I still have the collection with Rage in it. I personally wouldn't recommend seeking out Rage. It's not a great read and really doesn't read like it did back in the day. If you haven't read it you aren't missing much.
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Stephen King |OT| - Era Ka-Tet
- Thread starter Dalek
- Start date
- Entertainment OT
They seem to get overlooked a lot, but The Talisman and Black House are both great and work as fantastic Dark Tower-adjacent stories while still clearly being their own thing.
The Stand is my favorite "standalone" book from him. And I read the unabridged version. It feels like an epic in modern times.
I feel like I can trust anyone who's handle is Repairman Jack. Now I want to read the Adversary Cycle again.
Haven't read any of his books in a while actually. The timeline started getting way too compressed, and the libertarian aspects were getting more and more apparent.(They were always apparent in the books, I just became more aware of them and got tired of them)
Yeah, I haven't read all of them, just like The Keep through Nightworld. Never noticed the politics I just stopped with repairman jack when it started to just add bloat to an already finished storyline. Still love the cycle though.
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Check out any of his short story collections, you're bound to love a good amount of his short stories.
Only got around to this recently, and oo it's so good. It's like Lovecraft's The Shunned House if it was reimagined as a story that wasn't super boring.
I totally forgot (or have never seen) this thread.
He's my favorite writer. I'm so sad I haven't read as much as I wanted this year so far. Last King book I read was Revival and I loved it! Felt way more in line with a great 80's King than his modern work.
He's my favorite writer. I'm so sad I haven't read as much as I wanted this year so far. Last King book I read was Revival and I loved it! Felt way more in line with a great 80's King than his modern work.
I recently read Night Shift and it was fantastic! Such a strong selection of stories.
This was actually the first Stephen King novel I read, I was..12? 13? Maybe just entered into high school, and it will always hold a special place in my heart, I cannot recommend it enough for others.
I went from the Repairman Jack books into the Cycle, so the whole end of the world stuff was all new to me. Some of the repairman jack books are pretty good, it just got to the point where way too much was happening within a year and a half time span and it was adding way too much to the whole Glaeken/Rasalom thing that made it seem less and less like "two gods that don't really care about the world" and more like two people really really quibbling over this cingle city and events involving this one person.
The politics aren't so out of the realm of the type of character it is, it just starts getting more and more re-contextualized once you're more aware of it. He's basically Batman with guns that actually kills people. Or if Batman tracked down Joe Chill and glued a gun to his hand and made him run at the police until he was shot basically. Only he doesn't brued in caves, he hangs out in his decked out 80s decorated apartment with his gold bricks hidden in the floor.
I could unpack Repairman Jack for days.
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I'm about 220 pages into The Talisman, and I'm not loving it. I like the overall plot but it's just not gripping me. Does it pick up at all or should I drop it?
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That book and it's sequel Black House were not very memorable to me.
It feels like a first attempt at a lot of other stories he later writes better, and it has kind of a weird tone overall. If it's not grabbing you, I would just drop it.
I just finished The Talisman 2 days ago and really enjoyed it personally. It's pretty wacky at times but I really those elements and felt like Jack was a good protagonist. I have Black House but I'm not gonna start it just yet. I hear it's a lot different. I definitely want to read it though because I hear it's very Dark Tower related.
The best book he ever wrote and one of the best stories I ever read. It gets better (and darker) as it goes along, well worth finishing.
Not read the talisman myself yet mostly due to how divisive it seems to be. You either seem to love it or it's kind of a disappointment
I was very much engaged at that point but I do think it's a book that gets better as it goes along. Have you met Wolf yet?
I'm pretty sure I'm about to meet him as the next chapter is called "Wolf"
Alright, I'll give it another 100 or so pages before I decide. Thanks!
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Everything appears in insomnia. I swear it has the most connections to all the work even Dark Tower.
Someone made a diorama of Derry it was too cool to not share. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uFmx3WTuDc8
Reading The stand right now and I'm near the end of the second book where they have arrived in Boulder, Colorado. It is a fantastic read even if it's a little slow right now. I'm reading it at work when i have a little time to do so. I really love the characters and will be sad when the book ends because i don't think most of them will survive.
It slows way down for a bit in Boulder but it picks back up and goes full throttle until the end.
I read (heard) all his books and while it was a great read his inability to write good endings was especially visible here with it being totally anti-epic
His endings are typically the worst part of all his books, but the journey to the ending are always so damn good. Plus there aren't many endings I love, I'm usually always bummed a world and characters I've grown attached to is ending.
Sweet! I like the slower pace right now. I'm curious of what the ending is and why everyone think it's a bad ending.
The ending grows on you or maybe I've read so much King I've just gotten used to his awful endings.
There are 2 different endings, depending on which version you read - I liked them both personally but the complete and uncut version I prefer. I think King is knocked too aggressively for his endings - it would be fairer to say, they don't live up to the journey before, rather than them just being bad.
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TREMENDOUS movie. Really heartbreaking. I remember reading The Green Mile when it was released in 6 parts.
Yeah I'm about halfway with the book atm, and the chapter describing Delacroix's execution is BRUTAL. It's been a fantastic read so far.
Really curious about the 11.22.63 book as well. Loved the mini-series with James Franco.
I'm old enough to have read the Green Mile as it was released serialised. Was quite unique for me. Was it produced worldwide the same way?
Edit - blimey it was only released in 96. Thought it was older than that.
The book of 11.22.63 is way better than the tv series. Read it last year, very very good.
11/22/63 is the very best thing King has written in years and one of the best books he's ever written.
No idea about the worldwide distribution, but I'd assume so? Must have been amazing to experience it that way though. :)
Damn lol, gonna need to pick it up then. Thanks y'all!
It's good but Revival is better. It's modern Stephen writing a early (Dead Zone, Salem's Lot)Stephen style book. It's as tight and as mean as those two, but with 30+more years of experience/craft. May even be my favorite.
Yeah I read IT about a year ago, great book. Stoked to watch Chapter 2 next month!
I've also heard that Pennywise makes a cameo in 11/22/63, so that intrigues me :)