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Everything's Eventual : 14 Dark Tales

Everything's Eventual : 14 Dark Tales

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Honestly - Is King Losing His Touch?
Review: First, I am a long time reader of Stephen King, and as such, I think I'm warranted when I say that his short story collections have always included some of his best work. Unfortunately, if that still remains true, then it would appear that we're getting close to the bottom of the barrell when it comes to unpublished works by the Master of Terror.

Don't get me wrong - any writer would give his left hand to write half as well as King, and these stories if attributed to someone else would be an impressive collection indeed. However, coming from King, I was rather unimpressed by the sheer lack of nerves that I had while I was reading the stories. His last collection, Nightmares and Dreamscapes, kept me enraptured from beginning to end; I couldn't put it down, and not because I was afraid, but because every *single* story in that collection was better than the previous one. Not so with Everything's Eventual.

King writes in the introduction that the stories were ordered by chance, by the draw of a card. At first, I thought that was an interesting way to arrange things, but after plodding about halfway through the book, I realized that the "sheer chance" had resulted in an uneven presentation of stories. Some were very good (the title story, for instance; "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away"; and the story of the boy who meets the devil while fishing), but most were downright formulaic and bland ("The Road Virus Heads North" or "1408" -- the latter a terrible attempt to evoke Lovecraftian terror). And as an avid King fan, the inclusion of "Riding the Bullet", "The Little Sisters of Eluria", and "LT's Theory of Pets" seemed somewhat of a gyp, as I already owned these stories in the formats they were originally released.

Perhaps it's good that King appears to be determined to step down once his Scribner contract is fulfilled; hopefully he'll go out at the top of his game, like a Seinfeld or Cheers. Unfortunately, given this collection of stories and his last full-length novel, it seems to this Constant Reader that Mr. King is writing purely for his own bemusement and not for those fans waiting for the scares we received in It, Christine, and The Stand.

Overall, for a King fan the collection is satisfying in its own odd way; I'm glad I bought it, and glad that I read it. But would I recommend it, especially to a non-King fan? Nope.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A decent collection with some good chill inducing moments
Review: "Everything's Eventual" is Stephen King's third collection of short fiction, gathering together a lot of previously published stories and adding a few new ones. I've read a good deal of King over the past year, and have really come to like his writing, and respect his abilities as an author. That said, however, a lot of these stories left me feeling flat. The writing on all of them is certainly competent, sometimes even excellent, and there are a number of interesting story ideas. It's just that, in the end, a lot of the stories failed to move me much. There were some that I really did enjoy though, or that really did affect me. "Autopsy Room 4" and "In the Deathroom" evoke a pure visceral reaction, with extreme violence, or the threat of it at least. Others, like "The Man in the Black Suit", "The Road Virus Heads North", and "1408" will have you looking under the bed and over your shoulder, or wondering what that noise you heard in the other room was. King also veers into the reflective and philosophical at times in "All That You Love Will Be Carried Away", "Luckey Quarter", and "LT's Theory of Pets". "1408" shows that King is capable of spinning out a convincing Lovecraftian yarn, and "The Little Sisters of Eluria", probably my personal favorite and a part of the Gunslinger mythos, shows that he is also capable of writing really good fantasy/sci-fi. In fact, "Little Sisters...", is so firmly rooted in sci-fi/fantasy territory that if I hadn't known better I wouldn't have guessed it was King. "Luckey Quarter" is one I liked in that it seems to be positing the idea that a streak of luck resulting in some kind of temporal gain is not enough to compensate for or overcome a lousy life. All in all, this is not a bad collection, but you may want to get it from your local library first, rather than shelling out the [item price] for a new hard cover book.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Worst I have ever read
Review: I am a MAJOR fan of S.K. I have every book he has ever written and have most of them in original hardcover. This book was so bad that I had to put it down (and I obviously will never pick up again). I was dissappointed to see that there were stories in it that I have already read. None of the stories was scary or even intriguing in any way to me. Sorry, guys, don't spend the money.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Almost everything's a repeat!
Review: While I am a "constant reader", it made for disappointment while reading this book. Up to half the stories have appeared elsewhere, particularly if you bought the audio tape of short stories a few years ago. Since his writing is plot-driven, if you've read, (or heard) the stories previously, you might as well skip the story entirely. The title story is, to the best of my knowledge, new, and was great. I just wish the book was half as long and half the cost!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: none
Review: Stephen King is at his finest 'gather 'round the campfire and let me tell you a tale'; 14 gems that range from the subtle to the outright in your face horror. With such modern classics as 'Riding the Bullet', 'The Road Virus Heads North', 'Autopsy Room Four', '1408', and the title story . In mere words (King) can make your pulse and heart race a little faster, blood pressure rise; he can make you forget to sleep at night.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Great book for King fans
Review: I loved all the stories and the way that they were arranged. Autopsy Room Four kept me awake!

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: A Mixture of Old and New
Review: Everything's Eventual does not entirely contain new material, most of these stories have been published elsewhere. It is, however, a very enjoyable collection of stories.

There are some real gems in this collection from the Hitchcock-like Autopsy Room 4 to the strange twist at the end of L.T.'s Theory on Pets. It even has an addition to the story of Roland, the Gunslinger from the Dark Tower series further explaining an episode from King's sequel to The Talisman, Blackhouse.

As always King aims to please with this collection of short stories. Too often we get so caught up in novels that we forget the pleasure of a story, as King puts it, you can finish in one night.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Never Read King Before, But What a Read!
Review: I am not much of a fiction reader (mostlty non-fiction)but I picked this up for light vacation reading. Was I pleasantly pleased! I have never read Stephen King before, but these shorts stories were worth every penny of the book price! Please get the book - you won't be disappointed!

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: everything's eventual: 14 dark tales
Review: By far, this is King's best short story collection. "1408" is worth the price of the book.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: King's Short Stories NEVER Shortchange Readers
Review: Stephen King's latest collection of short stories takes his Constant Readers from the sublime to the terrifying and never lets go at any point. King is a master of the short-story genre, his discipline and use of the form is the best. From his Dark Tower "prequel" story, "The Little Sisters of Eluria" to "Autopsy Room 4", to telling us about the good heart of John Dillenger, King keeps the pace going. The self-indulgence sometimes seen in King's full length novels is completely lacking here. He gives all for the reader. You can't read these stories quickly enough, yet, you can't slow down enough to savor their shivery sweet excellence. A must-read for King fans and fans of the psycho-horror and short story genre generally.


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