A review by zakcebulski
The Stand by Stephen King

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious reflective sad 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

4.5


Wow... after starting this book coincidentally after the COVID-19 pandemic started and putting it down because it got a little too real, I am done with it!
What. A. Ride.
To me, Salem's Lot will always be my favorite book by King, but, goddamn, I can absolutely see why people say this is their favorite by him, and their favorite novel ever.
I thought that this was such a fantastically written book. It has all of the camp, and humor you want from King while balancing it and sometimes overloading it with tons of tragedy and sadness.

King stated that this book was written as his attempt to write something in the same line as Lord of the Rings and I think that while that is a tall order, this is a strong effort.
Let me start by saying that of all of the King I have read, I enjoyed this cast the most. I felt like everyone within this book had a good amount of background, and felt very fleshed out. This book has some of my favorite characters of all of King's work that I have read. I mean, Nick Androse? Aka the KING? Mother Abigail? Tom Cullins? Stu? Frannie? KOJACK? What a fuckin' cast. Holy hell. This book is an absolute masterclass in writing a diverse cast. Every character is introduced in such a way that you see them truly grow. Seeing Nick or Harold, or Frannie or Larry or shucks even Nadine from the beginning of the book to the end is such a treat. You can actually visualize the experiences of these characters. They grow, they mature, they endure, their emotions deepen, their love grows, their hate metastasizes- it is such an amazingly written cast. I adored seeing people like Stu and Larry really come in to their own and be the leaders they knew they could be. Seeing Harold devolve in to a quick-witted, lethally intelligent villain was tragic, but fascinating.

I thought that the foils to the heroes being Randy Flagg and his group were stellar- he is a villain that you hate, and you know you hate him and what he stands for, but, I will be damned if I didn't love when he was on page just to see what happens next. He is truly the embodiment of evil- and I think the lore behind him and this being his introduction really sets a strong stage for him to be on. I love the idea of this near omnipotent being having been introduced in this book.

I thought that the plot was absolutely terrifying. A virus that kills 99+% of those infected is so fucking scary. Their deaths are absolutely horrific, which is already scary enough, but, then you have the aftershocks of it, and how those who didn't die are left to grapple with reality. I love the way that King writes this book where you almost feel a level of dependence- of malcontent, like you should turn away from hope because it is such a bleak reality. But, then the groups get bigger and bigger and towns and establishments are set up. The way that the virus spreads with something a banal as a reference to people "getting sick" and then them dying and dying and dying and fucking dying- it is so terrifying to read through.  This is so great, because this gives King the ability to write the reinvention of humanity. I thought that I was going to get bored reading about civil politics and generators, but, I truly found myself feeling excited when the characters succeeded. I also love how King sews seeds of discontent as well as character backstories in their actions and dialogue rather than an exposition dump.
I love the variety of characters. We have well read and educated characters, characters with disabilities, pregnancies, different racial backgrounds and even a guy from a different plane of existence. 
This is the story of good verses evil, and I think that King adds enough to it to make it an absolutely addicting read. Every time I was not reading this book I was wanting to, every time a cliffhanger ended my reading session I was always wondering what was going to happen next.

When it comes to graphic displays of violence, and death- there are not many authors who I can recommend for gore hounds who just need to know how someones skull is blown away by a bullet, or something alike. 
I always have commended King for his graphic descriptions of violence- and this book is no different. I think that he absolutely has a knack for writing a well done action scene. 

Now, over the course of 1,100+ pages there is going to be room for some things that just... didn't work for me. The biggest thing about this was the ending. Absolutely the ending. I just thought that Trashcan Man coming back with an atom bomb and detonating it was so marred with plot convenience that it made me roll my eyes. It just struck me that King looked at his page count and thought "oh shit, I need to wrap this up...". 
I have made peace, however, with King's dialogue which I am still not a fan of, but, am no longer going to rail against, as I know that dialogue filled to the brim with references to old songs and repeated utterances of phrases over and again is just something that is going to happen. 

I thought that this book being a focus on the human condition was such an interesting read. I found so much to love about this book. I laughed with these characters, and I loved reading about their experiences. I hated others, even ones I was probably supposed to like. I found that King amazingly well, wrote a story that preyed upon the primal fear of instability, and the fear of a loss of faith. This is a potent read, and, perhaps I am delving in to it too deeply, but, I thought that the commentary of blind faith or being a Svengali, or the lack of trust and faith was such an interesting subtext to read. 
This book is well worth a read, and I am excited to go back through it. 
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