Rating: 
Summary: Good story, good horror, but don't compare it with others
Review: There are plenty of reviews in here offering comparisons to the DT series and The Talisman. I'll skip that part and attempt to review this book as a stand alone horror story. So let's pretend, constant reader, that we've not delved into the plethora of alternative Stephen King offerings......oops, sorry, I lost myself there for a minute.
The storyline itself was vintage King. What would appear on the surface to be merely a serial killer of children, of course, has much more sinister depth. There's a lot more going on here than just a crazy guy killing and apparently eating kids. The characters are realistic and arouse an emotional response about them, you like them or are repulsed by them. There are also the minor characters with their typical human weaknesses and idiosyncrasies. As in all King books, people pick their noses, look up women's dresses, and tell silly lies. It's funny! Humour always adds to horror.
An aside here: one of the things that I like about Stephen King is that he is not afraid to kill off characters after making you like them, just as he is not afraid to have child killers. Since nothing is sacred, you cannot afford to think you KNOW what will happen next.
The style of prose, especially the first 100 pages, became quite tedious. I find myself being more forgiving just because this is King after all. But if it was anybody else, I would have been quite put off by it. It's not confusing, just annoying and slow.
If you enjoy horror, read this book. If you want The Talisman, better stick with that. Go into it pretending you've not read Dark Tower or The Talisman, and you'll probably enjoy it more.
I liked this book, but in being honest with myself, think I may have ignored things I didn't like simply because it was King.
Rating: 
Summary: Disappointing
Review: When I discovered that there was a sequel to the Talisman, I was so excited. Talisman was a classic with me.Mr. King has drawn yet another of his creations into the Wizard series. Now, although I have read and enjoyed 'Dark Tower', I don't want everything to relate. A lot of my disappointment stems from this. I also found that the comments directly to the reader were disruptive and unnecessary.
Rating: 
Summary: Save your money.
Review: King and Straub should be ashamed to have their names on this one. It's not up to the previous good works of either author. This, to me, represents a money making opportunity at the expense of loyal fans. It's poorly written, meandering drivel that could have been penned by a high school freshman. It's too bad consumers can't take books back because the contents stinks!
Rating: 
Summary: NEXT PLEASE
Review: Stephen has the world caught up in his story telling once again. Although this is with Peter Straub, this book is more about S.K. And Let's face it, this IS a "Dark Tower" book within a Talisman book. This book wasn't about "flipping" as much as it was about the Crimson King and saving the Axis of all worlds. It brought us more questions of Ted Brattigan. Jack, Jason, Jake... could they be the one and the same?
One of my fears of this book was that it would be about a 30-year old man "flipping" from world to world. This is a Talisman Book, a Dark Tower Book and an independent book all in one. If your not an continuous S.K. reader, this book doesn't mean as much. But for those who snag every S.K. book as it hits the shelves, your in for a great ride!
Rating:
Summary: This is a Dark Tower novel
Review: Right up front, I want to mention something that can be overlooked: Black House is a Dark Tower novel. The Dark Tower universe peeks into a number of King's other works ("Insomnia," "Hearts in Atlantas"), but this book is much more like "Dark Tower Book 5" than a sequel to "The Talisman." So if you're a Dark Tower fan, read it. It fleshes out the "goals" of the Dark Tower books (what is Roland trying to do, what are the Beams, etc.) more than, well, most of the Dark Tower books themselves have. That being said, I found the tone shifts between the two authors to be disconcerting. The book opens with a chapter or two of a sort of "fly-by" background on the town and people in a very non-King style. I found it difficult to get through this part, but once you do the story turns into more of a story. I think overall this would've been better as a King-only book. I'm a big Stephen King fan, and I found this book to be worth reading. However, if I were to re-read it, I'd probably skip over some of the sections quickly.
Rating:
Summary: Not Sure What to Think
Review: Stephen King and Peter Straub created a hybrid out of their writing styles in "The Talisman". The opposite is true in "Black House". They seem to avoid complimenting each other, so the sequel doesn't have the same flow or enthusiasm. I enjoyed the book, but something was missing.
Rating:
Summary: Slow to start but builds to a fast read
Review: This sequel to the TALISMAN, (which I read waaaay back when it first came out), is a nice change of pace. Normally King doesn't do sequels to his novels so that we can see what becomes of a character (assuming they survived). Here we see out protagonoist from the TALISMAN, Jack Sawyer, has grown into a top-notch cop in California. All the while, Jack remembers little of hs past adventure, he does still have some of the "magic touch" the Talisman gave him. This ability has caused him to walk away from the force and retire in a small Wisconsin town. Fate apparently has decided that it wasn't done with Jack as a serial killer with other-worldly ties begins to menace the children in the area. To be honest, I don't read Straub, but this reads like pretty much straight King to me. It is HEAVILY influenced by King's Dark Tower series. If you like the flavor of those books you will like this one as well. It does start a bit slow with a somewhat irritating narrative style as you float around the small town introducing you to all the players. Once the intro is completed they ratchet up the action and and the roller coaster is off and running. My main issue with this book would be that you might have a problem following the storyline if you are new to King's world'(s).
Rating:
Summary: First Rate!
Review: Like most contributors, I read "The Talisman" when it first came out in paperback (those days I couldn't *afford* hard cover editions!), and consumed more King and Straub in the years before and since. Unlike some, I don't feel qualified to act as a 'literary' critic... That said, I will share that I truly enjoyed reading *every* word on *every* page of this book. I read it in three long chunks over the long Memorial Day weekend. I found the style fresh and delightful, the characters - old and new - wonderfully interesting and fully articulated, the narration FABULOUS and inspired (so inclusive!)... I'm running low on superlatives! What a story! What geniuses Straub and King again prove themselves to be! These men are truly at the top of their games. I find comments on this book by others interesting - attributing certain bits to King and others to Straub. I remember reading interviews of them when "The Talisman" came out years ago; one said Constant Reader might be surprised by who writ what. I think we'd again be amazed at which artist (I *mean* artist, too) penned which pages of this book. Amazed and shocked, in fact... Bottom line: read this elegant, stylish, witty, thankfully less-gory book by two literary masters of our generation.
Rating:
Summary: worth pickin up this one
Review: A good read and better than the average King book. Keeps the reader sustained even though quite a bit of fairytale-like events. It grows on you and the fairy tale stuff actually becomes palatable as the story develops and becomes more and more engrossing. I didn't read the Talisman (i plan to) but the stuff I'm referring to is central to the storyline and carried forth from that previous book so I can't really knock it. Character development is good for this type of instant gratification reading.
Rating:
Summary: gives you goosebumps...or even more
Review: it is totally cool.that's a real chiller,so you'll lose a good deal of sleep once you've started to read "black house".i personally think,that stephen king is one of our most popular writers...ever.he's really the KING of HORROR.the character of the fisherman gave me a lot of sleepless nights waiting for the him to catch me.....
if you want to be taken on a trip to the heart of darkness and your darkest nightmares to come true,than this is a must-have,be sure!!!!!
|
