Rating: 
Summary: One of the three finest books I have ever read
Review: "The Talisman" is a masterpiece. It has become part of my holy trinity of favorite novels, alongside J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings" trilogy and John Irving's "A Prayer for Owen Meany." Readers of all three books may notice a common thread of heroism and deep love. The three novels also share writing so vivid that it creates an alternate reality that is hard to leave once the book is over. As with "Owen Meany", I immediately started "The Talisman" again the moment I finished it, with tears still drying on my face.King and Straub understand love. Love is the motivating force in this book, and the true magic of the book, more so than the hunk of glass of the title. The vividly drawn main character, 12 year old Jack, loves his mother and goes through Hell for her. Likewise, Jack loves his best friend / brother / soul mate Richard uncommonly deeply. Love like this has the power to save the universe. Peter Straub and Stephen King have my deepest gratitude.
Rating:
Summary: What a Journey!
Review: At first I picked up this book because there are so many news about the sequel, Black House, so I wanted to know what the fuss was all about. And it turned out to be one of the best book I've read ever!! I'm not a big and loyal fan of Stephen King although I do own and read few of his books. I don't have the Dark Tower series ... I do have Hearts of Atlantis, which I think was great except for the 2nd story (boring). I agree with one of the reviewer that the first 150 pages are a little bit slow. Well, actually, not until the chapter where Jack met Wolf that I started to tune in with the book. And after that I finished the whole story in just 6 - 7 hours. This is such a wonderful book about a journey of a 12-year-old kid named Jack Sawyer to find the Talisman in order to save his beloved mother. And what a long and hard journey it had been for him... Friends lost, friends found, hopes lost, hopes found. It was beautiful. And there was a lot of times that I felt my heart squeezed 'cause I felt what Jack felt. I think I'll continue with Black House ...
Rating:
Summary: Best book of all time if you can get past the first 100 pgs
Review: I am a very big reader. I read one book a week with is very uncommon for somone of my age 17. I read this book a few years ago and I have yet to find a book that is any better. The story is just so epic and amazing with very likeable heroes and villians that you love to hate.
This book is filled with a very melancholy outlook but they manage to throw in a little humor along (there is somthing to do with marijuana that still makes me grin to think about). This is deffinitly Stephen Kings best work and I think that he had a bigger hand in the making making of this book than Peter Straub, because I have read a book by Straub and he is not that talented. So if you like Straub back away because this is a King Book.
If you are a fan of the Dark Tower series you will really like this because this book links up with those. And if you really like this book go over and check out the Black House, the sequal to this story. It is not as good because this book would be impposible to surpass but it is still a great book and very original.
So if I were you I would stop reading this review right now and just order the darn thing! If you are reading this you do not know how much time you are wasting. You could have started on getting this book on the way to your house, each second longer you read this is a second longer that you wil wast while waiting for this book to arrive. Stop reading now. This book is to good to wait for. Ok if you will not stop reading this I will stop writing. Juat remember that you have to buy this book because there has never been anything, nor wiil there ever be anything, better then this book. So put this thing in your cart and get a move on. NUFF SAID.
Rating:
Summary: read it twice
Review: I first read this book about 10 years ago, when I was in high school. It was the first fantasy novel I ever read (although I had read a lot of King's horror genre novels). I loved it! When I saw the book at a friend's house recently, I wanted to see if I still liked it just as much now that I'm an adult as I did as a teenager; now that I read completely differnt books.
Indeed, I loved it just as much. I devoured it in a few days. I still think it's a wonderful introduction to fantasy novels. I enjoyed the main character Jack "flipping" back and forth between two worlds that were the same but different. How people existed as "twinners" in both worlds...kind of like alter egos. Great characters and relationships between characters and just a good all around story about traveling and adventure.
Rating: 
Summary: WHAT A READ!!
Review: I give The Talisman 5 stars. It is not only the 1st to the sequel: Black House, but assuming one is a Stephen King true reader, they are directly relating to The Dark Tower saga. Given, the 1st 150 or so pages are almost flat out boring (most likely due to Peter Straub's work), it definitely is xciting the rest of the way thru (Stephen King's work). It is a little different in Black House. It looks as Straub & King trade off every 50 or so pages. Either way, Straub is boring while King is xciting.
Rating: 
Summary: I really didn't care for this book
Review: I made it half way through this book, and simply had to put it down (I kept hoping for it to get better the whole time). The main reason why I picked it up was to get more about the Dark Tower series. The characters all seemed very superficial, and the plot was very forced. King usually does a better job at introducing and fleshing out any character in his books. His style usually is pretty continuous; no abrupt jumps or holes... I'm a huge fantasy fan, and I've read a dozen other Stephen King novels; this book was by far the worst I've read of his so far.
Rating:
Summary: King's take on a boy's journey to adulthood.
Review: I originally picked this up, a King initiated reader, from the local Wal-Mart for a 3 hour trip. I began the book while on the road and grew bored, also seriously considering if I should have purchased this novel or not. I kept reading the story and here is my review on Stephen King's The Talisman. Jack Sawyer is a troubled 12 year old whom is fleeing his dead father's sadistic partner Morgan Sloat with his mother leading the retreat. Death constantly comes into his face, and he soon relizes the location he rests in is not safe and death may again rear it's ugly head, this time in the face of his doubtful mother. Believable so far, right? Now we descend into the Fantasy aspect of Jack Sawyer's story. He befriends an elderly black man named Speedy Parker, whom provides comfort to the sorrowful Jack, and also shares a secret with the boy. Another world besides our own exists and Jack must go there to save his mother from her coming death. He soon learns of the Territories, a smaller landscape than the U.S. with few bits of technology, but a magical land, nonetheless. Jack is shown how to retreat to these realms on a journey from one side of the U.S. to the other. The Talisman is a strange book, especially in the Sunlight Gardener area. I got many homosexual vibes while reading the story, accounting on the many references to the penis, many homosexual characters that Jack meets on the road, and of course in the Sunlight Scripture Home for Lost Boys. Despite that, he meets the evil Morgan's son Richard, whom he was a friend with once, and also Wolf. Wolf is a wolfman from the Territories whom Jack pulls into our world. I felt sympathy for Wolf often throughout the book, which I view as a job well done concerning King and Straub. I've read nearly every S.K. novel and this is by far one of my favorites. I do not know what Peter Straub contributed, but whatever it was will find no complaint with me. I entirely recommend this over The Black House, which is sequel to this book and is compellingly dull. Overall, The Talisman gets 5/5.
Rating:
Summary: a slow start, but then - wow!
Review: I purchased this book from an overstock bin many years ago, and read it not that long after... and promptly forgot about it. But now that the "Dark Tower" series is drawing to a close, I'm trying to read some of the related books, and I decided to re-read this before tackling "Black House." And am I ever glad I did!
The start of the book is slow going... I was concerned I'd set myself up for torture during the first 100 pages or so. But after that it really picks up and I had great difficulty putting it down. Jack's journey is enthralling, as are some of the not-so-subtle lessons he learns.
I've been told this is not a typical King book, and given that the horror elements are definitely downplayed (well... except for some fairly horrific people) I can understand that. But if you've enjoyed the "Dark Tower" books, I recommend this one. I'm very glad I re-read it!
Rating: 
Summary: Just OK
Review: I've been a King fan for years, but have recently become bored with his writing style (my over-exposure to it, I think), so I thought the co-authored Talisman would be a nice change of pace. Well, I have to tell you that at first I was not at all impressed. In fact, I put the book down twice, for a month each time! The first few chapters (until Jackie actually finds out about and goes to the Territories, an alternate dimension of our world) are SO overdone King. Shades of the Shining, as Jack and his mother flee to a basically abandoned and pretty creepy hotel, shades of Hearts of Atlantis in the oceanside amusement park. When Jack, the 12 year old hero, meets the magical older man who starts him on his journey, I was just about to throw the book out the window!! But (here's the helpful part of the review...) read on, because from that point on is where the book gets interesting. Now, plot-wise, this one is your pretty basic good-versus-evil kind of story. Jack has to brave and surpass many tests during his quest cross-country to get the mystical Talisman that will save his mother (dying of Cancer) and the multiple dimensions of the world. Some of the better characters like Wolf are extremely well done, add a lot of interest to the story, and offer pretty blatent commentary on the state of the environment in our world, or at least in the US. Probably the best written section of the book is smack dab in the middle, when Jack and his friend Wolf are incarcerated in Sunlight Gardener's Home for Boys. The end is weak and underdeveloped...seems like the author's got tired of it and just wanted to finish it quickly! I've never read Peter Straub before, but I would say it was pretty easy to tell King's voice from Straub's. I imagine it is quite a challenge, for the editors as much as the authors, to get through a collaborative project such as this successfully. All things considered, I did enjoy the story, and would say that if you like King, you will enjoy this book as well.
Rating:
Summary: Who Plays these Changes?
Review: Of all of King's books, including the Dark Tower series, this one is my favorite. Once I got through the first few chapters, I was captivated. Something about the mythic atmosphere of this book, and the beautiful eeriness of the Territories world, did something to me. Jack Sawyer is half Tom Sawyer and half Frodo Baggins, a boy traveling across America because he must, even though he's afraid. My favorite character in this story was Wolf, an innocent and simple-minded teenage werewolf who accompanies Jack on part of his journey, and who is symbolic of what our world is capable of doing to the good world that we have left behind.
This book is good for everyone. Even if you are not a big King (or Straub) fan, I am sure that many people will consider this to be the exception.
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