The Stephen King Universe

Rating:
Summary: Not what I had hoped for....
Review: Although the book does mention a few connections that I had missed, I was immediately turned off by the large number of errors. The entries for Cujo, IT, Needful Things, and Salem's Lot all contained errors, including wrong names, dates, and plot lines. For a book that is supposed to tie everything together, the errors are confusing and misleading. At this point, with the Dark Tower series coming to an end, the book is obsolete. The newest book it mentions is Bag of Bones. I would look for an updated version, or another book entirely, if you want to have an outline of the Stephen King Universe.

Rating:
Summary: Not what I had hoped for....
Review: Although the book does mention a few connections that I had missed, I was immediately turned off by the large number of errors. The entries for Cujo, IT, Needful Things, and Salem's Lot all contained errors, including wrong names, dates, and plot lines. For a book that is supposed to tie everything together, the errors are confusing and misleading. At this point, with the Dark Tower series coming to an end, the book is obsolete. The newest book it mentions is Bag of Bones. I would look for an updated version, or another book entirely, if you want to have an outline of the Stephen King Universe.

Rating:
Summary: Simply awful.
Review: Apparently, this book was edited by the editors without the authors themselves knowing. Stuff like changing 'Wolfs' to 'wolves' I can understand. Stuff like that can fool the editors.

But did the editors fumble around and change a masterpiece to a book written by, as Dr. Evil would say, frickin' idiots? Heh. I dont think so.

The authors think EVERYTHING is connected. And they make really far-fetched examples.

EXAMPLE: A character in the Dark Tower series can shoot so well, it is described that its like he has eyes in his hand. This MUST be a link to 'I am the Doorway' a tale of a guy with extraterristril eyes LITERALLY growing on his hand.

Get what I'm saying? Its THAT bad.

Its also filled with mistakes, and not just 'wolfs' to 'wolves'. Minor characters get their own profiles while major ones are forgotten. Why is this?

They are also going through AN extremely annoying 'Gurr oy, maybe It WASNT dead' phase. Is It dead? Was Tak destroyed? Didn't the Overlook Hotel explode? Nope! They are merely biding their time, waiting for a final showdown between the forces of good against evil.

Ugh.

Rating:
Summary: Very nice book that, of course, contains spoilers.
Review: Being a casual King fan, I picked up this volume to help me understand his work. It revealed to me many things I did not know. I have read "Insomnia," and I had become aware that it was intimately associated with the DARK TOWER series (which I haven't read) and "IT" (which I have).

And I was aware that quite a few of King's books all came to a head in "Needful Things," which references "The Library Policemen."

But I wasn't aware that all the books cross-pollinated like this, nor that the DARK TOWER series was the linchpin of King's entire library of work. Until now.

Wiater, Golden and Wagner do an excellent job showing you all the unseen connections. (Although I found one they missed--one of the doctors in "FIRESTARTER" shares a name with Patrick Hockstetter, a boy from "IT.")

Now I will definitely pick up more of King's books, and eagerly await the promised final battle novel. Will we be seeing many of our old favorite heroes in a final struggle against an army of darkness led by Randall Flagg, It, Leland Gaunt, and Tak?

Only time will tell...

Rating:
Summary: Very nice book that, of course, contains spoilers.
Review: Being a casual King fan, I picked up this volume to help me understand his work. It revealed to me many things I did not know. I have read "Insomnia," and I had become aware that it was intimately associated with the DARK TOWER series (which I haven't read) and "IT" (which I have).

And I was aware that quite a few of King's books all came to a head in "Needful Things," which references "The Library Policemen."

But I wasn't aware that all the books cross-pollinated like this, nor that the DARK TOWER series was the linchpin of King's entire library of work. Until now.

Wiater, Golden and Wagner do an excellent job showing you all the unseen connections. (Although I found one they missed--one of the doctors in "FIRESTARTER" shares a name with Patrick Hockstetter, a boy from "IT.")

Now I will definitely pick up more of King's books, and eagerly await the promised final battle novel. Will we be seeing many of our old favorite heroes in a final struggle against an army of darkness led by Randall Flagg, It, Leland Gaunt, and Tak?

Only time will tell...

Rating:
Summary: Good but not great
Review: Being a huge King fan and loving The Dark Tower series and how everything connects I had to pick up this book. And it is good and helps alot. It also keeps you from havening to re-read the book to find connection that you thought were there, which is the main reason I got it. So when the next Dark Tower book comes out you can just flip threw this book and be up to date. But they do make a few mistakes, and miss some connections and refernces (in The Stand there is a reference about the Trashcan Man walking the desert like Roland) that they left out, but the book serves its purpose and you probably won't get a better connection book unless King writes one himself.

Rating:
Summary: I guess their hearts were in the right place
Review: But there are many typos and factual errors in this book. Also, it never really does what it proposes. This book has already been written before -- they do nothing new here. Sorry guys, nice try.

Rating:
Summary: Begs for a second edition.
Review: Contrary to many of the other reviews, and regardless to the fact that I'm only giving this book three stars, "The Stephen King Universe" isn't a complete waste. The biggest problem I'm already having with the book, unfortunately, is that it's already becoming a bit dated and by this time next year (when the next two Dark Tower books are on the shelf) it will surely need updating. The authors may have jumped the gun a little bit to get the book out on the market, and I can understand the motivation.

Since this book was released before Black House, the sequel to Talisman, there is a lot of useful information left out. Black House revealed lots of background on the Dark Tower, the Crimson King, The Breakers and a whole slew of stuff integral to the King universe. You can tell the authors have their own ideas about where the series is going, but to me, Black House was the most important book to the Dark Tower series outside the Dark Tower books themselves.

Stangely enough, I'm probably one of the few people out there that was looking for a book exactly like this, so I'm not disappointed. Having read most of King's books, I was interested in having a handy reference, and now I've got one. I avoid reading any of the synopsis for books I haven't read yet, and for those of you who feel cheated because you read the synopsis before the book: what were you thinking?

The book is far from perfect and far from an encyclopedia. It's more of a thesis that attempts to tie all of King's books into his Dark Tower series in whcih King himself admits is sort of all inclusive. Sometimes it works, someties it doesn't. I would have liked a cyclopedia type section for something other than just characters though, especially for the Dark Tower section, which seems surprisingly thin considering the wealth of information in the books themselves. Outside of making connections to the other books, the authors seem oblivious to lots of details that I would find important, and if I had the patience, foresight and time to make something like this myself, I would have done it a bit differently.

Having said that, this is the best third party source on the King Universe outside of the books themselves, and it does fill a niche. I think about ten years from now we can expect a vast librabry of similar books like the many Tolkien cyclopedias and guides (maybe even a "Roland Lives" trend?). Hopefully when the series is completed in a few years, the authors will go back and create an updated version to include all the new books. If and when they do this they can fix some of the continuity errors, expound where needed and create the ultimate reference which, as of this writing, does not yet exist.

Rating:
Summary: Begs for a second edition.
Review: Contrary to many of the other reviews, and regardless to the fact that I'm only giving this book three stars, "The Stephen King Universe" isn't a complete waste. The biggest problem I'm already having with the book, unfortunately, is that it's already becoming a bit dated and by this time next year (when the next two Dark Tower books are on the shelf) it will surely need updating. The authors may have jumped the gun a little bit to get the book out on the market, and I can understand the motivation.

Since this book was released before Black House, the sequel to Talisman, there is a lot of useful information left out. Black House revealed lots of background on the Dark Tower, the Crimson King, The Breakers and a whole slew of stuff integral to the King universe. You can tell the authors have their own ideas about where the series is going, but to me, Black House was the most important book to the Dark Tower series outside the Dark Tower books themselves.

Stangely enough, I'm probably one of the few people out there that was looking for a book exactly like this, so I'm not disappointed. Having read most of King's books, I was interested in having a handy reference, and now I've got one. I avoid reading any of the synopsis for books I haven't read yet, and for those of you who feel cheated because you read the synopsis before the book: what were you thinking?

The book is far from perfect and far from an encyclopedia. It's more of a thesis that attempts to tie all of King's books into his Dark Tower series in whcih King himself admits is sort of all inclusive. Sometimes it works, someties it doesn't. I would have liked a cyclopedia type section for something other than just characters though, especially for the Dark Tower section, which seems surprisingly thin considering the wealth of information in the books themselves. Outside of making connections to the other books, the authors seem oblivious to lots of details that I would find important, and if I had the patience, foresight and time to make something like this myself, I would have done it a bit differently.

Having said that, this is the best third party source on the King Universe outside of the books themselves, and it does fill a niche. I think about ten years from now we can expect a vast librabry of similar books like the many Tolkien cyclopedias and guides (maybe even a "Roland Lives" trend?). Hopefully when the series is completed in a few years, the authors will go back and create an updated version to include all the new books. If and when they do this they can fix some of the continuity errors, expound where needed and create the ultimate reference which, as of this writing, does not yet exist.

Rating:
Summary: Enjoyed It!
Review: Enjoyed it because it went down a different road. Found that certain things stimulated my mind and got me to think and research new material! Found some good stuff and some bad stuff.

What King did for me was open my mind to 'What if' situations and that lead me to read The Rogue Warrior, which was way out of my league, and then recently Tom Patire's Persona Protection Handbook which I must say was quite excellent in regards to safety.

If Steven King took some of the Tom Patire's real life stories and added his magic we would have some more good reading.

Overall I love King and his work and look forward to more!

Deb