Book Review: The Stand by Stephen King

First off, Stephen King is currently my favorite author, my favorite book being'Salem's Lot, and this is not only his longest singular work (his longest work is the Dark Tower series, of which I have read the first three out of seven) - it is the longest book I have read to date. According to Yahoo! Answers, it consists of 464,218 words. Both editions I read from (one was rain-soaked and I bought an older copy) had 1,141 pages. It is an awesome epic novel and I recommend it to the epic fantasy and/or horror fan.

After a deadly plague released by a government mistake sweeps across the world and wipes out ninety-something percent of the population, those who survived take two sides: the good guys flock to 108-year-old Mother Abagail in Colorado and the bad guys run to Las Vegas to Randall Flagg, a demon or devil of some sort who appears human but can both shape-shift and project his soul into animals. He gives off an aura of extreme, cold terror to Abagail's people, and eventually a few brave men decide to journey from Boulder, Colorado, to Vegas on foot to confront the dark man, as Flagg is often called...for the ultimate stand.

I really loved this book, but the climax, shall we say, was a bit of a deus ex machina. Meaning "God of the Machine." I don't want to give too much away, but I will say that God quite literally had a hand in things, where he could have helped the entire time. That is the same problem I had with C.S. Lewis and his Narnia books, which I need to read the rest of still: God reaches in and fixes things. The movie Avatar (the James Cameron one with blue people, not The Last Airbender) did this too: "Jake! Eywa heard you!!!"

But other than that, the writing was quite good. I was never quite sure who the main character was, but I don't think there really was one: Star Wars does that too. More of an "overall epic story" thing.

Final grade: B

Summer at Last

So this is it: I am free. I plan to read more than ever now, and I am already making my way through The Best of Cemetery Dance. Tonight my mother, sisters, and I watched a quarter of Stephen King's The Stand - very good teleplay with a rather scary villain. I walked most of the way to my mother's house today, which is saying something; it's a good way from my school and I would have probably gone all the way if not for my book-bag weighing down on my back and threatening to break it. Ah, I won't have to worry about that for a while.

I counted the library books I have out, and I believe I have exactly twenty-five. I hope to read at least most of them this summer. One was a quick read, a galley from Printz called Requiem: Poems from the Terezin Ghetto. It was quite sad and disturbing, but I appreciated the poetry.

Speaking of books, I might move my reviews to this blog and keep one after all. Also, "The Worlds of Winter" is old - how about "The Winter Journal"? (With the former I needed a title and didn't know what to call it).

I might be volunteering at a local library this summer. We'll see how that turns out.

I must close the journal now, but I shall post again soon!

Au revoir,

Lewis

Last Post of the [School] Year

The next time I plan to post, sometime on Monday, I shall be on my summer holiday. So this is my last post this school year. On Monday I have my Creative Writing exam, which will mime a novel submission packet. I already did a synopsis (and it's not the novel I'm working on now, ha), so I'm already about a quarter done. I can't say I'll miss Biology, but CW I definitely will. My teacher is just awesome.

Went to Printz today and found out the book I had planned to review was not up for review. I reviewed it anyway. If any are wondering, it was Rot & Ruin by Jonathan Maberry and it was awesome. They told us of some thing for picture book illustrators; that might be worth a shot. I do draw...occasionally. Doodle is a more accurate word. I've thought of writing them, and perhaps I shall, but many of my tales are quite dark. One is only slightly dark (a witch turning children into pumpkins), so maybe I'll try that.

Speaking of libraries, I have a crap ton of books out now: summer reading? Almost done with The Stand; will post a review when I finish. I have a cool vintage edition now that I had to recycle my newish one, which was rain-soaked a week ago. The villain is one of literature's best bad guys ever. I also lost my three-and-a-half-year-old iPod to the rain. My first ever, my precious thing.... I tore it apart and threw the pieces away. I have another now and I still listen to Mossflower on it. I have also been listening to a bit of Grateful Dead lately. They're pretty good, actually. I haven't paid attention to the lyrics, but the music sounds good.

Might watch Romero's Night of the Living Dead this weekend. We'll see. I got it at a used bookstore that also sold CDs and DVDs. It's supposed to be good.

Time to wrap up.

Love,

Lewis