Rating: 
Summary: Authorian Legends
Review: Basically, a good book badly written. I am a huge King fan, though I don't know much of Straub's work. I also think that the Dark Tower story is the most intriguing thing I've ever read. It's because of this story's proximity to the Dark Tower material that I gave it even three stars, though I think that connection can be way too heavy-handed at times. I had a really hard time getting into this book because of how it begins - no grounding, no character, just an author or two force-feeding me and leading my around by the nose. Even the foreshadowing near the end is executed with all the subtlety of a cudgel, and it ends up being all bark and no bite anyway.The middle of the book is wonderful. The characters are interesting, the situations are innovative and realistic, and the plot unfolds beautifully. Read this book for the story. Read this book to fill in your understanding of King's ever-widening cosmology. But when it's done, put it down and let it be. There is tedium in the writing that I've never before experienced in King's work, and hope not to again.
Rating: 
Summary: Too many words !
Review: When Mozart presented his latest symphony to the king, the king asked the palace musician for his opinion. The palace musician replied,"There are too many notes, Your Majesty." And so I feel like the palace musician... who am I to tell 'the master' that he's used too many words. I am but a humble reader. Yet too many words there are... the first 200 pages just don't achieve lift-off. It's like King and Straub carried on writing while they waited for inspiration. After page 200, we're lifted to the same glorious heights as we were in Talisman, though more gently and, seemingly, with less danger to our heroes. Maybe there should have been more gooey deaths, but the threat never seemed as deep and dark as in Talisman. In Black House's favor, the Territories are now less of a magical mystery tour and more of a cynical mirror image of this world. More so than in Talisman. At least us readers have been treated like adults. The up-to-date Jack Sawyer has lost his childhood innocence, and King and Straub have brought him wisely to maturity. You can't help feeling that this is exactly how Jack Sawyer would have grown up. Certainly it has helped the writers avoid the bad sequel trap. (And, talking of sequels, we were well set up for the next one, eh?) King and Straub have matured their initial concept alarmingly well. Though the surface story is a little weak in places it is easy to forgive because of the strength of the character portrayals and the expressions of thought. On the other hand, I still say there were too many words!
Rating: 
Summary: Amazing... with a qualification...
Review: I have to say I loved this book. We're not introduced to the protagonist (Jack Sawyer, whom you may remember from _The_Talisman_) until around page 70 or so, and the writing style was a little odd (instead of third person or first person singular, the book is written mostly in a first person plural, and it's present tense, which was a little strange at first). I don't want to give too much of the story away in this review, but I do want to admonish potential readers of this book to wait until they've done a bit more Stephen King reading. My absolute favorite books in the world are the Dark Tower series (expected to be finished in early 2003), and this book plays heavily on them. Also, if you've not read _The_Talisman_, I strongly recommend reading that first. I'm not saying that reading this will be awful without reading all of that (it is a lot of prerequisite reading!), in fact, it'll probably be fantastic! However, in order to be able to truly appreciate this book's references to, among other things, the beams, the breakers, the (subtle reference in the beginning to the) Agincourt, etc., the five books I mentioned (_The_Talisman_, _The_Gunslinger_, _The_Drawing_Of_the_Three_, and _Wizard_and_Glass_ [also, _Hearts_in_Atlantis_'s first novella, if you're really a glutton for reading]) are in order. I guess I ought to give some summary of the book at this point: Jack Sawyer, a boy when last seen in _The_Talisman_, has grown up, made a name for himself as a police detective, and abruptly retired to live a simple life in Wisconsin. Unluckily for him and the rest of the town in which he lives, there is a serial kidnapper/murderer on the prowl. The storyline takes readers into the minds of the murderer, the cops, the victims' families, and several others (notably a lovable blind man with exceptional perception, class, and charm) relatively smoothly and convincingly. As with the earlier King/Straub collaboration, the prose is fantastic, and, while relatively sophisticated, easy to read. One final point to make: "opopanox" is a medicinal herb, but is not used in that way in this book, in case you wonder as you read it. Happy reading.
Rating:
Summary: Pretty good, but the Talisman was better...
Review: I have waited for years for a collaboration from these 2 again.....well it was a little disappointing. I expected more magic and less real world horror. The real world is a scary enough place as it is and what they incorporated into this book was serial killer images with very little "flipping over" into the parallel universe. Granted, they left the door open for perhaps a 3rd book, but overall I feel that Stephen King is slipping. Peter Straub I don't read much of anyway. But Steve's last few books have been overrated and underread (by me at least). I still have "DreamCatcher" on my shelf and I just can't seem to get through it. I remember the days when I would read a Stephen King book from cover to cover, sometimes in one sitting, even if it meant staying up all night like a crackhead...
Rating:
Summary: Not as good as I wanted it to be
Review: I've been a King fan for a long time, and I loved "The Talisman" -- a really good yarn on its own, with great observations about life thrown in. I looked forward to "Black House," and it also has its good points, but it is badly hobbled by two authors who know better. On the plus side, Jack Sawyer grows up well, and is still able to carry his burdens. The Territories age equally well when we are there, and are enough to make a reader homesick. Some of the supporting characters are interesting -- the sherriff, Beezer St. Pierre, etc -- and the theme of an adult rediscovering his childhood imagination is terrific. It's a generally good tale, and has enough strong points that I'm reading it a second time. On the minus side, the majority of the supporting characters aren't particularly believable. Henry Leyden just never comes to life (from his first appearance, I kept expecting him to be the Fisherman, despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary, because otherwise, he just didn't seem to have much of an interesting place). Wendell Green is merely an irritation. The Fisherman himself is not a very intriguing monster, and Jack lacks the kind of driving personal motivation that made the quest for the Talisman so poignant. The hackneyed love-at-first sight with Judy/Sophie is so unlikely that it doesn't even register, partly because it is introduced so abruptly and partly because Judy doesn't really do anything to make her seem to warrant Jack's adoration -- either in the present or in the past. There's no equal to a character like Wolf, or the marvelously stodgy Richard Sloat (whose own inner journey provided a good counterpoint to Jack's in "Talisman"). But mostly, what brings the book down is the wretchedly affected style. Both of these authors know better than to get in the way of their story by pulling a "Look, Ma, see how nice I'm writing!" gimmick out of their shared hat. "Black House" is a fairly straightforward story, and burying it under the floating camera (oh, all right, I know, it's supposed to be a bird) just cuts it off at the knees.
Rating: 
Summary: Dissapointing
Review: This book is the sequel to The Talisman, which is one of my all-time favorite books (and which I have a signed copy of). Although I haven't been very fond of much of King's writing in the last several years (pretty much went downhill after The Stand, IMO) I had lowered my expectations to the point where I was certain I would at least find this enjoyable. I was STILL dissapointed. There is a writing technique used which I find very annoying (I'm sure there's some technical literary term for it) where you are taken through the story by an all-seeing narrator. This style is used in Black House and I didn't like it here either. It is very difficult to suspend disbelief, since you are constantly reminded, by the narrator, that this is a book, a story, and is not actually happening. Then there's the story itself, which plods along and at times goes off on such formulaic King rants that it feels like he's just cutting and pasting from other novels (be reminded, King is one of my favorite authors and I've read everything he's written). It does not incorporate much of the most ejoyable parts of The Talisman, which were the excursions and wonders of the parallel-world "The Territories" -- these are hardly utilized at all in Back House. Instead it pulls in more of the Dark Tower stuff, which I consider another big mistake. Top it off with a pathetically predictable ending and you have a real bomb, I'm sorry to say.
Rating:
Summary: The Black House of the Dark Tower
Review: Highly recommend to all the Dark Tower fans. My only criticism
is Straub's contribution. It is painfully obvious where King
ends and Straub begins.
Rating:
Summary: THE BOOK THAT BROUGHT IT ALL TOGETHER
Review: i am a true stephen king fan. i have read nearly all of his books. Black house is not a book to miss. black house is the sequal the tallisman, but if your looking for books that belong with the the dark tower series this is it. of course if your not a devoted stephen king fan you wouldn't understand. all of stephen kings book connect in one way or another and black house is very important for the dark tower series. also insomnia and hearts in atlantas.
Rating:
Summary: An Unforgettable Read
Review: Ever had the experience of thinking throughout the day of the characters in a book you're reading, and wondering how they are? That was me, every moment I wasn't reading Black House. This book may be a little hard for some to start - the opening narrative requires attention and discipline - you have to force yourself to go along with the authors' floating view. Make your mind's eye into a roaming camera, and just go with it. Within two or three pages, you'll lock into this way of seeing and be able to move from scene to scene without trouble, and with the beautiful bonus of a well fleshed out physical setting. I haven't read Peter Straub before, not even the Talisman, but am a lifelong Stephen King fan. Consider this background when I tell you these two things: 1) There is just the right balance between King's and Straub's voices, and they complement each other in a way I hadn't expected - I could still feel King's presence, but it seemed more mature, more directed, more lyrical then his typical style. Mr. Straub, I presume. 2) This book does not need to be read as a sequel - it stands alone beautifully. If you haven't read The Talisman, that's okay. Pick this up. I came to care about the characters created here - I found them lively and funny and enjoyable, and felt they interacted in a "real" way, like actual, complex people. If you need one more piece of encouragement to read this book, here it is: Black House finishes in a satisfying way. You shouldn't find yourself scratching your head and going - 'now, what happened here . . .' The authors did a stellar job of plotting, and it shows in the details - having finished the book this evening, I could probably sit down and outline it, start to finish, because it made sense. It flowed. This is a fully realized story set in a fully realized world (or two or three) and a great achievement for Stephen King and Peter Straub.
Rating:
Summary: Boring, tedious, and unintelligent
Review: What a disappointment! This was my first introduction to Stephen King suspense fiction, and it reinforced why I have avoided this genre in the past. The plot was predictable, the prose was unsophisticated, and the combination of those two factors made the book a bore to read. I have always looked down upon pop fiction, in general, with a certain sense of literary arrogance, but for some reason I elevated Stephen King to a level slightly above the likes of John Grisham and Danielle Steele, but after reading Black House I have to wonder why. This book is the kind of frivolous, unintelligent trash that barely deserves a slot on the paperback shelf in an airport bookstore. Black House, the sequel to The Talisman, follows Los Angeles detective Tom Sawyer to small town Wisconsin where he plans to enjoy his early retirement. He is quickly drawn back to active duty after several local children are abducted and murdered by an apparent copycat killer known as the Fisherman. Sawyer’s pursuit of the killer leads him to the Territories, a mysterious, parallel world of Twinners and mystical powers. Jack’s investigative skills, supernatural powers, along with some help from the Territories, lead him to a dark, secluded house – the black house – where unearthly evil powers torture small children with rabid dogs, supersized attack crows, and electric stun guns. Sound interesting? It’s not. The supernatural plot elements, for which King has been highly regarded throughout his writing career, are childish and completely unsatisfying. This book is written at the third grade level, and if you consider yourself more intelligent than that, you should avoid it.
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