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frankiejo's review against another edition
adventurous
lighthearted
relaxing
slow-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
3.75
I had mixed feeling throughout this novel, but my end thoughts were mostly positive. It was difficult to get through at times, but I feel it was worth it.
Unlike my previous two reviews, my main gripe is not that it should have been longer. It was the right length, but I felt its time could have been better spent. King does an odd thing here. The narrator (whose voice and style I really enjoyed, for the most part) would describe in brief what was about to happen, and then spend a dozen chapters describing it in detail. I constantly felt like I was playing catch-up, and lost some emotional investment in these moments because I already knew what was going to happen. I would have preferred it if those summaries of what was about to happen were axed, and the time they took up in the narration (quite substantial, all things considered) to be devoted to other, more important things. Naomi, maybe. I did like her character a lot, but she just kind of...appeared? I would have liked to at least have a brief appearance from her earlier on before she abruptly becomes a major character. I'm sure the real Naomi loved to have a character named after her though, especially one of the heroes, but the feeling of "this character was included for his daughter" was so strong that it took me out of the otherwise immersive story. I would have preferred for her to be, again, introduced earlier, and to have more development.
Speaking of characters, my other gripe (that isn't nitpicky) is with Flagg. Now, admittedly, I haven't read The Stand nor any of the books in The Dark Tower, I understand he's in both and perhaps I am missing something about him in having not read them. With that said, this is a stand-alone novel, and should be able to stand on its own merits. Which it mostly does! My issue with Flagg is that he felt excessively and cartoonishly evil. He wasn't scary at all and I laughed out loud at several lines of his that I'm certain were meant to be dramatic. This is not a horror novel, I understand that and did not go in expecting that, but Flagg is supposed to be scary here. And he wasn't. Very much "I'll get you and your little dog too!" vibes, if that makes any sense. There's little to no indication that Flagg has some glamour (a la It) that makes others take his obvious evilness in stride. I do not believe for one second that such a blatantly evil man would be allowed to rise to the rank he did, let alone countless times over thousands of years. I would have preferred to see him played as either having that glamour (a la It) or to be faux pleasant. Either, I felt, would have made him a more effective villain. This issues were especially glaring in contrast to Thomas, which brings me to the second half of my review: the things I liked.
THOMAS. My god, I loved Thomas' character. This is how he is introduced:
Unlike my previous two reviews, my main gripe is not that it should have been longer. It was the right length, but I felt its time could have been better spent. King does an odd thing here. The narrator (whose voice and style I really enjoyed, for the most part) would describe in brief what was about to happen, and then spend a dozen chapters describing it in detail. I constantly felt like I was playing catch-up, and lost some emotional investment in these moments because I already knew what was going to happen. I would have preferred it if those summaries of what was about to happen were axed, and the time they took up in the narration (quite substantial, all things considered) to be devoted to other, more important things. Naomi, maybe. I did like her character a lot, but she just kind of...appeared? I would have liked to at least have a brief appearance from her earlier on before she abruptly becomes a major character. I'm sure the real Naomi loved to have a character named after her though, especially one of the heroes, but the feeling of "this character was included for his daughter" was so strong that it took me out of the otherwise immersive story. I would have preferred for her to be, again, introduced earlier, and to have more development.
Speaking of characters, my other gripe (that isn't nitpicky) is with Flagg. Now, admittedly, I haven't read The Stand nor any of the books in The Dark Tower, I understand he's in both and perhaps I am missing something about him in having not read them. With that said, this is a stand-alone novel, and should be able to stand on its own merits. Which it mostly does! My issue with Flagg is that he felt excessively and cartoonishly evil. He wasn't scary at all and I laughed out loud at several lines of his that I'm certain were meant to be dramatic. This is not a horror novel, I understand that and did not go in expecting that, but Flagg is supposed to be scary here. And he wasn't. Very much "I'll get you and your little dog too!" vibes, if that makes any sense. There's little to no indication that Flagg has some glamour (a la It) that makes others take his obvious evilness in stride. I do not believe for one second that such a blatantly evil man would be allowed to rise to the rank he did, let alone countless times over thousands of years. I would have preferred to see him played as either having that glamour (a la It) or to be faux pleasant. Either, I felt, would have made him a more effective villain. This issues were especially glaring in contrast to Thomas, which brings me to the second half of my review: the things I liked.
THOMAS. My god, I loved Thomas' character. This is how he is introduced:
Thomas was not exactly a good boy, but you must not think that made him a bad boy. He was sometimes a sad boy, often a confused boy (he took after his father in another way, as well—hard thinking made his nose stuffy and his head feel like boulders were rolling around inside), and often a jealous boy, but he wasn't a bad boy.
This, I feel, is an apt description. King does an excellent job of portraying him in the exact right way to shift the reader's opinion from "fuck this kid" to "oh my god, does this world have therapists?" I won't go into too much detail, to avoid spoilers, but man I was not expecting to feel this sympathetic towards a character who (minor spoilers. like very minor spoilers. first sixty pages)
Like I said before, I really enjoyed the narrator. The way the story was told, I felt like somebody's grandfather was reading me to sleep. Not my grandfather, he's racist and doesn't think Covid is real, just the archetype of a grandfather. It reminded me a lot of The Princess Bride, except without the satire. It was like The Princess Bride if everything was played straight.
I enjoyed the middle and end of this book far more than the beginning. As the story goes on, the pacing issues get less and less obtrusive, and the narrator eventually stops with their weird habit of telling you in fifty words what will happen in the next fifty pages. I know I wrote more about the negative than I did the positive, but that's simply because a lot of what I enjoyed involves spoilers or is, like the narrator's voice, simpler to describe than the more complex negative issues.
All in all, what I'm saying is that it's a good book despite its flaws. Is it King's finest? No. Is it a damn good read once you get into it? Hell yeah.
Cheers,
Frankie.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death of parent, Murder, and Alcohol
Moderate: Adult/minor relationship, Fatphobia, Suicidal thoughts, Toxic relationship, and Gaslighting
Minor: Ableism, Child abuse, Sexual content, Violence, Police brutality, Grief, and Pregnancy
annapox's review against another edition
dark
emotional
hopeful
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.75
This book was not well-executed; it's full of plot conveniences and holes. Nevertheless, it was mildly entertaining.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Animal cruelty, Animal death, Confinement, Death, Police brutality, Death of parent, and Murder
Moderate: Child abuse, Gore, Physical abuse, Violence, Alcohol, and Injury/Injury detail
Minor: Ableism, Cursing, Fatphobia, Sexual violence, Blood, Grief, Pregnancy, Fire/Fire injury, and Classism