Phil
"The Long Walk" is my second Richard Bachmann and my seventh Stephen King novel. With Stephen King, I generally find that he slows down the pace in the middle and describes his characters in great detail. Although I think that is a good thing - because the better a character is described, the more you can identify with them - it is not uncommon for him to overdo it and drag thins out.
In my opinion, this was also the case with "The Long Walk". I am thinking in particular of the very long chapters 5 to 8 (compared with the other chapters).
Apart from that, I really liked the novel. It is really captivating (most of the time) and I had to gues how it would end until the very end. I could not have predicted the ending. But it felt very organic within the context of the story.
The live-action adaption by Francis Lawrence is coming out in about a month. Now I am ready for the theatrical release!
At over 600 pages, it is the longest King novel I have read (at least at the time of the review). I want to make clear, the book is by no means bad. I actually think it has very nice descriptions and the characters grow on you.
Nevertheless, I found it hit and miss because there are some chapters where not much happens and they take a long time. You realise that King wanted to give it all more life, but sometimes it was repetitive. These are the moments when I counld not get on quickly and put the book aside several times.
On the other hand, there are also chapters that are told in such an exciting way or contain such gripping conversations that you can't put the book down. If you are prepared for it to slow down in places, then this is a real recommendation.
This is my absolute favourite horror book so far. The pacing is great, the city seems so alive (or dead). The characters are clearly written. And there were some of the creepiest parts I've ever read.
Compared to "Pet Sementary", I think "Salem's Lot" is better because the overall package is just so coherent. There's also no hanger. But "Pet Sementary" remains the scariest in general of them which I have read.
I started this book in 2020 for the first time but could not finish it. At that time I was horrified by the horror genre in books and movies. 2022 I got in touch with horror and even if it was a difficult debut I started enjoying horror movies. With that in mind I came back to "pet sementary" which immediatly became my first horror book ever read.
I liked it a lot. It had some passages where I was shivering while reading. The ending is great and the beginning is even better. The paste is a bit slow in the middle but due to the short amount of pages this book has, it is not that big of a deal.
Ich fand das Buch gut. Besonders die erste Hälfte. Ich weiß echt nicht warum, aber irgendwann habe ich einfach nicht weitergelesen und es hat mich scheinbar nicht interessiert wie es ausgeht, obwohl ich immer wieder Spaß mit dem Buch hatte. Vielleicht liegt es daran, dass ich momentan eine Phase erlebe, indem das Horrorgenre mich am meisten interessiert und ich spannende Horrorbücher zu Hause habe.
Was mir an dem Buch jedoch nicht gefallen hat, ist die Romanze zwischen zwei Nebencharakteren. Ich finde, die hat es nicht gebraucht und sie hat mich immer wieder rausgeworfen. Wenn ich in Zukunft mal wieder zu Fantasy wechsle kann ich mir gut vorstellen das mal fertig zu lesen oder ein anderes Buch vom Autor.
