The Stand: Complete and Uncut

Rating:
Summary: Not the worst book I've ever read, but close...
Review: The beginning was good, and that made the ending so much harder to take -- like a broken promise. I kept expecting the characters to transcend their destinies and do something unexpected or at least interesting, but they just plowed on like donkeys tied to a mill wheel. And the ending -- after all that build-up, the whole thing is resolved with an accident?!? This is exactly the sort of deus ex machina ending that would get you flunked in undergraduate writing classes.

Rating:
Summary: Avid Reader of Sci-Fi/Fantasy
Review: This book lacked any reason to read after everyone reached Boulder and Vegas. Up till then the story was great. Swan Song was a much better book and I suggest to anybody that liked The Stand, Read Swan Song and see how an apocolyptic book should end. Even with that in mind The stand is not a bad read .

Rating:
Summary: King's best by far
Review: I have to agree with the majority of people who already gave their reviews. The Stand remains my favorite book and probably will continue to be. I would absolutely recommend it to anyone and everyone!

Rating:
Summary: ITS TIME TO MAKE YOUR STAND!!!!
Review: This movie was one of his best. Even though this book wasn't one of his favorites, its defiantely alot of other peoples. It sort of keeps you on your feet on whats going to happen next. In some parts, I thought it was very emotional...... This was a really good book and the movie was EXCELLENT!!! Stephen King is such an awesome writer!!! He can keep people on their feet and what not! LOVED IT!

Rating:
Summary: Simply : the best !!!
Review: I suggest to all the people that have never read anything from Stephen King to start with this book. After that they will read all the other books of the King.

Rating:
Summary: Great book - one of his all time best
Review: Steven King - The Stand

In a heavily guarded, top-secret government research lab in California, something has gone hideously wrong: a ferociously potent killer virus has escaped. A guard stationed at the lab flees with his family, thinking that he's saved them from the ghastly fate of those inside... but that is just the start of the nightmare.

And so the plot thickens...this has to be one of the best books that I have had the pleasure of reading in a long time - the plot is second to none with it giving the feeling that you are actually there with the people in this nightmarish world where people are dropping like wildfire to this killer virus that is spreading around. The characters in this book are built up well making you feel that you know them with the book being built up into peaks and low spots...each bit building up gradually more of what you know of the characters, until the inevitable 'captain trips' or the 'virus' snuff the life out of them making them die of a terrible death...slowly suffocating in their own mucus. But not everyone dies and a few main characters are built up through the book - later in the plot either turning to the dark side and Satan with the man in the black cowel or to the good side with God and 'good ole grammar' (aged 108 and no less). As I mentioned above you actually start to feel for the characters with some turning to the dark side who you thought wouldn't with the plot changing all the time leaving you in constant suspense throughout the book wanting to know more.

This book compares well in similarity to other Steven King books although I think that The Stand has to be one of the best books he has written. To me it compares well to all of his other books because of the similar way it builds up the characters and makes you want to turn the next page to see what happens to them - although it isn't a carbon copy of his other books varying tremendously in the storyline.

I would definitely recommend this book

Ab

Rating:
Summary: A little to Americanized?
Review: I thought this was a great book with great characters and amazing suspense but what happened to the rest of the world? Why did the battle of good and evil happen in the U.S?

Rating:
Summary: If it were possible to give this book an 11, I would.
Review: With the exception of the "Dark Tower" series, I have read everything that Stephen King has written. In fact, I think I've paid for at least a bathroom in his house.

"The Stand" is the absolutely best book that he has ever written. Once I started reading it, I didn't stop until I was done. It really makes you think - what if our government wasn't quite so diligent with security at their chemical warfare test kitchens, we could possibly go through this exact scenario.

The characters were wonderful, Frannie, Stu, Tom Cullen - all were examples of people who have been through the worst that you can go through - and triumphed. Mother Abigail was the perfect counterpart to Randall Flagg.

I was pleasantly surprised that the movie stayed so close to the book, losing only a few characters.

I've read the book many times now and will finally have to go out and get another copy of it as mine is in tatters. If someone were to tell me "I've never read a Stephen King book. Recommend one to me," this would be it.

Rating:
Summary: Good but not his' best
Review: The novel is a very good story and very suspensful. I loved Mother Abigal she was an EXCELLENT character. The only reason I gave this a 9 rating instead of a 10 is because there are loads of characters in the book and you really have to pay close attention to keep up with who is who.

Rating:
Summary: Why does King waste our time?
Review: I cannot understand the popular appeal of this book. The first 200 or so pages of this book are OK - about what one would expect from a mediocre science fiction writer. Then the story develops into a rather trite and heavy-handed morality tale, with the 'forces of good' settling in Boulder and the 'forces of evil' settling in Las Vegas (hmmm...). The characters are neither endearing nor intruiging, and the subplots meander in a frustrating way. The conclusion, however, is very possibly the worst ending to a book that I have ever read. It reminds one of a third-grade creative writing assignment which is due the next day.

I read this book at the suggestion of an acquaintance, and have no intention of picking up another King book.

The only explanation I can offer as to the rave reviews given to this book is that, after 900 pages, people will claim to like it just as an excuse for having put so much of their time into wading through it.