Rating: 
Summary: A Great Book
Review: This is simple. If when you finished to see the movie you felt that the first 3 hours were great and the last 3 hours poor, give the story a second chance.Read "The Stand" and you'll see there's is a reason to exists a "good" side and a "evil" side. There's also a very good reason to the "final battle". There's is a reason to the existance of Randall Flagg. This book will answer all the questions the movie let you asking....a must read...
Rating:
Summary: Armageddon
Review: The idea is brilliant: What would happen if about 99.5% of the population gets wiped out by a plague? How do the survivors organize themselves again? A lot of post-apocalyptic science-fiction has been written, but from all the books offering this subject, "The Stand" is without doubt one of the most excellent ones, which is mostly due to Stephen Kings great talent to create interesting characters, of which you will find dozens in this amazing book... But on the other hand the situation is so complex that a lot of things have been forgotten in this novel: What happened to the rest of the world? This book is understandably too much centered on the USA, it would have been interesting to see what would have happened in the rest of the world... Still, this novel is among the best of Stephen King's work, mostly also because its more than a horror novel, it's a book about the survival of human mankind, the fight between good and evil, the utopia of a new society, a new beginning from the scratch for the civilization. Having read the cut version first, I was very pleased to discover the complete and uncut version, full of rich details, making the characters even more interesting and also delivering more background information about how the whole mess started. If you have the cut version, buy the uncut one if you want more information about your favorite characters and even meet some new ones. If you dont have the book yet, go for the uncut version, it might be longer, but it's worth every page of it! Honestly, who likes to watch a cut movie? So why would someone like to read a cut story?
Rating: 
Summary: A compelling read!
Review: I'm not a Stephen King fan, but this book just captivates me. I actually didn't pick it up until I saw the miniseries "The Stand" when it was first on television. When I have a long vacation, this is usually one of the books I take with me...I only gave it four stars because some of the sections (mostly the Ad Hoc Committee free zone meeting sequences) tend to go on and on...but still an excellent book all the same. OH and the mini series is terrific too -- an excellent accompaniment to the book! (It's available on video and is also on SciFi network from time to time). Since I'm not a Stephen King fan (nothing against him -- just don't usually read that genre of books) I was and still am surprised by how enjoyable this book is! Read it!
Rating:
Summary: Stephen King IS the King!
Review: I must admit, the daunting page-count was a detractor. But what a fabulous read! What's more, after you finally meet the antagonist Randall Flag...egad, and what a horrid fellow he happens to be...you can't persuade yourself to put the book down! It is engrossing, overwhelming...and out-and-out FUN. It is my opinion that Stephen King has for some time been wrongly pigeon-holed as a writer of the most base and sensational type of horror--an assertion that is simply untrue. I am not a Stephen King maniac (though I have met a few in my day), but I must say that he is a brilliant author who posseses an unmatched ability to create and unfold prose teeming with beauty and poignance. The Stand is a perfect example of this. If you want good writing, this is it. More importantly, if you've never read King before, and are unfamiliar with the merits of his talent, The Stand is a particularly fine place to start. As for me, I miss the characters Stu, Larry, Frannie and Mother Abigail. They came alive to me with each turn of the page, each chapter read. I know they will for you, too. Go on, order the book. You won't regret it!
Rating:
Summary: The Stand: Complete and Uncut
Review: Love it or hate everyonr who reads The Stand has to be impressed. Many people complain about the theme of religion which runs throughout and the so-called religious ending(Don't worry I won't spoil it! )However what most people fail to see is that the ending is left open. At no point in the story does King say "This is right, this is wrong, she is God, he is the devil." Although some of the characters believe it not all do. I read a review by someone claiming to be an atheist who complained about the 'religious ending'. If he can see this and is saying that it definitely is and that is who they definitely are he needs to question whether or not he does believe in God. This book sparks your imagination, touches your emotions, makes you questions what you do and do not believe in and is so far from his comercial novels its unbelievable.(Oh I've started planning for the end. If lots of people get ill around you e-mail me and let me know! I'll need to buy a generator so at least I have electricity! )
Rating:
Summary: WOW!
Review: The stand is Stephen King's second greatest book! His first is IT and you should read that too (but if the thought of 2 1,000 page books makes you puke space it out!) I am 14 years of age and I was only 7 when I first saw The Stand and it was always a favorite of mine! I just got done reading the complete and uncut version and I couldn't count how many times King's words brought me to tears. From when Harold Lauder's heart was first broken to when it was he who was creating tragedies I couldn't put it down! Honestly it never left my hands (unless I was reaching for a tissue!) In the course of the book I was ecstatic when good news appeared but only seconds later, at some times, I would be mad at King for crushing the utopia the Fran, Stu, Nick, Ralph, Glen, Larry, and Sue Stern had tried so hard to make in the cozy little town of Boulder, Colorado. The book, as many of King's, affects all parts of you; it tears your heart apart from saddness and makes you think about the basis of all humanity and whether or not The Dark Man, Randall Flagg, really exists. If not literally, perhaps in all of us.
Rating:
Summary: King proves he's America's best writer, period
Review: The reviewer from May 6, who disliked the conclusion because he's an atheist, inadvertently revealed why Stephen King is such a great writer and The Stand is such a great book. King is one of the few "mainstream" writers with the courage to challenge the smug, complacent philosophical assumptions of our society. That's what great literature does. I can't think of another book, even by writers deemed "important" by the literarti, that challenges the basic philosophical assumptions (materialism, primacy of the self, etc.) of the modern American elite. In fact, writers who are deemed "important" by critics are writers who churn out servile drivel that praises the views commonly held our country's elite. For example, The Cider House Rules (pro-abortion message) and City of God (New Age/pantheistic message) are both praised by critics, but there is nothing courageous or groundbreaking about these books. These books simply reinforce the views held by the intellectual elite, of whom the critics are part. It is much more courageous to write a book that suggests the world works in a different way than the cultural elite says it does. That is what Stephen King has done, and he's done it brilliantly. I have a theory that in the future, Stephen King's works will be remembered like those of C.S. Lewis, J.R.R. Tolkien or Ursula K. LeGuin. The Christian subject matter is there; the themes are darker because it is a darker time.
Rating: 
Summary: Typical derivative (but entertaining) King
Review: In "The Stand," King applies his signature style of writing and his usual cast of character types to what is, for him, a somewhat novel end: a post-apocalyptic future setting for a battle between supernatural forces of good and evil. Much has been made of the premise of the book--a super-virulent strain of flu virus is released and eliminates most of the human race, and the few survivors are the participants in a battle of magical powers--and I have little to add to the descriptions of this. What seems to go largely unrecognized, however, is that "The Stand" is a transparent rewrite of J.R.R. Tolkien's "The Lord of the Rings." Each character here can be identified with a character in Tolkien's work (most notably Trashcan Man with Gollum), and most of the plot of the latter book is replicated, albeit with a change of setting and phrasing, by King. King's literary act of thievery is an adept one--there will undoubtedly be those who prefer his version to Tolkien's original, most likely due to a preference for King's style of writing or the more modern settings--but it is thievery nevertheless. Contrary to what many other reviewers (see below) have stated, the characters here are not terribly distinguishable from the characters in any of King's other novels, and the episode of (in King's own words) "literary elephantiasis" that resulted in this book's gargantuan length ensures that this is not the book that I would recommend for anyone thinking of reading their first King novel (that distinction would go to "The Shining.") It is nevertheless a fast and entertaining read worth a few stars, more or less.
Rating:
Summary: King's Greatest Work
Review: The Stand is really an aquired taste. Some love it and some hate it. It's a very long book, but very interesting. The book starts off as a disease destroys almost all of the world's population. Soon, a demon makes his move and attempts to conquer what's left of the world. A battle for survival during a plague turns into a holy war that the world has never seen. A great book. I loved it.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book Ever Written?
Review: If I was told to sum up The Stand: Complete and Uncut in one word, that one word would definately be WOW. This epic tale of apocalypse, magic, romance, horror, adventure, and just about every other genre of literature is absolutely stunning. I have just finished reading this book and I must say- I AM AMAZED. I never thought that Stephen King could top his excellent It (you should read that one, too), but he has. There is no word in the English language for this book, so anyone with the attention span (its 1141 pages long) should order this book RIGHT NOW and see what I mean. You won't regret it!
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