I finally started my 17-book adventure to The Dark Tower with The Stand and it's a horror masterpiece

By herondawn

I really wish I had picked up “The Stand” way earlier. I went in already expecting it to be great since so many people call it one of King’s best, and honestly it still blew past what I was expecting. I’ve also made up my mind to start my way toward The Dark Tower, so I’ve been doing a lot of pre-reading to try to get the fullest experience possible. Basically I’m making my way through all the books that connect to it. If anyone cares, this is the order I ended up with after way too much reading around and asking a bunch of Constant Readers what they thought... The Stand The Eyes of the Dragon Insomnia Hearts in Atlantis ‘Salem’s Lot The Talisman Black House Everything's Eventual (The Little Sisters of Eluria) The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands Charlie the Choo-Choo The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower Yeah, 17 books. I’ve got a ridiculous amount of reading ahead of me, but if “The Stand” is anything to go by, this is probably going to be one of the best reading stretches I ever have. I’m really excited to finally get to all of these, and I’m hoping to finish before King’s next anthology, “You Like It Darker,” comes out on May 21, 2024. Before I get into the actual thoughts, I did run across a lot of trigger warnings while reading, since a bunch of this is really graphic. They were… - Cancer - Suicide - Abortion - Domestic abuse (physical) - Racism - Pandemic - Quarantine - Dead animals (cars, dogs, kittens, rabbits, and rats) - Drugs - Drinking and driving - Parental abuse (mental and physical) - Vaccination - Rape - Bullying - Dead children - Burning churches - Homophobia - Death of a child - Self-harm - Cannibalism - Violence against women - Religion - Politics - Violence against animals (hens and chickens) If any of that is a dealbreaker for you, definitely skip this one. “The Stand” is absolutely a horror masterpiece, and it’s also the longest book I’ve read so far in my life. It’s 1,348 pages, which sounds insane, but it really is worth it. There are two versions of this book, the original 1975 release that had to be cut down because it was just way too huge at the time, and the 1990 “complete and uncut” version. I went with the second one because King put back in over 400 pages and revised it to get closer to the version he actually wanted out there. I really liked how he talked about that at the start too, just very him and very direct to his Constant Readers. It’s officially his longest standalone novel, and I really think it’ll stay one of the biggest horror books ever. King does not mess around here. The opening is intense and sets up the whole thing so well, and I got hooked fast. I really liked the tension right away and all the characters were so different from each other in a way that made them stick. And wow, there are a lot of characters. I had to keep notes because there were so many names and I didn’t want to get lost. That helped a lot, and once I did that, it was easy to keep up and just enjoy it. I also loved all the references in here, especially Queens, Freddy Krueger, The Lord of the Rings, Shirley Jackson, Norman Bates, and a bunch more. The book is split into three parts, and each one has a bunch of smaller stories mixed in with the main one. I thought that worked really well because you still stay connected to the big story while also getting all these side things happening. It kept me wondering who would end up mattering later too. There really weren’t any dull sections for me. The dialogue, the situations, the horror, all of it was strong. King is so good at that quiet kind of horror that creeps up on you and just keeps sitting there. And yeah, this one definitely hit harder because it feels weirdly close to what the world went through with COVID a few years ago, just pushed way further in a very King way. The descriptions, the atmosphere, the whole thing was just excellent. I couldn’t put it down, even though it took me over two weeks to finish, and I even used my days off to keep going because it’s such a huge but addictive book. If you’re someone who looks at the page count and thinks there’s no way, I still think it’s worth it if you just keep at it a little at a time. Don’t rush it. It’s the kind of book that sticks with you. I also really liked the illustrations included throughout. Those creepy little visuals made it feel even more like a full experience. It reminded me of being younger and reading horror paperbacks where there’d be drawings in the middle or at the start of chapters. King really goes all in on the horror, gore, and gross-out stuff here. Some parts had me making weird faces while I was reading because I was trying to figure out what was going on with the disease. Once that finally clicks, it opens the book up in a way I hadn’t really seen before in a horror novel. And once everything starts connecting and the final stretch kicks in, that’s where “The Stand” really goes hard. There’s even a huge violent scene near the end that I did not expect at all, and it was wild. Out of everyone, I’d probably say Frannie, Stu, Nick, and Kojak were my favorites. And yeah, Randall Flagg too. He’s terrifying. This was my first real read with Flagg in it, and I get why people hate him so much. Some of the stuff around him was completely unhinged, and now I’m even more interested in seeing where that all goes in the Dark Tower stuff since he’s such a big villain there. The ending was huge. King takes the whole good vs. evil thing and makes it feel way darker and more intense than I expected. I’m not going to spoil anything, but the ending really landed for me. I actually went back and reread the last few chapters because I thought they were that good. I did not see that coming, and I’m very happy with how it wrapped up. It hit me with so many different feelings too, like sadness, hope, anger, laughter, disbelief, and even some really heartwarming moments. It’s just a massive book in every way. I’m giving “The Stand” by Stephen King a 5/5, and honestly I’d give it 10/5 if that was a thing because this was easily one of the best books I’ve read by King and maybe one of the best I’ve ever read. The story, the characters, Flagg, the horror, the hope of it all, it all just worked so well. Anyway, on to the next step in my Dark Tower read-through, because I’m starting “The Eyes of the Dragon” next. Cough.