The Stand

"This is a tough one to rate. Ultimately, I did like it pretty well and this was a FEAT to create, I imagine, and while dystopian/post apocalyptic worlds have been explored forever, this was probably a lot of people’s more mainstream introduction to this kind of setting and themes so I am appreciating the significance as part of my rating. That said, this felt like an endurance test. Was it a deliberate choice, to parallel the endurance test of this new world? Probably not, given his tendency to write insanely long books. Reading this would sometimes become like listening to your little kid talk about their special interest forever; they don’t know how to edit and they keep getting excited about the content so they just. can’t. stop. The language often felt clinical, in that he’s explaining things thoroughly, but not in a way where you *feel* them. So maybe he needs these exhaustive explorations in order to hook us to his characters and stories? I can’t deny, I grew invested in the story and characters, love his insights, I did enjoy it, but the style of writing is just not my favorite. "

"Masterpiece of a book "

"Literally a masterpiece. "

"If you have the time it takes to finish this, you won’t regret it. One of the best fiction stories of all time. "

"This is one of few books I’ve read several times and is one of my fave popular fiction books ever. I’d read *nothing* like it when I first read it in my teens when it came out, and was captivated by the entire premise of the details of how the apocalypse began and how it carried out, and how people responded… not to mention the good vs evil these, of course. Classic Stephen King!"

"This book makes you experience every possible emotion you can experience. It's just a good story of humanity, and I was interested the entire way through. I'm also really proud of myself for finishing this in 2 weeks because I had aimed to finish it in a month. I really enjoyed it, and it's definitely something I could see myself reading again one day. I still have questions about things, but I feel content right now. 4.5 ⭐"

"This is a really tough book to rate. First of all it took me a year to finish (It’s over 47 hours on Audible). The first half I could not put down (5 stars) but then I got stuck in the middle and the second half was hard to finish (3 stars), which is why it took me so long to finish. The ending didn’t quite do it for me, after all that time invested. As a big Stephen King fan, I’m happy to check this one off my list, but I feel like it needs a second read to truly process it all and I’m not sure I have the energy for that."

"Just cannot finish"

"One of my all time favorites from my younger years. "

"This is a really long read. I really enjoyed it for the most part, but it's very long. The ending is worth the time spent, though. "