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Everything's Eventual : 14 Dark Tales

Everything's Eventual : 14 Dark Tales

List Price: $28.00
Your Price: $7.99
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: 14 stories but only half up to par!
Review: Make no mistake about this review, although it's not the highest I am a Stephen King fan and will more than likely read anything he puts out. This one has a few really good stories but for the most part it misses the mark. I can't recommend you buy it but you will definetely want to borrow a copy.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Not So Eventual After All!!!
Review: I feel that Stephen King wasn't up to his usual standards in this book of fourteen dark tales. Three-fourths of the stories in this novel I have previously read or heard about. The cover story was one of the few that I haven't read before. The writing style was nice, as it always is for King, but some of the stories weren't up to par with his normal spookiness. The second story, however, about the child meeting the devil at the fork of the river was a thriller for me. I have heard it once before, but the way the story was written was pure genious. I felt like I was actually with the boy, seeing what he was seeing, running just like he was. I enjoyed this novel, but I feel that King could have come up with some newer, less original stories. Hearts in Atlantis was a much better novel than Everything's Eventual.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Still filling, even when taken in smaller bites!
Review: Stephen King is a master storyteller. I've always loved his ability to suck us into the minds and hearts of his characters. Usually, King will concentrate so deeply on these "inner views" that the pages roll by and his stories are long and involved. (Thanks, Steve).... In "Everything's Eventual", King brings us all the storytelling mastery to the short story. Its not all goulish and bloody. Some of these stories are scary on another, more personal, level. By the way, I cried my eyes out reading "The Man in the Black Suit" when a nine-year old boy describes a perfect moment in which he truly sees his mother as a woman and loves her all the more. I highly recommend this collection of stories.
PS. There's a little "Dark Tower" number included!! whee whoo!!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Watch out for reprints!
Review: Readers should know that the Roland story, Lunch at the Gotham Cafe, the airplane crash/Purgatory story, and at least one of the other stories in this volume are reprints. I wasn't expecting that, and I was disappointed. On the other hand, since the original publications were in less well-known venues to mainstream readers, they may still be new to many.

I found this anthology to be entertaining but not especially strong. A buried-alive (or, in this case, autopsied alive) tale starts wonderfully but falls apart at the end. The gunslinger story is a little silly. The Man in the Black Suit and the haunted hotel room story stand out. Nothing in here had the impact, for me, of something like The Langoliers.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Disappointed
Review: Limiting my comments to the audio version of Everything's Eventual. Disappointment is one of the kinder words that comes to mind.

Given that Mr Kings own readings have been uniformly exceptional (with the Dark Tower series representing one of the finest pieces of imagination I've encountered), the current audio presentation is rather lacking. In fact, the reading of "The Sisters of Elyuria" is so bad I never finished listening. The reader sounds alot like my 10 year old having memorized something uninteresting for a school presentation.

Realizing that Mr. Kings time is likely his most valuable commodity, I hope his future audio releases include his own remarkable talent in this realm.

JSH

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Entertaining but predictable
Review: Perhaps I've been overkilled on mysteries and horror novels, being one who swallows books by the week. I was expecting
stark endings, more thrill than gore. Don't get me wrong, some stories I enjoyed. Basically, some entertainments but often
predictability.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: King spreads his wings
Review: King is spot on in this new collection of short stories. However, not all the included stories are of the horror genre. In this book, King shows that he can branch out of the horror realm that he has been pigeon-holed into.

Of course, there are plenty of top-notch frighteners in Everything's Eventual, including the story of the book's title; The Road Virus Heads North; and the ghost story 1408 among others. These will certainly keep King's usual horror fans on their seats.

But King shows a good range in the book. There is a successful attempt at historical fiction in the work, a short story about John Dillinger. In All That You Love Will Be Carried Away, King tells the story of a man contemplating suicide, and does a wonderful job of creating the morose, helpless mood. Also, in his famous short story Riding The Bullet, King is able to combine horror with a sharply autobiographical tone, as he discusses his own contemplations about death while attending his ailing mother.

If you're looking for a good scare, this collection will do the trick. But it also contains stories of high literary merit. A perfect combination.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Everything's Delightful
Review: Your spine tingles with terror, yet you sense the twinkle in the author's eye. He is enjoying spinning a dark and dangerous tale. Stephen King delivers, again, with "Everything's Eventual."

The 14 short stories represent a variety of King's talent over time. The earlier tales demonstrate his raw creative skills. 5 of the stories are the first hard copy text of his audio-only collection, "Blood & Smoke", and a later audio-only, "LT's
Theory of Pets." Finally, "Ride The Bullet", King's digital-only
chiller makes its pulp debut.

Bookending each tale are notes by the author. For those of us that enjoyed, "On Writing", these comments are the crown of this collection. King shares background about the story, including his perspective, when it was created, and his reflections about it over time.

No doubt, the reader will cringe, gag or wince throught the book. Knowing that the author is close by, grinning as we shake, makes the reading a delightful experience.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Great for the King lover with little spare time!
Review: As much as I love Stephen King and think he is one of the most brilliant writers ever, it's hard to get through one of his mile-thick novels! So I bought this book and it filled the King void! I found it interesting how King chose the order for his stories (which he mentions in the introduction) and the first one couldn't have been a better selection. It grabs the reader's attention immediately and keeps you wanting more. I also liked the added touch of explaining how he came up with the ideas for his stories. As an aspiring writer myself, it helps to get tips from the master!

However, I gave it 4 stars instead of 5 because I didn't feel some of the stories were up to "par." King's style is so unique, mysterious, and chilling, yet a handful of the stories didn't really have that "King-esque" feel to them. There was also a very long story that was sort of a continuation of one of his earlier novels, and for someone who didn't read that novel, I don't think the story would have made much sense.

I would recommend the book overall, however, especially for the short-story lover.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Stephen King should stick with short stories.
Review: Lately, Stephen King has been better in short spurts.

With the exception of "Black House," his reunion with "Talisman" co-author Peter Straub, any lengthy writing by King ("The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon," "On Writing," "Dreamcatcher") has been measured and found wanting.

Even King himself appears to recognize this, having made noise of an eventual retirement, after releasing at least five more books.

One of those books is "Everything's Eventual," a collection of short stories. And judging by "Eventual," King might want to abandon his lengthier novels to write short stories full time.

Here is a way for King to do what he does best, tell stories, without having to suffer through all the trappings a novel might be expected to do.

With a short story, King can pop in, set the stage for an event, do the event, and then pop out and on to other things.

This is win-win for the reader, too. If one story looks like it's going the way of "Insomnia" (snore), then you can skip ahead to stuff that's more along the lines of "It."

It's a medium that seems to suit him a hell of a lot better.

The title story itself isn't the greatest, a confusing tale about a young man who finds himself in possession of something like a whiteboard that anything he writes will come true, and under the employ of a mysterious gentleman.

But there are a couple goodies to be discovered.

Introduction: I keep failing to mention just how much I enjoy King when he is just being King, and talking to us, his Constant Readers, about what it is he does. Sometimes, the intros are better than the books.

"1408": The story, one of three from King's audio collection of "Blood and Smoke," of a man who makes a living staying in rooms and houses that are supposedly haunted and then writes about it. But 1408 of the Hotel Dolphin definitely isn't "supposedly" haunted.

"Lunch at the Gotham Café": A maitre' d at the café in question goes postal, right as Steve Davis is meeting with his wife and her lawyer to discuss a divorce. Also from "Blood and Smoke."

"The Little Sisters of Eluria": A small prequel to King's ubernovel, the "The Dark Tower" series Roland the gunslinger finds himself beset by creepy green people, and under the care of witches. Really good overall, but especially for those who can't wait for the next installment of the Dark Tower saga, "The Wolves of Calla."

"Autopsy Room Four": The best in the book hits us right off the gate. A man wakes up paralyzed from a snake bite with doctors prepared to do to him all the things they do to dead people. It's probably my favorite, and will have any reader spell-bound.


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