The Stand - Stephen King

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Title: The Stand Author: Stephen King Genre: Thriller Rating: 8/10 # pages: 1007 Date read: December, 2007

Summary: This is the way the world ends: with a nanosecond of computer error in a Defense Department laboratory and a million casual contacts that form the links in a chain letter of death.

And here is the bleak new world of the day after: a world stripped of its institutions and emptied of 99 percent of its people. A world in which a handful of panicky survivors choose sides -- or are chosen. A world in which good rides on the frail shoulders of the 108-year-old Mother Abigail -- and the worst nightmares of evil are embodied in a man with a lethal smile and unspeakable powers: Randall Flagg, the dark man.

Review: For some reason it took me ages to get through The Stand. I'm not sure why, because I quite enjoyed it, so it wasn't that I neglected it, I just found it a slow read.

In many ways it read a lot like some of the post-apocalyptic books I've read - the fight between good and evil, where you know good is going to come out on top, the only question is how many people will die along the way.

It's very different from King's usual writing style, and I think for that reason alone I liked it more than his other books. I was slightly disappointed by the ending as it seemed as if things were solved too easily, but on the other hand I understand why he chose to end it that way.

I read the "complete and uncut" edition (literary talk for 'directors cut' I guess?) - wonder how much was taken out in the original versions.

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