Ratings122
Average rating4.1
Stephen King's apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by virus and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting and eerily plausible as when it was first published. Soon to be a television series. 'THE STAND is a masterpiece' (Guardian). Set in a virus-decimated US, King's thrilling American fantasy epic, is a Classic. First come the days of the virus. Then come the dreams. Dark dreams that warn of the coming of the dark man. The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the charnel house and Prince of Evil. His time is at hand. His empire grows in the west and the Apocalypse looms. When a man crashes his car into a petrol station, he brings with him the foul corpses of his wife and daughter. He dies and it doesn't take long for the virus which killed him to spread across America and the world.
Series
1 primary bookThe Stand (3 volumes) is a 1-book series first released in 2008 with contributions by Stephen King.
Reviews with the most likes.
When I was in high school, they released a TV miniseries if The Stand that I watched. I always thought it was the best end of the world/virus take I’d seen. Not because it’s realistic or gritty, but because it frames the story with great characters battling good and evil.
When I read the book, I wondered how closely it would follow the miniseries. Turns out the show was a near scene for scene recording of the book (one of the bonuses of making it 6 hours).
What’s amazing to me about The Stand is that it follows so many characters storylines so well. It would be easy to get lost with that many characters, but somehow they fit together in a way that I didn’t feel overwhelmed. Add to that a story that had me on the edge of my seat and I see why this is considered one of the best sci fi books of all time.
This must be the fourth or fifth time I've re-read it and it seems even more timely. Not just related to the current situation with Coronavirus but the polarization of humans to charismatic leaders, each promoting fear of the others. We may not all be having dreams about our leaders that make us feel an affinity for one or the other, but we're still taking in information - a shared subconscious, if you will, made up not of dreams but of social media posts.
I read this in college when the unabridged version was re-introduced. It really shook me up in a way. It seeded my mind with the what-if horror factor of our existence on this planet. It's fiction, and yet, it seems completely plausible especially now that we are experiencing a H1N1 flu epidemic.
Great characterization interwoven with a modern-day setting and mythical/spiritual creatures. Tends to be a bit ‘wordy' but I loved every word of it.
What an incredible adventure. It's the longest and most detailed book I've ever read so far. In the beginning you have this ultra detailed and frightening story of the death of almost all mankind. In the middle it gets a bit slow but picks up again at the end.
Featured Prompt
14 booksA good antagonist can mean a lot of things. It can be anything from realistic and relatable to pure evil. Some of the best villains are the ones that stick with us (and sometimes haunt our dreams)....