0
I’ve seen both firestarter movies (which i loved) and the book did not disappoint! I’m not a big horror fan and this was a very approachable SK book, similar themes to The institute. I had no trouble reading before bed, unlike the Outsider lol. Reading SK just makes all other books dull in comparison, the way he has with words is incomparable.
readingbutterfly's review against another edition
5.0
I loved it. It was like watching the movie again for the first time.
~Erika
~Erika
katiecatbooks's review against another edition
4.0
Suspense. Pyrokinesis. Government experiments.
Story: Andy Mcgee and his 8 year old daughter Charlie are on the run. Andy has psionic abilities and Charlie has some abilities of her own. The government are after them to do some tests on their own. It's a race against time and psychic powers for the two to save their lives.
Language: In typical King form, this book contains short chapters. It's told in third person from various perspectives. The setting is around the 1970's and throughout the east coast of the United States. Most of the book veers more towards the suspense / scifi genre, though horror elements make themselves clear when the plot is at its thickest.
Characters: Andy McGee is a father to young Charlie. He's also a husband, but his wife was killed by the government and the same people are after him and Charlie. Charlie is a young girl who likes books and cartoons and happens to have a psychic power of her own. Andy must use his power to protect himself and Charlie.
While not as gripping as other King books, it has an interesting premise and a solid ending.
Story: Andy Mcgee and his 8 year old daughter Charlie are on the run. Andy has psionic abilities and Charlie has some abilities of her own. The government are after them to do some tests on their own. It's a race against time and psychic powers for the two to save their lives.
Language: In typical King form, this book contains short chapters. It's told in third person from various perspectives. The setting is around the 1970's and throughout the east coast of the United States. Most of the book veers more towards the suspense / scifi genre, though horror elements make themselves clear when the plot is at its thickest.
Characters: Andy McGee is a father to young Charlie. He's also a husband, but his wife was killed by the government and the same people are after him and Charlie. Charlie is a young girl who likes books and cartoons and happens to have a psychic power of her own. Andy must use his power to protect himself and Charlie.
While not as gripping as other King books, it has an interesting premise and a solid ending.
sodope's review against another edition
4.0
Cool story with some great characters, specially Andy and Rainbird (such a creepy guy). This isn’t a horror novel, instead feels more like an adventure one with some thriller moments. Also The Shop feels great as a group, every character inside that group feels good.
Will never forget about Irv and Norma Manders, such a great family.
It’s got an open end as the majority of King’s books, but this one fit good for me.
Will never forget about Irv and Norma Manders, such a great family.
It’s got an open end as the majority of King’s books, but this one fit good for me.
beeboisourgod's review against another edition
3.0
I went back and forth on whether or not to give this book 3 or 4 stars and eventually settled on 3.5 rounded down because giving it the full 4 would almost seem like a betrayal to other books that I've given 4 stars to and enjoyed a whole lot more.
That's not to say this was a bad book or anything, it had it's moments, it's just- I honestly don't know what to say about Firestarter... it's a tough one to review because first of all: I had originally started reading it when I was 15, then for some reason or another, I set it down and never picked it back up for 6 years. There was just something about Stephen King's writing that didn't click for me and felt weird or off-putting, not even subject-matter wise at first, just generally style wise. I made it to page 150 or something and then a part of me just said nope, no way was I going to read 400 more pages of this. The jumps in point of view in early chapters were especially jarring at the time, though not as bad as I remember upon restarting it. Some questionable and uncomfortable passages and pieces of dialogue also became the tipping factor to me leaving it on a shelf to gather dust for over half a decade. But maybe, I'll admit, just maybe, I was being unfair and a little too hasty to give up. Of course, I always planned on coming back to it, I just hadn't planned on it taking so long. I had to psych myself up to read it again, I was going to finish it whether I wanted to or not, one day, one day! And finally that day came this year when a craving for media and literature similar to Stranger Things hit me like a bus, and being older and having read more adult books since then, I think it did change my perspective, it did make me appreciate the story and the writing more than I would have had I continued reading at 15. While there will still parts I didn't like, there were many I did.
The premise of Firestarter is intriguing, it's the type of thing I tend to adore: shady government experiments giving people psychic or psyionic or whatever else kind of powers and those powers having consequences; I live for that trope and I can see Firestarter's influence on the likes of Stranger Things and other things I enjoy, like this is the OG, well maybe not that far, but you know it's certainly a big one of its kind of story. And it does deliver big moments. Suspenseful moments. Dramatic and exciting moments and quiet and thoughtful moments. It also delivers horrifying moments. Disgusting moments and weird as hell (in a bad way) moments. It's a fifty-fifty thrill ride delivering great writing one second that makes me rethink my bias against Stephen King (hammered in by my friend's grand hatred of Dreamcatcher) and then bad writing another second that makes me question whether my initial not so great impression of him was right all along.
Needless to say, this was nowhere near my favourite book. It's also nowhere near a bad book though. I liked seeing the relationship between Charlie and her father, and between each of them and their powers. I liked seeing the way both of them used their powers and the consequences it meant for themselves personally, rather than those they used them against even. I liked seeing moments of triumph for them, and I liked seeing part of their strength coming from each other, and I liked the rare moments of humanity slipped in with small side characters you grow to care about even in such a short period of time. I did not like, however, reading about toilet training metaphors, weird sexual thoughts/backgrounds or descriptions, approximately 100-200 pages of extra padding and repetitive information or thought processes. And while I suppose I must make some concessions for the book's age, there were a lot of uncomfortably racist and homophobic remarks or tropes in this among other things. Plus, I don't know how to describe it, but I feel like this book just didn't have much to say, you know? In the end, it was fairly basic if I'm being honest.
Also, not sure how I feel about the actual ending. I'm not particularly surprised by it, I'm not particularly happy, though I'm also not particularly upset, I'm just kind of neutral so... make of that what you will, but I've been rambling. Overall, solid, if at times uncomfortable read. I'll probably give Stephen King another shot, so that's saying something, seeing as my first book by him hasn't scared me off just yet. But I have a feeling he's going to remain a 3 star read/author for me. So uh, yeah.
That's not to say this was a bad book or anything, it had it's moments, it's just- I honestly don't know what to say about Firestarter... it's a tough one to review because first of all: I had originally started reading it when I was 15, then for some reason or another, I set it down and never picked it back up for 6 years. There was just something about Stephen King's writing that didn't click for me and felt weird or off-putting, not even subject-matter wise at first, just generally style wise. I made it to page 150 or something and then a part of me just said nope, no way was I going to read 400 more pages of this. The jumps in point of view in early chapters were especially jarring at the time, though not as bad as I remember upon restarting it. Some questionable and uncomfortable passages and pieces of dialogue also became the tipping factor to me leaving it on a shelf to gather dust for over half a decade. But maybe, I'll admit, just maybe, I was being unfair and a little too hasty to give up. Of course, I always planned on coming back to it, I just hadn't planned on it taking so long. I had to psych myself up to read it again, I was going to finish it whether I wanted to or not, one day, one day! And finally that day came this year when a craving for media and literature similar to Stranger Things hit me like a bus, and being older and having read more adult books since then, I think it did change my perspective, it did make me appreciate the story and the writing more than I would have had I continued reading at 15. While there will still parts I didn't like, there were many I did.
The premise of Firestarter is intriguing, it's the type of thing I tend to adore: shady government experiments giving people psychic or psyionic or whatever else kind of powers and those powers having consequences; I live for that trope and I can see Firestarter's influence on the likes of Stranger Things and other things I enjoy, like this is the OG, well maybe not that far, but you know it's certainly a big one of its kind of story. And it does deliver big moments. Suspenseful moments. Dramatic and exciting moments and quiet and thoughtful moments. It also delivers horrifying moments. Disgusting moments and weird as hell (in a bad way) moments. It's a fifty-fifty thrill ride delivering great writing one second that makes me rethink my bias against Stephen King (hammered in by my friend's grand hatred of Dreamcatcher) and then bad writing another second that makes me question whether my initial not so great impression of him was right all along.
Needless to say, this was nowhere near my favourite book. It's also nowhere near a bad book though. I liked seeing the relationship between Charlie and her father, and between each of them and their powers. I liked seeing the way both of them used their powers and the consequences it meant for themselves personally, rather than those they used them against even. I liked seeing moments of triumph for them, and I liked seeing part of their strength coming from each other, and I liked the rare moments of humanity slipped in with small side characters you grow to care about even in such a short period of time. I did not like, however, reading about toilet training metaphors, weird sexual thoughts/backgrounds or descriptions, approximately 100-200 pages of extra padding and repetitive information or thought processes. And while I suppose I must make some concessions for the book's age, there were a lot of uncomfortably racist and homophobic remarks or tropes in this among other things. Plus, I don't know how to describe it, but I feel like this book just didn't have much to say, you know? In the end, it was fairly basic if I'm being honest.
Also, not sure how I feel about the actual ending. I'm not particularly surprised by it, I'm not particularly happy, though I'm also not particularly upset, I'm just kind of neutral so... make of that what you will, but I've been rambling. Overall, solid, if at times uncomfortable read. I'll probably give Stephen King another shot, so that's saying something, seeing as my first book by him hasn't scared me off just yet. But I have a feeling he's going to remain a 3 star read/author for me. So uh, yeah.
jenny_prince's review against another edition
5.0
Oh yeah, Zac Efron is gonna be such a DILF in this movie.
Also if I hadn’t already been scarred for life by Happy Tree Friends that garbage disposal shit would have fucked me up so bad. Classic King.
Also if I hadn’t already been scarred for life by Happy Tree Friends that garbage disposal shit would have fucked me up so bad. Classic King.
literaryliz's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
inspiring
mysterious
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
4.0