A review by mrtvavrana
Dreamcatcher by Stephen King

adventurous challenging mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated

2.5

 

I will start this by saying I do not usually review King; in fact, this is my first review. And there's a good reason I'm writing it. Because, holy crap (literally), what the hell was that? I absolutely love Stephen King´s novels, and when I found out this one was about aliens, I simply had to read it asap. 

 

Dreamcatcher being my 27th (or perhaps 28th?) book by King, you would think I am used to his weirdness and there would be nothing more to surprise me. Well, you would be very wrong. This is by far the weirdest one. 

 

If you thought the

child orgy

from It was weird and gross and surprising. I wonder what you would say about all the farting and belching and the extremely vivid descriptions of fart smells and sounds this book contains. Not to mention the

alien beings being born via ripping people´s assholes.

No, I am not joking. I have seen people call this book too weird even for King himself, and I cannot agree more. 

 

As far as the story goes, it was not the best I´ve read. It was slow, dragging, and pretty boring, apart from a few moments.

The animal migrations were probably my favourite, there is just something otherworldly about seeing deer and foxes and bears and raccoons and wild cats, etc., all together.

 

 

The characters were interesting, but not very likeable. Apart from Duddits, he seemed very sweet, kind, and loving. The rest of the friend group, Jonesy, Beaver, Pete, and Henry, were kind of annoying, even though they had their moments. 

 

For me, the least enjoyable and most confusing was the military part of the story. What I liked the most, animals excluded, was the bond between the five friends. And also all of the retrospective parts that brought us back to their childhood. 

 

I still think Desperation and The Regulators are much more chaotic and maybe even more weird. And they are also the King books I liked the least. Unfortunately, Dreamcatcher is very close behind them.