Rating: Summary: Wonderful Review: It is great! A little on the long side and you really have to get into it. But when you do, you won't put it down.
Rating: Summary: Incredible Novel! Review: I got this book for Christmas from my husband one year, and I didn't put it down until I finished it. It took me around 2 weeks to read, but I loved every minute of it. King made sure the reader knew every detail about every character, and didn't leave anything out. It is an excellent story with an excellent plot. It remains my favorite book of all time.
Rating: Summary: Amazing Review: I picked this book up years ago, read the first 50 or so pages and gave it to my mom. I don't know why I couldn't get right into it. My mother brought it back to me like she was holding the Holy Grail, and made me promise that I'd read it. I owe her a debt of gratitude for that! This is an amazing story! The characters are so real, you feel what they feel, you see what they see, and when they are afraid...so are you! That is what King does, he draws you in and makes you a part of the story. He touches all of your emotions, and he makes you think...What if? If you read nothing else by this man, please read The Stand, I promise you, you won't regret it...and you WILL read more King!
Rating: Summary: Apocalyptic Fiction at its Best Review: I was first introduced to The Stand through the tv miniseries. The story grabbed me and I just had to read the book. The book was even better, giving all those fine details about life after the apocalypse. If you don't get into apocalyptic fiction you won't like The Stand. However, if you're fascinated with the idea of what it would be like for the survivors after the collapse of civilization then you'll love this book. So many books in this genre deal assume the end of the world will be a nuclear holocaust. This book stands out in that it uses the [somewhat] novel idea of a 99% communicable, 99% lethal biogenetically engineered plague that wipes out all but a handful of immune survivors. Of course, in true King fashion there is a supernatural element as well. The survivors begin having dreams of demonic "Darkman" and a kindly old black woman named Mother Abigail. Each person chooses to go to one or the other, and the camps coalesce at Las Vegas and Boulder respectively. The plot centers on the showdown between good and evil represented by the Darkman verus the followers of Mother Abigail. The religious symbolism is heavy as Mother Abigail is presented as a kind of Moses figure and the main characters struggle with submitting to the will of God in order to oppose the Darkman. The characters are compelling and the decription of the apocalypse is fascinating. I highly recommend this book for anyone who likes to think about the possibilities for the end of the world as we know it.
Rating: Summary: An epic Review: Let me just start off by saying that I'm an avid Stephen King fan. I've loved all of his books up to Rose Madder, everything after that just went down hill. I've read that some don't believe that this is his best work. I have to disagree. This was the first book of his that I read. I couldn't put it down. I was hooked from the first page. I love the plot line, the battle between good and evil. Each character through out the book was somehow linked together by dreams by a woman who none of them knew other than through their dreams. I only gave it four stars because I believe that King overdoses me on description. I like some things to be left up to the reader's imagination. I highly recommend this as a first King book to anyone who has yet to read one of his books.
Rating: Summary: Worth reading. Review: This is my first ever Stephen King book, and i only read it because of a deal i made with my friend, so i went in not expecting a whole lot. Instead i got a big suprise and an enjoyable novel. The book isnt really the style im into, but it was very well written and very interesting. A massive plague hits the world and kills about 99% of the people, i think. Then everyone who doesnt die from some type of natural or self-induced cause starts having dreams about 2 people: 1, an kind and wise 108 yr. old black woman, and 2, a mysterious and thouroughly frightening dark man. What happens is that people start choosing sides and a type of battle goes on. It isnt actual physical battle(though there is some of that), but rather a battle of wills and luck, to see who will literally inherit the earth. The characters are mostly believable, and they are very well introduced and developed so that you feel like you really have come to know them and such. All in all this was a very good book, well written, and worth the time i spent on it. The only small drawback was that King's writing style isnt what i like, but that's just a personal opinion and really has no relevance over how much I enjoyed the book itself. Recommended!
Rating: Summary: King's THE STAND haunts me to this day. Review: What can I possibly say about this book that 500+ reviewers haven't already said? Only that I have had more dreams about it than any other book I've ever read. It is an amazing experience, so expertly drawn, you'll feel as though you have walked through those empty, graveyard cities and down those endless, lonely highways, desperately looking for the last of humanity. Brilliant, moving, and awesome. Don't let the size of this book keep you from reading it. You'll never forget it once you do, I guarantee it.
Rating: Summary: A novel for the ages! Review: Stephen King's "The Stand" is a masterpiece. The characters are so richly woven and finely tuned that I find myself pulling my tattered old copy off the shelf just because I miss them. The apocalyptic battle between good and evil serves as the purpose of this novel, and King does an excellent job of giving us a taste of both sides. The reality factor of the virus makes the story all the more exhilirating. As usual, King proves he is the master!
Rating: Summary: Classic and epic Review: What do you say about a 1,000+ page book that is probably the most popular novel by an author who is possibly the most popular writer alive today? That it's good? Well, of course it's good. That it's destined to become a classic? That's probably true as well. Stephen King's "The Stand" is an epic for our time. It is haunting, exhilirating, romantic, fascinating, terrifying and charming. King always tells an interesting story, but no one creates characters quite as well. Frannie, Stu, Glen, Larry, Harold, Nick and others are remarkably real. Because they are so human, they (and their reactions) seem real, even in the most astonishing circumstances. In "The Stand," King plays a "what if" game and gets all the answers right. He shows both the positive and negative effects of the plague that has wiped out most of humanity. The survivors have everything they want free for the taking, but they lack electricity. Pollution and sprawl are ended, but millions of dead bodies are unburied. "The Stand" begins with a scientific assumption: that mankind can manufacture an alarmingly fatal virus that decimates the population. It quickly becomes a book with fantasy at its core: unified dreams, black magic, white magic, God, Satan, Randall Flagg and Mother Abigail. But King makes me believe that the fantasy elements are every bit as possible and real as the non-fantasy ones. The story stretches its way throughout the United States and doles out social commentary and humorous anecdotes. The epic scope and excellent characters and plot of "The Stand" make it a superb read.
Rating: Summary: Its the end of the world as we know it, and i feel fine... Review: A virus has been released from a research facility, and it spreads like a ... well disease. Pretty soon, everyone is coughing, sneezing and dying. 99.75% of the world population dies, and if the virus doesn't getcha ya, some crazy guy with a gun will. What emerges from the aftermath are a handful of people, who begin have dreams. One dream is a good-natured 108 yr old black woman calling them, and the other a dark-man with evil eyes. The battle-lines are drawn, and the survivors must choose who the will follow. "The Stand" is brilliant story about the lives following the virus of the survivors and how they make their way following their respective "leader" to a final showdown in Las Vegas. All the characters in the book are lovable, even the ones who follow the darkman such as "Trashcan Man" and "The Kid". The only dissappointment, is that after over 1000 pages of build-up, the final climax happens in one page. Having said that, the thousand page story is great, the cast has many adventures, romances, battles. When the dust settles and the end, you may be surprised who survives. And who knows, if we do blow ourselves up one day, "The Stand" may well be the survival manual of those left behind.
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