Rating: 
Summary: Spending time in hospital soon? Get this King Bible!
Review: The Stand is not for the King novice by any means and remains his most inaccessible work - but it is a modern masterpiece in every sense of the word. If you have not read King before then stay clear until you get a few under your belt because this is a very different book but it is probably his best. The Stand when first released was a publishers nightmare who felt that the book needed to be cut in order to make it more appealing to the market. It was a book that could have been a big turnoff point for his readership but the edits where made and the book was well received by the critics. With this version King has reintroduced the cut elements to restore this classic to its full entirety. It is a massive book (1168 pages!) and a huge undertaking by King. I read this while I was in hospital and that is the best place to read it because of the subject matter. So buy it and keep it aside for those gloomy days in the ward with tubes hanging out of you.Essentially this is an apocalypse story that revolves around a terrible man-made virus that wipes out most of the planet leaving but a few survivors who must restore mankind by taking a STAND either with the good guys or the bad guys led by Lucifer - Randall Flagg. It is vast in characters with detailed locations and lots of plot. The first half of the book concentrates on the different characters and their various predicaments before the virus is unleashed. Then they gradually meet up throughout the course of the story, some falling victim to the dark side, others leading the survivors to good for a final standoff between the two factions. All in all this is just salami literature (good guys vs bad guys stuff), but what tasty salami it is. This is a full blooded manuscript, rich in every aspect with plenty of scares along the way. A modern apocalypse classic that still works well today and possibly predicts the fate of mankind in a very eerie way. It all seems too real at times! Timeless. - As note this is one of Kings few books where a main character, Randall Flagg, makes a second appearance in another unrelated novel called "Eyes of the Dragon". You may want to dip into that one first before you read this as it is a sort of prequel for this main character.
Rating:
Summary: The Best Book I've Ever Read.
Review: Nothing in this world matches the pure brilliance you'll find in these 1,154 pages. Stephen King is often unfairly dismissed as a simple horror writer, but The Stand proves he is one of the best writers of all time. The characters in this book are so well done that I think of them as real people. The way Stephen King takes stuff everyone takes for granted and turns it upside down is totally brilliant. The book isn't dated at all, though it was published in 1978. The expanded version is only better, making the greatest book ever even more compelling and interesting. No review in this world and no word in the dictionary can describe and do justice to the book; you just have to read it. You will be very, very happy you did. 13 stars out of 5. 13/5
Rating:
Summary: You'll never be so glad you read 1100 pages
Review: I found The Stand to paradoxically be both the quickest and longest read I've ever experienced. Weighing in at over 1150 pages in the uncut edition, this is not a book you can expect to finish on the plane. Nor will you particularly want to. I don't think I've ever read another book quite as vivid or engrossing, and I was sort of sad when the two days -- solid days, waking up to going to bed -- of reading it were over, because one gets that caught up in the narrative. I won't bother to summarize it, as that's been done in these reviews before, but I will say that this is easily the prolific King's best work by far. Even at 1150 pages, still fascinating the whole way through. Apart from On the Beach, The Stand receives my highest accolades.
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Summary: An epic chlling novel
Review: Opening scene Man wakes wife grabs family and, in panic flees their house explaining something horrible happened in the government lab he worked at. Few pages later car crashes into Texas gas station with all passengers dead of mysterious virus. Captain Trips as the virus comes to be known wipes out a large percentage of America. In the rest of the novel we see the forces of good against the forces of evil in two distinct camps.
That synopsis doesn't do the plot justice but I don't want to give too much away. Suffice to say the Stand is a thick book, with little lagging or extraneaous information. After reading it twice and reshuffling my reading schedule to get ready to read it a third time I decided to review it a hard task as how do you review a book that simply put could be the best in the genre in the market ever. King published the Stand in the late seventies then released an uncut unabridged version in 1991 I believe. It is still being printed to which should be a sign of its popularity.
King has really outdone himself in this one by backing away a little from reanimation of dead pets, ghostly cars, village of vampires, he has perhaps written his most chilling novel in that the set-up which begins the horror of the Stand is very realistic. It's terror is timeless as an accidental virus could very well be released it touches the realm of possibilty more than some of his novels.
King being King tho there is elements of supernatural in this immensely entertaining book Randall Flag is such an evil villian I think other authors went to well trying to compare someone even remotely in his league teehee.
King's characterization in this novel may be his best yet( not including some of his more mature novels written when he was in or approaching middle age like bag of bones). The plot as stated is intense and never lets go. The middle pages could be trimmed a little haha but then it wouldnt be uncut and the description add not takes away from overall enjoyment of the book. To conclude to any who read this that haven't read the Stand please go beg borrow or steal (just joking) a copy and read it I guarantee you will be glad you did. (assuming you have any interest in King or genre.)
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Summary: Baby can you dig your man?
Review: This is by far the best novel that I have ever read. The thing that I like about Steven Kings writing is you really get an in depth look at each character (who they are, where they come from, and what they are thinking). My favorite character is Larry Underwood, a troubled man who changes his morals around for the better. Whether you are reading the original or the uncut, it is an emotional ride. The one thing that upset me about the uncut book was that little tag at the end about Flag showing up on the beach with all the natives. What was that?
Evan Bowen
Albany, NY
Rating:
Summary: Stephen at His Best
Review: Every author writes a special one. They put their heart and soul into a book, and the end result is mindboggling. The Stand is Stephen King's One. He did write many other great books, but The Stand sets the standard for good writing. By the end of the first part of the book, 99.4% of the world's population is dead. And it is America's fault. We weren't supposed to make chemical weapons, and we did, so we payed the price. Now, the last remaining humans are scattered all around the world. It begins with the story of the humans in the east, and of a dark evil in the west. Slowly, people begin choosing sides. And then the groups meet. At last, they are divided between Boulder, Colorado and Las Vegas, Nevada. Randall Flagg leads all of those who wish to take advantage of this devastation, and he resides in Las Vegas. Even though the humans killed themselves off, they will not be wiped out without a fight. It's time to take a stand against evil. Stephen King, I congratulate you. If I could shake your hand, I would. The Stand, along with many other great novels, changed my life. The Stand is a must-read for anyone, whether you're a fan of the genre or not, go read this book. Kudos to you, King. -MB
Rating:
Summary: His Best. No Question.
Review: This is King's best work, full stop. I have read and re-read it from the time I was a teenager, and was thrilled to buy the "complete and uncut" version pretty much the instant it became available---and love that version even more. It's a true epic and succeeds on so many levels I can't even begin to describe them. Buy it.
Rating: 
Summary: Stands for King's Work
Review: Project Blue. Captain Trips. Superflu. All these are names for the rapidly spreading, incurable, and deadly disease that spreads across the entire planet in Stephen King's "The Stand." Before I opened this novel, I had no idea what it was about. And even after reading the description, I still had no idea what would actually be coming. In the midst of the plague, two forces emerge. Mother Abagail, a kindly woman living in Nebraska who forsees the life to come after the plague for those immune to it, and Randall Flagg, King's most celebrated villain, who attempts to structure the remaining fragments of humanity into what it once was before the plague: oppressive and hungry for power. The ideas of the novel toy with man's desire for dominance, good and evil, and faith in God. Often, several plot points lead nowhere and seem to be King's production of ideas that he meant to go somewhere with, but abandoned for others. These are NOT the sections added with the unabridged version. Those parts add to the characters and make the reader care about them, which matters greatly for later. This novel has its problems, but most of it is in the dead-end plotlines. There are several moving and memorable moments that will stand out, and while the length might intimidate some, it's worth the long read to experience the characters and initial plot, even with a slow finale that is made up for by a shocking end. -Escushion
Rating: 
Summary: Extra material unnecessary.
Review: I'd read the original stand when I was 11 and loved it. A few years later I read this and it wasn't nearly as good. The extra material is unnecessary, and subtracts from an otherwise compelling story. The epilogue has the sole purpose of tying in with other parts of Stephen King's books (Randall Flagg = Richard Fannin). Read the original and save some time.
Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Read
Review: "The government got together a bunch of virologists and bacteriologists to make a weapon for germ warfare, and one of them made a disease and said 'look at this, it kills almost everyone!' and they gave him a beach house and promotions and probably a medal or two. And then someone spilled it." -Harold Lauder That quote is basically the premise of this novel at first glance. But truthfully, the plague itself is a plot tool for a much larger battle between good and evil. Into this new world are thrust many normal (and not so normal) Americans. Frannie Goldsmith, a pregneant teenager, Stu Redman, a quiet man from a dying East Texas town, Glen Bateman, a professor of sociology, Nick Andros, a deaf and mute drifter. And then there are those who fall into the not so normal Americans category, Lloyd, a man on death row, Abigail Freemantle, a 108 year old black woman from Nebraska, Donald Merwin "Trashcan Man" Elbert, a deranged pyromaniac, and of course The Dark Man, The Walkin' Dude, The Man With No Face: Randall Flagg. With no main character, this novel follows the journeys of these people, who, along with countless other Americans, flock to one of two places, Boulder Colorado or Las Vegas Nevada. It is there that they prepare for what they all know will be a climactic battle between good and evil. I recommend this novel to anyone who enjoys reading. At 1200 pages, it is a monster of a book, but for myself at least, I wish it would have had 1200 more. A great read.
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