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A review by rachelunabridged
Doctor Sleep by Stephen King
dark
emotional
hopeful
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
!SPOILERS AHEAD!
I read The Shining for the first time earlier this year and was really hungry for more of that kind of story. The ghosts, the family dynamic, the mysterious power known as the shine. I picked up Doctor Sleep hoping to get more of that, but unfortunately it was a miss.
If I kept it short and simple, I would tell you that story-wise, this book is weak, especially as a sequel to The Shining. However, as is often the case with King's work, the characters really save it. Unfortunately, due to some poor story choices (imho) toward the end, they weren't quite enough to save it from losing a star.
Basically, I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. Seeing Danny Torrance all grown up and struggling with the psychological trauma caused by his childhood was interesting, it was heartwarming watching him succeed where his father failed in regards to recovering from his alcoholic lifestyle, and I liked getting a better look at the shine and seeing what it was capable of. The connection with Abra was also interesting at first, and I was excited to see how that was going to come into play later in the story.
The whole thing took a bit of a turn for me around the time that Danny and Abra meet IRL. Firstly, I was struck with how uninteresting a character Abra was turning out to be. She felt very much like a mary-sue kind of character. In fact, I can't think of a single flaw in her character except people tell her that she has a temper. Despite all of the other characters telling the reader this, I felt like we weren't really shown. The closest thing was her phone confrontation with Rose, and even then, she was doing what Dan told her to do. Afterwards she's embarrassed and cries about it.
Other things that bothered me were how lame the True Knot ended up being, Danny and Abra ending up being related, and how anti-climactic the final showdown ended up being.
By the end of the book, I was wondering why it even existed as a sequel to The Shining. Honestly could've been an alright stand-alone book, if you remove all the references to its predecessor.
I read The Shining for the first time earlier this year and was really hungry for more of that kind of story. The ghosts, the family dynamic, the mysterious power known as the shine. I picked up Doctor Sleep hoping to get more of that, but unfortunately it was a miss.
If I kept it short and simple, I would tell you that story-wise, this book is weak, especially as a sequel to The Shining. However, as is often the case with King's work, the characters really save it. Unfortunately, due to some poor story choices (imho) toward the end, they weren't quite enough to save it from losing a star.
Basically, I really enjoyed the beginning of this book. Seeing Danny Torrance all grown up and struggling with the psychological trauma caused by his childhood was interesting, it was heartwarming watching him succeed where his father failed in regards to recovering from his alcoholic lifestyle, and I liked getting a better look at the shine and seeing what it was capable of. The connection with Abra was also interesting at first, and I was excited to see how that was going to come into play later in the story.
The whole thing took a bit of a turn for me around the time that Danny and Abra meet IRL. Firstly, I was struck with how uninteresting a character Abra was turning out to be. She felt very much like a mary-sue kind of character. In fact, I can't think of a single flaw in her character except people tell her that she has a temper. Despite all of the other characters telling the reader this, I felt like we weren't really shown. The closest thing was her phone confrontation with Rose, and even then, she was doing what Dan told her to do. Afterwards she's embarrassed and cries about it.
Other things that bothered me were how lame the True Knot ended up being, Danny and Abra ending up being related, and how anti-climactic the final showdown ended up being.
By the end of the book, I was wondering why it even existed as a sequel to The Shining. Honestly could've been an alright stand-alone book, if you remove all the references to its predecessor.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Alcoholism, Child death, Death, and Violence
Moderate: Drug use