Black House

Rating:
Summary: Black House is blah
Review: AW steve and pete, I so loved talisman I read it four times. Looked forward
to this but what a disappointment. No point to it unless you guys were
getting back at your Hollywood hatees. I think this book should be called
the novel that should never have been written and didn't know when to
end. No at all scary, no subtley, no moral nothing. come on guys, you know
you could do better. you have. You guys are a couple of MY authors,
please entertain me again.

Rating:
Summary: A Step Up
Review: In this followup to "The Talisman"; King and Straub have outdone themselves. It is a vast improvement over their initial offering. The story was captivating and well written. I sense some of the tension these two great authors must have delt with....and it worked to their advantage. They are an excellant combination and I hope to read more from them.

Rating:
Summary: Another great Stephen King and Peter Straub.
Review: This is another great novel from two great writers. It was hard to put this down ...intriging from the onset!

Rating:
Summary: Wolf! What shame! I mean, right her and NOW!
Review: I am a Dark Tower NUT! Fed on Tolkein, and having snacked on Brooks and Lewis and Donaldson, I am a fantasy NUT! Dark Tower is even better because it draws in so much of the her and now (no pun intended). And Talisman was a nice setup for this then-future series.

And now, Black House. I'll be blunt. This book was uneccessary, ineffective, and very disappointing. It is filled with inconsequential characters than lend nothing to the story proper and show no sign of developing in future novels. Events which are pheonomenal go unexplained and play minor little bit parts. A truly anti-clamactic climax mixed with a "yeah, but that is so far-fetched it's stupid" ending (what with all the kids from nowhere) finishes an absolute let-down of a Dark Tower creation from King.

Those of us who are true fans got enough of this info in Low Men in Yellow Coats. Nothing new was introduced here, except a few possible links with Desperation (Tak, -tah, etc...). No development of the story. No development of ANY story (leaving Dark Tower out of the equation).

Turn around, go back, take the canyon road. Don't disappoint yourself by reading Black House.

Rating:
Summary: What a letdown!
Review: This effort is a pathetic attempt to cajole fans of a great novel into buying a sequel. If you haven't read "The Talisman", go out and get it! Read it, and skip this rag. What a bummer! I want 3 days of my life returned to me! As a dedicated King and Straub fan, I was sorely disappointed in The Black House.

Reading The Talisman so many years ago turned me on to Peter Straub and gave me reason read more of King's yearly drivel. "The Talisman" successfully melded drama, great characterization and plot into a book that you can revisit like an old friend.

The characters were so weakly written. Henry Leyden was the strongest of the batch, and when he comes to his end, you don't really care one way or the other. And whereas Jack in "Talisman" was a wondrous boy-hero, Tyler, is a hollow character with so much promise, as was the case with most of the people in the story. You just don't care.

I finished this one hoping page after page that I would be rewarded at some point, only to be robbed. The blatant tie-in to the "Gunslinger" saga was a joke. Leave the marketing to your editors boys. I read "Wizard and Glass" and was thrilled. But if this is the best that is to come, I'll read elsewhere.

Rating:
Summary: It mesmerized me.
Review: This sequel to the Talisman completely mesmerized me and I read it in a matter of days. Jack has returned--dear pure Jack who once sought the talisman. Jack is about 23 years older though, and seeking a disgusting pedophile named the Fisherman. In the end they achieve their goal against the Crimson King and Jack is almost mortally wounded by a deranged bystander--he must remain in the territories forever.
Only Stephen King's Talisman and Dark Tower series can get me so deeply involved in a book.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent, from a Stephen King fan
Review: I really enjoyed this book, I have read and own most if not all Stephen King books and read some Peter Straub after reading the Talisman. I am not impressed with the other Peter Straub books, but there seems to be something special going on when these two people get together!

Rating:
Summary: A flawed book that finishes strong...
Review: I was getting set to pan this book altogether. There are many faults. True Talisman fans will be disappointed. This all-grown-up version of Jack Sawyer is not nearly as sympathetic and intersting as his youthful self. Little time is spent in the Territories (which were a wonderful, fanciful, imaginative place to visit all those years ago). Certainly, there are no characters as compelling as Wolf. The references to the Dark Tower will probably be viewed as insufficient by DT fans, & an annoyance by those of us who do not enjoy that series. The literary conceit of using present tense is also annoying. Most of these literary conceits I attribute to Straub, whose prose I used to love, but who in recent years (with few exceptions) has fallen in love with the sound of his own literary voice, and is far more interested in jazz references & in turning a clever, arty-sounding sentence than just writing a good story. Finally, the book drags noticeably in many places, begining with the opening 75 pages (that's right, 75 pages), which are a struggle to work your way through.

And yet, and yet, and yet.

Unlike many of King's &, to a lesser extent, Straub's, this one gets BETTER as it goes along. First of all, Henry Layden (sp?), in all of his various personae, is one of the better characters either of these guys ever drew. The Fisherman is as disgusting & vile, if unusual, a bad guy as has appeared in the pages of either author. The Nailhouse 5 are a great, rowdy bunch.

MOst of all, the book does build in the last 200 pages or so. The vision of the purgatory in which the kidnapped children toil is straight from Sheol (or the 2nd Raiders of the Lost Arc movie, I am not sure which). I can see why folks might not like the very end. But I liked "both" endings. I will not spoil it for anyone by giving away more. Suffice to say this book is worth staying with, in spite of its flaws.

Rating:
Summary: "Totally disappointing."
Review: Being a fairly new reader of the macabre, I felt like reading a book by the master of terror (Stephen King). Considering the synergistic power of two famous authors, I thought this book would be the ultimate. I felt that my time in reading this book was a waste of six+ hours, and would advise readers to read other materials. Every strange twist and turn in this story was totally predictable. The topic, while gruesome and sadistic, seemed almost normal. I was hoping to be gripping an armrest and losing sleep as I read this book. This definitely wasn't the case. I do believe that with a lot of re-structuring, this would make a fabulous horror film. especially if directed by Mr. King. I was far from impressed.

Rating:
Summary: Don't read this in the dark
Review: DO NOT READ THIS IF YOU HAVEN'T READ THE TALISMAN.

This sequel is not for the squeamish. King and Straub do an excellent job building their characters. You won't soon forget Chummy - He'll make you look at your elders differently for sure! Overall: An excellent read, moves quickly and gives you a taste for more.