Reviews tagging 'Fire/Fire injury'

Under the Dome by Stephen King

29 reviews

domolk2013's review against another edition

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dark sad tense slow-paced
  • Loveable characters? No

4.0


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pippling's review against another edition

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adventurous dark funny mysterious tense 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

4.5

I loved how this kicked off immediately with the dome coming down, and how the nearly 900 pages covered just over a week of under-the-dome time yet it felt really fast paced. After a few chapters I felt fully immersed in Chester’s Mill and along for the ride. 

The dome brought out the worst of the people trapped under it, and exposed the evil that was already in the works… probably one of my favourite SK novels so far! 

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nburkk's review against another edition

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3.0


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hellokatya's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional funny mysterious sad tense medium-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? Yes

3.75

where to begin with this behemoth? 

this book was a monster to get through. it had sat on my bookshelf for months - maybe even a year - before i committed to the idea of finally getting through it.

i have admired king and his writing for quite some time now, years at this point, and had (failed) to appreciate his world building and storytelling through my read through of IT, and decided this one would get my all, which (for the most part) i succeeded in. 

this book was very good — let me start there. it is a fantastic fly on the wall look into the way a “close knit” community falls apart when left to their own devices, and manipulated so heavily by a truly evil power figure. i will say that i was almost shocked by how many truly despicable characters and personalities there were in this novel. a few morally ambiguous - or more gray? - types, and a LOT of “protagonists”. it almost felt a little too skewed to the dark side, but then again, it is a king novel. it latched it’s arms around you and squeezed — it felt almost as suffocating as being trapped in the dome with them. 

i do wish that there hadn’t been so many characters, or at least so much focus on some of them, and that it had been a more intimate ensemble cast. it was hard trying to remember who each person was - even with the aid of character lists -, their relations to eachother, and their role in the bigger picture. it also felt like it took away from the immersion into the evil political goals of big jim. 

also a complaint is that the book should have been divided up by the passing days — not the way they were (that i honestly can’t comprehend). it only took place over about a week, which is made clear in the story, but i feel would’ve made the story much more cohesive and digestible, especially considering the length of the novel. 

there is quite a lot of violence in this novel, a lot more than i had expected — especially when my first introduction and taste of this concept was the tv show. now, i did not expect it to be a carbon copy, but i was expecting more similarities than i got, and the show was much more polished and censored. 

angie’s death really stuck with me for a couple days after i read it and not in a good way.


maybe i’ve just become squeamish and don’t have the stomach for it anymore, but i felt a lot of the violence could’ve been toned down, or at least spread out amongst more men — it was heavily aimed at the women and left a bad taste in my mouth. 

there’s a lot of sexual violence, a lot of it implied, thank god; but doesn’t make it quite a lot easier to get through. 

also the group bullying then gang r*pe of a (personally beloved) character was really jarring and left me with sorrow and a heavy heart.
 

in addition, i think the book could have been quite a bit shorter. as i also felt at the end of IT, the bulk of the story felt very dragged out and the ending much too quick. it all happened very quickly and felt like a quick wrap up to an otherwise very intricate and colorful world. 

the use of children aliens and a box — the whole explanation as a whole — felt very underwhelming and like it didn’t make a whole lot of sense. it felt like something that could’ve been explored much further and not been a side story — especially considering that the entirety of the novel is about the dome itself.


i wanted that explored in greater detail and would still love to see that talked about in the future. 

and finally, big jim. that man is the stuff of nightmares. he is so to the core horrible. i hate that man with every fiber of my being, and he deserved so much worse than he got.
his death felt very quick and painless, almost making you question if he truly died, when (per a paragraph earlier) the women had it so decidedly worse and drawn out. there is no doubt that he’s capable, so what’s the hold up?


as a whole, i loved this novel and feel so accomplished to have finished it. i think the timing was perfect, and i was able to give it the love and attention i desired. i highly recommend it, but come prepared with an iron stomach and tissues. 

PLEASE read TW as every single one you can possibly imagine is included. 

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kiwichill's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring mysterious sad tense medium-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? It's complicated

5.0


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brookebatesratesbooks's review against another edition

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challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? Character
  • Strong character development? No
  • Loveable characters? Yes
  • Diverse cast of characters? N/A
  • Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

5.0


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anne_marie_samp's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark mysterious tense slow-paced
  • Plot- or character-driven? A mix
  • Loveable characters? It's complicated
  • Diverse cast of characters? No

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melosamatic's review against another edition

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dark emotional mysterious sad tense medium-paced

4.25


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jrocbutterfly's review against another edition

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adventurous challenging dark emotional tense fast-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

4.0

A beast of a novel even for King's standard of writing long books, this one comes in at over 1000 pages. But even with its length   the momentum of the book is high paced and doesn't seem to have the mid slow that other long books can have. Though there is a supernatural or otherworldly element to the story.  The real horror of Under the Dome lies in what happens when humans are put, quite literally, with their backs against the wall.  When the outside world is unreachable people's true since of morality comes into play. The scariest part is seeing who rises up as heroes and who rises up as monsters when their is no one to hold anyone accountable.  And how humans truly can be the masters of their own downfall.

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hampshark's review against another edition

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adventurous dark mysterious fast-paced

4.75

This is one of King’s best. Engaging from page 1 to the end. Even with the few weak spots, I come back to this year after year for the study of humanity and the consequences of no consequences. 

Even 15 years later, it feels fresh and pertinent and subversive and possible. 

Of note, due to its scope, there are many (every?) triggers so take care. 

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