Rating: 
Summary: King and Straub, together again, and going for the throat.
Review: When Stephen King and Peter Straub joined literary forces in the eighties, fans were expecting the ultimate horror novel. What the then Dynamic Duo of Horror delivered was something entirely different. The Talisman was an epic fantasy of parallel worlds, only touched with horror, that, in the years since the tale was first told, King has continually mapped out in his Dark Tower series of novels. Black House, unsurprisingly, is closely connected to those novels.Now, when fans expect another epic fantasy, what King and Straub deliver is a gruesome horror novel with fantasy underpinnings. Black House has the now grown Jack Sawyer chasing after The Fisherman, a serial killer that also eats his young victims. But larger forces are at play here, forces that mean to topple the Dark Tower. The ride is harrowing (some scenes are just painful to read), but also long and, at times, painfully short. King and Straub lavish detail on minor plot points, yet, as the climax approaches, they appear to skim over some details to get the readers to the action that has been some five hundred pages in coming. But despite its slight shortcomings, Black House is a smart, literate horror fantasy that will satisfy more fans than it will disappoint. Best of all, it appears to be the second volume of a trilogy. Recommended.
Rating:
Summary: A new light from Black House
Review: Admittedly, this novel doesn't emmerse you in the fantasy like the first (The Talisman). The mesh of King and Straub's writing styles isn't as seamless and at times the action seems forced. Jack (the main character of both novels) has achieved maturity in the "real world" that leaves him unable to fully embrace the Territories as children are able to embrace the unexplained.
No doubt, regardless of these flaws, this is a wonderful book, introducing many interesting new concepts (Queen of the Bees) and very suspenseful action. The reader is alternately moved from laughter to tears. But also, some elements made me acutely uncomfortable. All in all, the effect is morbidly mesmerizing.
The ending of this novel promises future installments, hinting that it will be tied into Stephen King's Gunslinger series (with other references to this series throughout the book). This leads me to believe that King will take full control of this storyline in any further sequels. As an avid King fan, I will (of course) snap these up with enthusiasm. But I would be lying if I said I held as much anticipation at the end of this book as I did with The Talisman.
Rating: 
Summary: C. Montgomery Burns, anyone?
Review: As already noted, by far the most interesting character in this novel is the pedophilic, cannabalistic child murderer-taken over by a demon, the elderly Burnside. Unfortunate choice of name, as I kept picturing that bad ol' man of Springfield, C. Monty Burns carrying out the killings ("Chop, chop! Excellent!"). The book also borrows outrageously from both the film EXORCIST III and the novel THE WORLD ACCORDING TO GARP. There are wonderful passages, to be sure, and I actually enjoyed the gimmick of the omniscent, flying narrator. I just didn't think the book, as a whole, ahem, flew.
Rating:
Summary: Classic Horror
Review: This is a great suspensful and horror filled novel. This has great character development and we gain much insight about the world the authors created in "The Talisman". Deffinitely read "The Talisman" before reading this book.
Rating:
Summary: Is this suppose to be a screenplay, a spoof or just bad?
Review: I loved Stephen King and never really dug Peter Straub. I wasn't happy with the "Talisman" but figured I'd give the new book a shot. I'm up to page 32 and I'm so sick of the narrator having us 'fly' all over the place. I feel like they were writing the screenplay for the movie to save the screenwriter some time. I don't want to fly over scenes in a book. I want to be put squarely into the action and all that zipping around town pulls you of the story. It's not cute or clever, just annoying and distracting. There is one stand out line that I thought said it all: "The black house was pretty bad; in fact, it was terrible, but this...this is going to be worse." You can't get anymore prophectic then that.
Rating: 
Summary: BIG DISAPPOINTMENT
Review: Black House was my 16th King novel and I have read several of Peter Straub's (KOKO being my favorite), but none have been as disappointing as Black House. Of course I read Talisman which I thought was a fantastic, magical read, but the follow-up lacked substance and was bloated with unnecessary description and information, which seems to be King's latest trend. I certainly agree with other reviewers in the fact that we get way too much French Landing and not enough Black House. When we finally encounter the actual Black House, the end of the novel is near and it seems like King and Straub simply wanted to get the story over as quickly as possible. The ending is unimaginative and abrupt considering that it took over 550 pages to get to that moment. For any other writers, this would be a great story, but for King and Straub it is mediocre at best. Want my advise? Stick with the early novels!!!
Rating:
Summary: Less Narrative, More Territories
Review: I was 12 years old (like young Jack Sawyer) when I first read the Talisman, and it's characters, settings, and straight-forward narrative ensnared me in a way that few books have since. So it was with rare excitement that I attacked Black House, and while it contains all of the creepiness and humanity that you'd expect from King and Straub (plus the great tie-in with King's Dark Tower series), it left me, sadly, wanting. First off, it's a little too long. which goes in hand with my second hurdle, the "voice" of the narrators. The narrative style, though compulsively readable, cuts away on a lot of the suspense, especially in the last chapter, which hits upon my third complaint: Cut through much of the narrative, put this in the middle, and THEN write another 200 pages, where we find Jack with his new role in the Territories, and I guess that's where it really hit me. I REALLY missed Jack in the Territories. He spends little time there, but I found myself flying through those sparse sections, and wanting more at the end of each. The end guarantees a continuation of Jack's adventures in the Territories and with The Dark Tower, but that doesn't help the Fisherman storyline. Finally, with the exception of Henry Leyden , the other characters, even a somber, angry Speedy, don't hold a candle to Wolf, Farren, or Sunlight Gardener from the Talisman.
Rating:
Summary: Worth the wait
Review: I have been waiting for a sequel to "The Talisman" for years. It was worth the wait. If you have not read "The Talisman", read it before you read "Black House". The characters in "Black House" are richly developed, the narrative-though a bit daunting at times-is fast paced and wonderfully descriptive. This book is a treat for all King fans, reading more like his older works than his newer. I thought the ending was a bit contrived, hence the 4 stars instead of 5.
Rating:
Summary: IN SERIOUS NEED OF THE HEDGE CLIPPERS
Review: The world champs of horror, Straub & King have created this water filled ham size volume of forgettable lore of a quasi sequel, which is Dickensian in its weight, but quite po' in comparison with Poe. Did these guys get paid by the word or the pound? Once again we see King's cartoon characters in action across multiple "worlds"--the righteous "black man" the happy wisecracking "blind man" the "biker" with delusions of literacy, and the nasty runny faced "Wizard of Odds". Then there's happy Jack Sawyer fighting a never ending battle for truth, justice and Tyler the wiz kid destined to work revolving shifts on an image reminiscent of something from Hellraiser II. Of course, given the immense talent of these two, there are some wonderful passages sandwhiched in between a bunch of white bread narration and too much author inserted mayonnaise. The octogenarian bad guy, Burnside/Bierstone is the only interesting character in this overcooked stew--and he's the plenipotentiary of the real bad guy from the other side of Hell. Calling Dr. Burn-Burn, we need hedge clippers in editorial STAT! Want to make better use of your time than reading this? Lovecraft, Sturgeon, Lieber-Hell- even Derleth could be just what the Doctor ordered.
Rating:
Summary: Too Much
Review: I haven't read a lot of Stephen King's books, but I have read The Talisman, so I don't know how to compare to his other books. But I thought this was much more crude and disgusting than The Talisman. Being a sequel, I thought it would be closer to the original. It wasn't. Over-all I thought the plot and story-line were good, but I could have done without a lot of the details. I also found it difficult to "get into". All the talk of floating around as an observer made it difficult to keep interested. I was about 1/2 way through the book before I was comfortable with being the "observer." The double ending was also strange. I assume Mr. King did this to keep the reader unsettled. It worked. Even now when I think about it. I wonder what the "real" ending is supposed to be.
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