I read a lot of books. Probably 5 or 6 large novels a month. Never read any SK (except Misery at 14 and it was not too good)..

I've heard The Stand is King's magnum opus... is it hyped up or is it worth the read? I have the uncut addition which has an extra 150,000 words.

Basically, should I read this or is it a waste of time?

The length is no problem for me, I've read many 1000+ page books.
I know that the literary community is pretty harsh on criticizing King's literary merit and writing skills, but was willing to give him the chance. Just wanted to know if it was a really good book like I've heard.

kings magnum opus is actually the dark tower saga, seven books over about 10,000+ in the paper back editions. should be finishing the last half of the last one to night and really really want to know how it ends!!!! its taken me about a months a month and a half to get through it and i've even been listening to it on audio books most of the time. The shinning, the stand, and salem's lot are a good place to start. The dark tower saga isn't very simmaler to his other work and is actually a sci-fi western. And its also a bad place to start cause as king put it in the forward, "all my other books are in some way or an other about this one." allot of his other books are refererenced though out the saga and several charaters from other books are in it and the novility of it is lost if you don't know who they are (infact stephen himself is a character within the book when they find him in the proses of writing the book that the book is about )

i wasn't all that happy with bag of bones. it didn't feel like he put much into it. ironicly it was about a writer with writers block who starts releasing unpublished meadeocer novels he has sitting in the bank from years past.

The first half of The Stand was awesome, then it started to get a bit boring and King released full force his usual paranormal crap. I swear, his books would be about.. uh... 10 times better if he'd stop stuffing them up with it.

I'm about 400 pages in, Book II. I enjoy it.

King writes really well, but at times, I feel he breaks the "show-don't tell" style of writing that I enjoy more.

Pretty good read so far though, boring at times, but overall, I'm glad I'm reading it.

"stephen king isn't very good, i should know, I've read over 40 of his books!"

Hahaha, I could see myself reading a few other of his books even though he's not the best of writers.

i love the fact that in the final dark tower book there is actually an almost an entire chapter of the characters complaining about him being a lazy drunk who writes horrid novels.

Finally gave up on The Stand. Although it was pretty good, the book was seriously wasting a lot of time in my life. About 200 pages without any plot development was ridiculous. I'm all about experimental fiction and giving the author a chance, but King is pretty bloated.

Granted it was the uncut edition, but jesus christ.

as he puts it, his books aren't for goal orientated people. he feels the ending is unimportant, all u have to do to get an ending is flip to the last page. its the pleasure of getting there that's important for him.

he has also of course said he knows his books are ruined when he has to resort to plot.

still need to get around to reading that one, not sure why i haven't yet

The Dark Tower is his absolute best work. He's actually planning on writing another DT book about The Sombra Corp and The Tet. Go to http://stephenking.com/darktower/

I have about 15 of his books. I think my fave would have to be "It", "The Talisman", being a close second, even though that was co-written with Peter Straub.. The movie of "It" was horrible though, although Tim Curry did an awesome job as Pennywise. I hear they're remaking it. Could probaly use one. Hehe

To quote the prelude to the last chapter of the final Tower Book (oh, don't worry, I won't spoil anything!):

"So, you want a finish? Oh, you poor creatures, who only long to get to an end without walking the way to it. Do you also have sex only for the sake of an orgasm (whitch is none more then god's way to tell you it's all over for now and you can go to sleep)?"

Not exactly quoted since I read it in german, but he said pretty much that^^



Well, I started to read King with 12, I totally dug "It" (is that what "Es" is called in english? would be the direct translation, though I never laid my hand on an english release). Pennywise is the reason I hate clowns...
I tried "The Stand" and a few others, but they were quiet boring. I wan't to get my hands on "Carrie" and "Salem's Lot" though...


The Dark Tower Saga is his magnum opus. It's one of the most magnificent books I ever read. It develops an incredible story and never fails to stay interesting.
The books have a special "atmosphere"... King put his hero, a wildwest gunslinger named Roland (some weird mix between a Clint Eastwood-Style Cowboy and a knight) into a post-apocalypic version of our world and adds elements of sci-fi and fantasy. Its, well... I would say the atmosphere is dark and "doomy". Also, Roland is pretty much a badass
The story describes his quest for the Dark Tower and his chase for the Man In Black through the endless desert - thats all you have to know. I'd love to tell more - for example, who this Roland-Guy is (and why he's so damn badass), why he searchs for this ominous tower (and what this tower is anyway), who this Man In Black is and why roland chases him... but all these questions are what makes this story so intresting, and some of them are solved only in the very last chapter. I recommend it!

That sounds a little fishy to me...

finished the dark tower series for the 3rd time last week. i need to get some new books.