Rating: 
Summary: Bowl-Shaking
Review: I decided to create an account strictly for the purpose of writing this review. I probably will never use the account for any other purpose, but this is worth it.
The book was phenomenal. I read it so long ago, but the intense fear I experience just from seeing the cover art is a testimony to classical conditioning.
Read it. That's my only review. Forget the other comments, just trust me and read this book. The scene where Stu is running in the empty hospital hallways is like a white light seared unto the back of my eyelids, like a barely remembered nightmare.
Please read it. In fact, when I get home, I'm going to read it again.
Rating:
Summary: A Recommendation
Review: THE STAND was the first Stephen King novel I read (I think it was in 1985). The similarities to biblical prophecy in this marvelous story are hard to miss for even the the novice student of the book of Revelation. That fact played a large role in my interest in The Stand. The book is so enthralling that even when I became aware that King had veered a long way from the scriptural story, I didn't really care. And after all, no other writer had managed to figure out what all those seals, and trumpets, and vials of the Apocalypse were either.Continuing my interest in the subject, I have read a number of other books in the same general vein. Or perhaps I should say that I started to read several. The problem is that every writer that tries to stick with the original concept of end-times prophecy is also out to force a load of preaching down your throat. Their stories are less coherent that comic books and they seem to think their relationship with God makes up for the fact that they can't write. I have very recently found an exception to this rule and I wanted to recommend it. It's THE CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY by James BeauSeigneur. BeauSeigneur does an incredible job of story telling while sticking very exactly to biblical prophecy. He even blends in prophecies from several other religions! An interesting difference is that in THE CHRIST CLONE TRILOGY the antichrist/Flagg character plays his role and tell his lies so well that you can't help but sorta be pulling for him even though you know he's the bad guy. Or is he?
Rating:
Summary: Good Kicks Evils Butt
Review: I won't be long winded with this. My favorite part is when the hand of God comes down and vaporizes the evil people. This is a "CAN NOT PASS UP" book. Warning, if you start reading, leave yourself plenty of time. Because you will not put it down.
Rating:
Summary: The Best
Review: This has to be the best book I have read in my life. An excellent view of the war between good and evil, this book is filled with brilliant characters and excellently constructed plots and sub-plots. Although it was a long book, I never got bored of it and at this stage I have read it twice.
If you have read "The Dark Tower" series to date, you would notice that the character Flagg appears in it aswell, and so does the plague, the superflu. I love the way King intertwines stories this way, another example being the regulators and desperation.
And back to the book in question, I think that anyone who has read any of Kings books, or enjoys reading at all, this is a must read. Put it at the top of your reading list because it is simply, the best.
Rating:
Summary: What could I possibly say?
Review: What could I possibly say that 578 people haven't already? This amazing work of twists and turns is the epitomal story of good vs. evil. LaHaye has nothing on King.
Rating: 
Summary: Great start, but long and mediocre
Review: This is a gargantuan read. I just wish the second half of the book was as good as the first half. Unfortunately, it wasn't. What started out as a truly great book, and ended as a mediocre one. The first half of the book is suspenseful, riveting, and foretelling in a world proliferated by weapons of mass destruction. As the characters face and weather the viral destruction of the US population, it is the story of the survivors trying to rebuild, and hopefully, build a better world. At that point, I get the feeling that King had written the beginning to one of the best books ever created, then paused and said, "now what? How do I end the story?" I get the feeling he found the ending by simply continuing to write and letting the ending come to him as it would. As the end neared, I found myself continuing to plow through the book towards the end, not because I was deeply interested, but because I wanted some closure. Kind of like a really bad movie, you keep watching thinking, it has to get better.
Rating:
Summary: King's Very Best
Review: By reviewing a Stephen King book I'm hardly breaking new ground, but I had to say it, even though I know it's trite: I love Stephen King. In fact, at the risk of being lumped with the "mindless masses" (as I saw one reviewer term King fans) I'll even go so far as to say he's my favorite author. Yep, I'm well educated, appreciate Jane Austen and Henry James and love "Masterpiece Theatre" and also think that Stephen King is a great writer. An avid reader since age 5, I stumbled on King sometime in junior high. I can remember reading "Salem's Lot" alone in the house and actually getting the creeps (I was afraid to get up and close my open window for fear a vampire would be there, so I slept with my face to the wall)--something few novelists can achieve (you to have to be really "into" a story to forget it's "just a book"--and I think only a talented author can draw their readers in to that degree). In high school I actually wrote a National Merit Scholar essay on King's "The Body" (the novella "Stand by Me" was based on) as an example of "great literature" and was lucky enough to have a teacher who was convinced by my arguments and let me do it. (Most other students did "Grapes of Wrath," "Moby Dick" or "War and Peace"--I thought, and still do as a matter of fact, that great literature doesn't necessarily have to be dead boring. Even the review board that judged my paper appreciated my "unique" choice.) To date, I've read everything King's ever written, minus a few magazine articles and have to say that, while I don't think they've all been gems, I've never tossed one down in boredom (and isn't entertainment why we read fiction in the first place?). "The Stand," which King himself has called his "attempt at the great American novel," is my all time favorite. In the face of viral destruction of most of the US population, perpetrated upon us, of course, by our own government, only a handful of Americans are left alive. The story of these people, and their journey towards each other and towards creating a better world than the one decimated by flu, is truly spiritual--in a funky, Stephen King kind of way. And every page is worth reading. (Don't be scared shy readers, this is a long book that doesn't seem long. The story is good enough to carry you through all those pages.) There's a lot of "deeper meaning" in "The Stand" but it's also just a good, old fashioned adventure story that's a joy to read. I think that "book snobs" and reluctant readers alike should give Stephen King a try. I mean, there's got to be some reason why the man is the must published fiction writer of all time.
Rating:
Summary: Apocalypse Now
Review: "The Stand" discusses a few essential topics for the human race in the 21st century. Despite the complexity of our societies, or maybe just because of it, we face an immediate danger of extinction as a species. Snip: (...)
Rating: 
Summary: The ending is tough to figure
Review: I'm a King fan and, apart from Gerald's Game, this is the first King book that I haven't rated five stars. The opening pages of 'The Stand' are absolutely riveting. King does a great job of drawing the reader into the story right from the outset. After that, the pace is continued and the story develops nicely with King's usual mastery of characterization and description. What I found weak was the ending. Somehow it seemed that SK was trying to delve into issues of religion and morality (something he usually leaves to others) and, for me, it didn't work. I admit it was a brave effort, but it just doesn't come off the way I believe King intended it to. On the other hand, with the terrible and tragic events in New York and Washington recently, it seems that fact can sometimes mirror fiction (Tom Clancy foresaw the threat from the air). I hope, for the sake of all of us, that Stephen King proves to be less prophetic. The Stand is a well written book (as you would expect from The Master), but it is not his best work. That said, it's still well worth the few dollars it costs to buy it.
Rating:
Summary: Long But Great
Review: The Stand was long but the plot was not taken lightly. It scares with, not the mentality of or the pictures your mind makes, the reality of it. This book has its, could come true value, which is scarier than a book like say IT. Don't get me wrong It is just as good. The Captain Trips virus kills most of the world's population and the scariest part was that the one's that did live had no way to live a noemal life with everyone gone.
This book,besides Carrie, is King's best.
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