Tag: constant reader

Book Review | The Talisman Series by Stephen King and Peter Straub

Posted June 15, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Talisman Series by Stephen King and Peter Straub

Jack Sawyer, twelve years old, is about to begin a most fantastic journey, an exalting, terrifying quest for the mystical Talisman—the only thing that can save Jack’s dying mother. But to reach his goal, Jack must make his way not only across the breadth of the United States but also through the wondrous and menacing parallel world of the Territories.

In the Territories, Jack finds another realm, where the air is so sweet and clear a man can smell a radish being pulled from the ground a mile away—and a life can be snuffed out instantly in the continuing struggle between good and evil. Here Jack discovers “Twinners,” reflections of the people he knows on earth—most notably Queen Laura DeLoessian, the Twinner of Jack’s own imperiled mother. As Jack “flips” between worlds, making his way westward toward the redemptive Talisman, a sequence of heart-stopping encounters challenges him at every step.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (see below)

The Reason

For my Stephen King challenge and because the third book in this series is coming out this year!

The Quotes

“Everything goes away, Jack Sawyer, like the moon. Everything comes back, like the moon.”

“You don’t own a thing unless you can give it up, what does it profit a man, it profits him nothing, it profits him zilch, and you don’t learn that in school, you learn it on the road, you learn it from Ferd Janklow, and Wolf, and Richard going head-first into the rocks like a Titan II that didn’t fire off right.”

“A universe of worlds, a dimensional macrocosm of worlds—and in all of them one thing that was always the same; one unifying force that was undeniably good, even if it now happened to be imprisoned in an evil place; the Talisman, axle of all possible worlds.”

“That’s how craziness works. You make connections that aren’t real.”

The Narrator(s)

Frank Muller. He has a kind of inflection at the end of sentences that distracted me at first but I got used to them as I went further into the book and stopped noticing them. Other than that, I loved his narration! His voices and the way he portrayed the characters were amazing!

My Thoughts

These books were written years apart; The Talisman in 1984, Black House in 2001, and finally, Other Worlds Than These only coming out in October 2026 (so it’s not out yet at the time of this writing). I haven’t read many of Straub’s works (I very much intend to!), but everyone knows I’m a fan of King, and I love that he often writes stories where we see the protagonists as children and then later as adults (IT, The Shining and Doctor Sleep, etc.) and we still feel the continuity and consistency of the characters and their growth. This is my first time reading these books in The Talisman series so I’m seeing these characters for the first time. In hindsight, maybe I should’ve waited until the final book came out but I got caught up in the excitement and I wanted to be ready for it.

Book 1 – The Talisman
For the reading challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #9: Featuring a natural disaster)

As usual, the best part about King’s books is his characters. Meeting Jack Sawyer for the first time as a 12-year old, I love how realistic it feels to have a boy his age facing all the difficult things that happen, the way he handles them, and how he had to step up and grow up. I feel so much for Jack having to do difficult things but I also believe in the resilience and the adaptability of children his age. They learn fast, they adapt to new realities more easily, they bounce back and try again, and I loved seeing Jack do all of those things.

I also love the other characters; Wolf, Speedy, and even Richard Sloat. Wolf is the purest and best person in the world and if you’ve read the book, you won’t wonder why he has my heart. Richard was difficult to like at first but he grew on me, and maybe claiming love for him is a little too strong but I did like him in the end.

This book was such a journey. I love how King’s books transcend genres; it’s portal fantasy, which I love, but it’s also horror, epic fantasy, thriller, adventure. He just tells the stories and disregards categorizing them – as we all should. I also want to acknowledge Straub as co-writer, I don’t mean to ignore his contribution to the book, I’m just not familiar enough with his works and have no frame of reference to comment upon who he is as a writer in relation to this book. I mean to remedy that as soon as possible! I can definitely see the difference in voice with this book as compared with other King books though, and I’m attributing that to Straub’s contribution. I’m looking forward to more of this series, and more from both these authors!

Book 2 – Black House
For the reading challenge(s):
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #35: Character with a secret identity)

So many years have gone by since we first saw Jack Sawyer as a 12-year-old. He’s now 31 years old and a retired cop; he’s able to retire young because he’s got money from his family. He moves to a new place which is of course, in a crisis, from a serial child murderer, and is asked to come back from retirement to help catch the murderer. He resists but the killings are related to his childhood adventure and he is uniquely qualified to fix it.

I love seeing him as an adult and still recognizing the same spirit in him that we saw in the first book. Again, the characters are the best thing about this book, and one of the things I love most is how the characters are portrayed; now that Jack is an adult and the victims are children, we initially see the children as helpless and vulnerable (which is still true in a case such as this!), but we are later reminded by a 10-year old Tyler that children are also smart, resilient, and powerful. I just love that. Obviously, I don’t like that any child was hurt by a serial killer or put in any dangerous situation, but I love that King and Straub write Tyler as having his own agency and power and not just as a helpless victim.

The other characters are amazing too, no surprise there; Beezer, Doc, Dale, Judy/Sophie, and my darling Henry. I love them all. If I had read this series before knowing the third was coming out, I’d have been satisfied with the ending but definitely filling in the blanks with my own ideas of what happens next. Now I’m just anxiously waiting for the next book so I can have some questions answered.

As of this writing, I have not read The Dark Tower series but I’ve seen references to it on Stephen King’s various fan sites, and I’m so excited to see that this story has some connections to The Dark Tower series. I can’t wait to read TDT series next and see what all the hype is about!

Book 3 – Other Worlds Than These
For the reading challenge(s):
TBD

Coming in October 2026!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this series? Would you read this series? Did you like the books or do you think you would like them?

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Book Review | Elevation by Stephen King

Posted June 12, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 2 Comments

Elevation by Stephen King

Castle Rock is a small town, where word gets around quickly. That’s why Scott Carey wants to confide only in his friend Doctor Bob Ellis about his strange condition: he’s losing weight, without getting thinner, and the scales register the same when he is in his clothes or out of them, however heavy they are.

Scott also has new neighbours, who have opened a ‘fine dining experience’ in town, although it’s an experience being shunned by the locals; Deirdre McComb and her wife Missy Donaldson don’t exactly fit in with the community’s expectations. And now Scott seems trapped in a feud with the couple over their dogs dropping their business on his lawn. Missy may be friendly, but Deirdre is cold as ice.

As the town prepares for its annual Thanksgiving 12k run, Scott starts to understand the prejudices his neighbours face and he tries to help. Unlikely alliances form and the mystery of Scott’s affliction brings out the best in people who have indulged the worst in themselves and others.

From master storyteller Stephen King, our ‘most precious renewable resource, like Shakespeare in the malleability of his work’ (Guardian), comes this compelling tale about finding common ground despite differences, a story with deep resonance for our time.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

For my Stephen King challenge, plus it was available immediately on Libby when I was looking for a quick read.

The Quotes

“He thought he had discovered one of life’s great truths (and one he could have done without): the only thing harder than saying goodbye to yourself, a pound at a time, was saying goodbye to your friends.”

“Why feel bad about what you couldn’t change? Why not embrace it?”

“Gravity is the anchor that pulls us down into our graves. There would be no grave for this man, and no more gravity, either. He had been given a special dispensation.”

“Sometimes he thought of a saying Nora had brought home from her AA meetings: the past is history, the future’s a mystery.”

The Narrator(s)

The author himself. Stephen King!

My Thoughts

I remember reading this one some years ago, but not paying much attention to it and not remembering much about it after. I enjoy it a lot more this time around. It’s light and whimsical, which is an interesting thing to say about a Stephen King story, but that’s what I love about King; you never know what you’re going to get but you are always going to be in for a great journey. I say journey, because honestly the story is a bit of a nothing-burger, nothing of substance really happens and it feels more like a fairytale than a serious story, but I always enjoy King’s storytelling. His easy way with words, even when you’re reading his scariest book, just keeps me going back to his books over and over again.

This book is a novella at only 146 pages; the characters are interesting but conflicts get resolved quickly and easily, and it’s more of a feel-good story which I’m perfectly happy with sometimes. I also like that there’s a race scene because I’ve been getting into running and reading a few running books recently. It was a really nice, fun read.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Bag of Bones by Stephen King

Posted May 25, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Bag of Bones by Stephen King

Stephen King’s most gripping and unforgettable novel, Bag of Bones, is a story of grief and a lost love’s enduring bonds, of a new love haunted by the secrets of the past, of an innocent child caught in a terrible crossfire.

Set in the Maine territory King has made mythic, Bag of Bones recounts the plight of 40-year-old bestselling novelist Mike Noonan, who is unable to stop grieving even four years after the sudden death of his wife, Jo, and who can no longer bear to face the blank screen of his word processor.

Now his nights are plagued by vivid nightmares of the house by the lake. Despite these dreams, or perhaps because of them, Mike finally returns to Sara Laughs, the Noonans’ isolated summer home.

He finds his beloved Yankee town familiar on its surface, but much changed underneath — held in the grip of a powerful millionaire, Max Devore, who twists the very fabric of the community to his purpose: to take his three-year-old granddaughter away from her widowed young mother. As Mike is drawn into their struggle, as he falls in love with both of them, he is also drawn into the mystery of Sara Laughs, now the site of ghostly visitations, ever-escalating nightmares, and the sudden recovery of his writing ability. What are the forces that have been unleashed here — and what do they want of Mike Noonan?

As vivid and enthralling as King’s most enduring works, Bag of Bones resonates with what Amy Tan calls ‘the witty and obsessive voice of King’s powerful imagination.’ It’s no secret that King is our most mesmerizing storyteller. In Bag of Bones — described by Gloria Naylor as ‘a love story about the dark places within us all’ — he proves to be one of our most moving.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

For my Stephen King challenge. This one is a reread.

The Quotes

“I felt lonely and content at the same time. I believe that is a rare kind of happiness.”

“I see things, that’s all. Write enough stories and every shadow on the floor looks like a footprint; every line in the dirt like a secret message.”

“Grief is like a drunken house guest, always coming back for one more goodbye hug.”

“Readers have a loyalty that cannot be matched anywhere else in the creative arts, which explains why so many writers who have run out of gas can keep coasting anyway, propelled on to the bestseller lists by the magic words AUTHOR OF on the covers of their books.”

The Narrator(s)

Stephen King, the author himself. What a treat!

My Thoughts

I read this book a while ago and rated it four stars but it didn’t stand out to me at the time. As I was rereading it, I remember parts of it and why I enjoyed it the first time. My favorite part about Stephen King’s books is the way he approaches the supernatural and talks about it like it’s not something fictional or unbelievable, but just a part of the many mysteries of our world.

One of my favorite characters that we never even really meet is Jo, the MC’s late wife. She dies in the beginning of the book and we only get to know her through Mike Noonan’s memories and ghostly encounters, but she comes across so strong and passionate. I also really like Kyra. The almost-romance in the story is a bit of a turn-off for me but I understand this was written a while ago (still!).

It’s kind of why I included the quote, “Readers have a loyalty that cannot be matched anywhere else in the creative arts, which explains why so many writers who have run out of gas can keep coasting anyway, propelled on to the bestseller lists by the magic words AUTHOR OF on the covers of their books.”

I actually became a fan of the author through his more recent books (so it’s the inverse of the above quote but the sentiment applies) and am now reading his backlist for the sake of The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge. His older books are still good but there are definitely questionable themes in them. I like that he’s self aware enough to call himself out on some of those things now that he’s older though!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Never Flinch by Stephen King

Posted February 17, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Never Flinch by Stephen King

From master storyteller Stephen King comes an extraordinary new novel with intertwining storylines—one about a killer on a diabolical revenge mission, and another about a vigilante targeting a feminist celebrity speaker—featuring the beloved Holly Gibney and a dynamic new cast of characters.

When the Buckeye City Police Department receives a disturbing letter from a person threatening to “kill thirteen innocents and one guilty” in “an act of atonement for the needless death of an innocent man,” Detective Izzy Jaynes has no idea what to think. Are fourteen citizens about to be slaughtered in an unhinged act of retribution? As the investigation unfolds, Izzy realizes that the letter writer is deadly serious, and she turns to her friend Holly Gibney for help.

Meanwhile, controversial and outspoken women’s rights activist Kate McKay is embarking on a multi-state lecture tour, drawing packed venues of both fans and detractors. Someone who vehemently opposes Kate’s message of female empowerment is targeting her and disrupting her events. At first, no one is hurt, but the stalker is growing bolder, and Holly is hired to be Kate’s bodyguard—a challenging task with a headstrong employer and a determined adversary driven by wrath and his belief in his own righteousness.

Featuring a riveting cast of characters both old and new, including world-famous gospel singer Sista Bessie and an unforgettable villain addicted to murder, these twinned narratives converge in a chilling and spectacular conclusion—a feat of storytelling only Stephen King could pull off.

Thrilling, wildly fun, and outrageously engrossing, Never Flinch is one of King’s richest and most propulsive novels.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #30: Author related to another author)

The Reason

I’m reading all of King’s books and Holly Gibney is one of my favorite characters.

The Quotes

“He’s dangerous because he thinks he’s sane.” She pauses. “To belabor something else that’s obvious, he’s not.”

“The bastards don’t get to win.”

“It’s not courage she lacks, it’s the fundamental self-worth necessary to call someone out on their hurtful behavior.”

“…because deeply religious people in every sect or faith can always find justification for what they want to do in one holy book or another.”

The Narrator(s)

Jessie Mueller, with an afterword read by Stephen King. Seriously, Mueller is damn good, but even more so, she can sing! There are parts in the book where music and performance comes in, and Mueller delivers so well I am in awe.

My Thoughts

I know many King fans are lukewarm about Holly but I love her and can’t get enough of her. This book’s story isn’t the best compared to the previous Holly stories, but I still love it because of Holly and her friends. I’m glad to see Jerome, Barbara, and Izzy again, and I love seeing how they have all grown in so many different ways. I also fell in love with Corrie as a character and I’m hoping we’ll see her again in future books. There was some mention of the possibility of Izzy joining Holly as a PI, and honestly, I’m so excited about the prospect of that as well as seeing more of Corrie in future books. I don’t care what others say, this book made me want more Holly books!

The story itself is good, but it’s tough to compare King’s books because he’s got so many amazing books. I think my biggest complaint is that there weren’t enough supernatural elements here although I wonder if that’s the point. I’ve always loved that while King writes about supernatural monsters, he also often makes a point that some of the worst monsters are the real life ones. To be fair though, despite not having enough supernatural elements, I did enjoy the book very much. I had about three hours left of the book just before bed and it got so thrilling I couldn’t sleep and ended up staying up to finish it, so I’d call that a win.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King

Posted February 9, 2026 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Dolores Claiborne by Stephen King

“An unforgettable, unflinching glimpse into a mind driven to murder” (San Francisco Chronicle)—the #1 national bestseller from Stephen King about a housekeeper with a long-hidden secret from her past…one that tests her own will to survive.

Dolores Claiborne is suspected of killing Vera Donovan, her wealthy employer, and when the police question her, she tells the story of her life, harkening back to her disintegrating marriage and the suspicious death of her violent husband thirty years earlier. Dolores also tells of Vera’s physical and mental decline and how she became emotionally demanding in recent years.

Given a voice as compelling as any in contemporary fiction, the strange intimacy between Dolores and Vera—and the link that binds them—unfolds in Dolores’s account. It shows, finally, how fierce love can be, and how dreadful its consequences. And how the soul, harrowed by the hardest life, can achieve a kind of grace.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge
2026 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #51: Includes a map)

The Reason

For my Stephen King challenge, and also because I heard this was one of the really good depictions of women King has written.

The Quotes

“Sometimes you have to be a high riding bitch to survive, sometimes, being a bitch is all a woman has to hang on to.”

“There ain’t no power in heaven or on earth that can stop people from thinkin the worst when they want to.”

“…the love a natural mother feels for her children. That’s the strongest love there is in this world, and it’s the deadliest. There’s no bitch on earth like a mother frightened for her kids.”

The Narrator(s)

Frances Sternhagen. She is absolutely perfect! Just perfect! I love her voice for this book.

My Thoughts

This was actually one of the first Stephen King books I bought but I wasn’t able to read it at the time because the format was difficult to get into and I ended up not finishing it. My original copy has long since been lost, but that’s okay as it turned out to be amazing to listen to on audiobook! The narrator is just so perfect, I cannot express just how amazing it was to listen to her, and I was so pulled into the story.

I watched the movie just last year, and of course, I love Kathy Bates in it and now that I’ve read the book, I think the movie was very faithfully and well done, but I have to say it; the book is better! Having Dolores pretty much narrating her whole life story in an interview format may or may not have worked for me when I tried to read it as a teenager, but listening to it on audio made it feel so much like she was talking to me personally. I love seeing the person Dolores is, as a mother, as a caregiver, as a woman just trying to do the best she can for the people she cares about. How many favorite Stephen King books can a reader have? Because this has become another one of my favorites!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Christine by Stephen King

Posted December 14, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Christine by Stephen King

Stephen King’s ultimate, evil vehicle of terror, Christine: the frightening story of a nerdy teenager who falls in love with his vintage Plymouth Fury. It was love at first sight, but this car is no lady.

Evil is alive in Libertyville. It inhabits a custom-painted red and white 1958 Plymouth Fury named Christine and young Arnold Cunningham, who buys it.

Along with Arnold’s girlfriend, Leigh Cabot, Dennis Guilder attempts to find out the real truth behind Christine and finds more than he bargained from murder to suicide, there’s a peculiar feeling that surrounds Christine—she gets revenge on anyone standing in her path.

Can Dennis save Arnold from the wrath of Christine? This #1 national bestseller is “Vintage Stephen King…breathtaking…awesome. Carries such momentum the reader must force himself to slow down”

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

For the The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge and my online bookclub was having a Stephen King buddy read extravaganza during Halloween season!

The Quotes

“Has it ever occurred to you,” he said abruptly, “that parents are nothing but overgrown kids until their children drag them into adulthood? Usually kicking and screaming?”

“If being a kid is about learning how to live, then being a grown-up is about learning how to die.”

“I once heard about some millionaire who had a stolen Rembrandt in his basement where no one but him could see it. I could understand that guy. I don’t mean that Arnie was a Rembrandt, or even a world-class wit, but I could understand the attraction of knowing about something good … something that was good but still a secret.”

“I don’t believe in curses, you know. Nor in ghosts or anything precisely supernatural. But I do believe that emotions and events have a certain…lingering resonance.”

The Narrator(s)

Holter Graham. I loved it!

My Thoughts

I watched the movie for the first time earlier this year and I thought I really should read the book too, because it’s the one Stephen King book that my husband read that I hadn’t yet, and he’d been singing its praises. I’m glad I finally did because I really liked the story and yes, it’s definitely much better than the movie! There was a lot of nuance with the characters and their relationships, and their backstories too, that I wasn’t expecting and didn’t get with the movie. The relationships between Arnie’s parents and himself was especially interesting, and I love how King really gets in there with the complexity of parent-child relationships.

I had put off reading this book because I wasn’t particularly interested in cars and there were so many other King books I wanted to read first, but now that I’ve read it I feel like a fool for putting it off so long. I think this may be one of my top Stephen King books now!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | The Running Man by Stephen King

Posted December 14, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

The Running Man by Stephen King

In the year 2025, the best men don’t run for president, they run for their lives…

Ben Richards is out of work and out of luck. His eighteen-month-old daughter is sick, and neither Ben nor his wife can afford to take her to a doctor. For a man from the poor side of town with no cash and no hope, there’s only one thing to do: become a contestant on one of the Network’s Games, shows where you can win more money than you’ve ever dreamed of—or die trying. Now Ben’s going prime-time on the Network’s highest-rated viewer participation show. And he’s about to become a prey for the masses…

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

For the The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge and my online bookclub was having a Stephen King buddy read extravaganza during Halloween season!

The Quotes

“In the year 2025, the best men don’t run for president, they run for their lives. . . .”

“He understood well enough how a man with a choice between pride and responsibility will almost always choose pride–if responsibility robs him of his manhood.”

“…like words repeated until they are reduced to nonsense. Say your name over two hundred times and discover you are no one.”

My Thoughts

It’s so funny that my previous reviews were for a 5-star King book, singing his praises as a writer, and now I’m only giving 3 stars to another King book! It wasn’t a bad story, and in fact, I love the premise, but the execution left me a little disappointed. It may also be unfair because I grew up watching a lot of Schwarzenegger movies and The Running Man was one of my favorites, and although I knew the movie didn’t follow the book closely at all, I was hoping for the same thrill, and I don’t feel like I got it.

This book is also horribly dated, having been written in 1982, and a lot of King’s imagined ideas for what 2025 would look like falls comically short. Not his fault, and probably not an issue when it first came out, but it does take away a little from my enjoyment of reading this book for the first time in this day and age. I’m expecting the new movie coming out to be updated from when the old movie was released, and in a way, I wish there would be an updated version of this book too, but I recognize this is a me problem and not the book problem.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Duma Key by Stephen King

Posted December 14, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Duma Key by Stephen King

NO MORE THAN A DARK PENCIL LINE ON A BLANK PAGE. A HORIZON LINE, MAYBE, BUT ALSO A SLOT FOR BLACKNESS TO POUR THROUGH . . .

A terrible construction site accident takes Edgar Freemantle’s right arm and scrambles his memory and his mind, leaving him with little but rage as he begins the ordeal of rehabilitation. A marriage that produced two lovely daughters suddenly ends, and Edgar begins to wish he hadn’t survived the injuries that could have killed him. He wants out. His psychologist, Dr. Kamen, suggests a “geographic cure,” a new life distant from the Twin Cities and the building business Edgar grew from scratch. And Kamen suggests something else.

“Edgar does anything make you happy?”

“I used to sketch.”

“Take it up again. You need hedges . . .

hedges against the night.”

Edgar leaves Minnesota for a rented house on Duma Key, a stunningly beautiful, eerily undeveloped splinter of the Florida coast. The sun setting into the Gulf of Mexico and the tidal rattling of shells on the beach call out to him, and Edgar draws. A visit from Ilse, the daughter he dotes on, starts his movement out of solitude. He meets a kindred spirit in Wireman, a man reluctant to reveal his own wounds, and then Elizabeth Eastlake, a sick old woman whose roots are tangled deep in Duma Key. Now Edgar paints, sometimes feverishly, his exploding talent both a wonder and a weapon. Many of his paintings have a power that cannot be controlled. When Elizabeth’s past unfolds and the ghosts of her childhood begin to appear, the damage of which they are capable is truly devastating.

The tenacity of love, the perils of creativity, the mysteries of memory and the nature of the supernatural–Stephen King gives us a novel as fascinating as it is gripping and terrifying.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

For the The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge and my online bookclub was having a Stephen King buddy read extravaganza during Halloween season!

The Quotes

“If I kept saying it; if I kept reaching out. My accident really taught me just one thing: the only way to go on is to go on. To say ‘I can do this’ even when you know you can’t.”

“A person’s memory is everything, really. Memory is identity. It’s you.”

“The only religions I don’t like are the ones that insist their God is bigger than your God.”

“Stay hungry. It worked for Michelangelo, it worked for Picasso, and it works for a hundred thousand artists who do it not for love (although that might play a part) but in order to put food on the table. If you want to translate the world, you need to use your appetites. Does this surprise you? It shouldn’t. There’s no creation without talent, I give you that, but talent is cheap. Talent goes begging. Hunger is the piston of art.”

The Narrator(s)

John Slattery. I was completely immersed and I enjoyed it very much!

My Thoughts

This is also a reread. I don’t remember anything about it except that I loved it, because although I rated it 5 stars when I first read it, I didn’t leave a review. Having read it again this time, I can totally see why I loved it the first time, and why I’m quite sure I’ll still love it when I read it again in the future.

It is such an all encompassing book for me; it evokes so many emotions, makes me feel so much, all the ups and downs. It grabbed my attention from the beginning, even though it started slow and almost felt like an easy vacation read, and then it got really intense and I couldn’t put it down. I fell in love with all the characters, but that’s no surprise because King’s characters are always so well-written.

I loved Edgar’s and Wireman’s bromance, the way they trusted each other and related to each other even from the beginning. I love the way we see Edgar’s progress from the start of the story; his struggles, his recovery, his thought processes… I love how I fell for Ilse and other people in Edgar’s life, simply through the way Edgar thinks about them. How can I not love King’s books when he gives me everything? The story is always exciting, the characters are always interesting, and all the different types of emotions are always spilling out of me! Ugh, so good!

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Carrie by Stephen King

Posted December 14, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Carrie by Stephen King

Carrie may be picked on by her classmates but she has a gift. She can move things with her mind. Doors lock. Candles fall. This is her power and her problem.

To be invited to Prom Night by Tommy Ross is a dream come true for Carrie — the first step towards social acceptance by her high school colleagues. Until an unexpected cruelty turns her gift into a weapon of terror and destruction that no one will ever forget.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

For the The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge and my online bookclub was having a Stephen King buddy read extravaganza during Halloween season!

The Quotes

“People don’t get better, they just get smarter. When you get smarter you don’t stop pulling the wings off flies, you just think of better reasons for doing it.”

“High school isn’t a very important place. When you’re going you think it’s a big deal, but when it’s over nobody really thinks it was great unless they’re beered up.”

“Nobody was really surprised when it happened, not really, not on the subconscious level where savage things grow.”

“This is the girl they keep calling a monster. I want you to keep that firmly in mind. The girl who could be satisfied with a hamburger and a dime root beer after her only school dance so her momma wouldn’t be worried . . .”

The Narrator(s)

Sissy Spacek, and Margaret Atwood. I can’t think of better narrators for this book. Love them!

My Thoughts

This is a reread, and although it isn’t one of my favorite Stephen King books, I find that I like it more this time around and appreciate it for the story it is. Carrie is such a fascinating character; she’s not really the bad guy here and yet, she caused hundreds of deaths and a whole town’s destruction. Stephen King has always been the master of writing about regular people who are monsters, and it’s interesting when you realize he’s been doing this since the beginning.

Carrie isn’t the monster here, she’s just a scared little girl pushed to the brink of what she could handle emotionally. Her mother, her school bullies, they are the true monsters. I also read this right after reading Frankenstein and I thought it was interesting with the whole “who’s the real monster” theme. There are some real parallels here that I’m not sure I would’ve realized if I hadn’t read them back to back, especially with some of what I said in my Frankenstein review about bad parenting. I also mentioned about how it was great that Frankenstein was focused more on the father as the parent, while here, we see the mother being the focus of bad parenting.

Maybe I liked this book more this time around precisely because I read Frankenstein right before, but honestly, I find myself noticing a lot more this time too about the rest of the characters in the story, the way they behave, their thoughts processes, and I’m amazed once again by Stephen King’s character study. This is why I love his books.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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Book Review | Revival by Stephen King

Posted August 7, 2025 by Haze in Book Reviews / 0 Comments

Revival by Stephen King

A dark and electrifying novel about addiction, fanaticism, and what might exist on the other side of life.

In a small New England town, over half a century ago, a shadow falls over a small boy playing with his toy soldiers. Jamie Morton looks up to see a striking man, the new minister. Charles Jacobs, along with his beautiful wife, will transform the local church. The men and boys are all a bit in love with Mrs. Jacobs; the women and girls feel the same about Reverend Jacobs—including Jamie’s mother and beloved sister, Claire. With Jamie, the Reverend shares a deeper bond based on a secret obsession. When tragedy strikes the Jacobs family, this charismatic preacher curses God, mocks all religious belief, and is banished from the shocked town.

Jamie has demons of his own. Wed to his guitar from the age of thirteen, he plays in bands across the country, living the nomadic lifestyle of bar-band rock and roll while fleeing from his family’s horrific loss. In his mid-thirties—addicted to heroin, stranded, desperate—Jamie meets Charles Jacobs again, with profound consequences for both men. Their bond becomes a pact beyond even the Devil’s devising, and Jamie discovers that revival has many meanings.

This rich and disturbing novel spans five decades on its way to the most terrifying conclusion Stephen King has ever written. It’s a masterpiece from King, in the great American tradition of Frank Norris, Nathaniel Hawthorne, and Edgar Allan Poe.

For the Reading Challenge(s):
2025 52 Book Club Reading Challenge (Prompt #28: A crossover (Set in a shared universe))
The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge

The Reason

For the The Stephen King Constant Reader Challenge and because I’ve heard amazing things about this one in particular.

The Quotes

“That’s how you know you’re home, I think, no matter how far you’ve gone from it or how long you’ve been in some other place. Home is where they want you to stay longer.”

“People say that where there’s life, there’s hope, and I have no quarrel with that, but I also believe the reverse. There is hope, therefore I live.”

“Religion is the theological equivalent of a quick-buck insurance scam, where you pay in your premium year after year, and then, when you need the benefits you paid for so—pardon the pun—so religiously, you discover the company that took your money does not, in fact, exist.”

“This is how we bring about our own damnation, you know-by ignoring the voice that begs us to stop. To stop while there’s still time.”

The Narrator(s)

David Morse. It was perfectly fine and I enjoyed it very much.

My Thoughts

I liked it very much but I’d hope to like it more. I’d heard so many people hype it up so maybe I went in with overly high expectations. The story itself was really good but not what I expected. I thought it was going to be some kind of church horror in the vein of the movie Midnight Mass, but it wasn’t. Which is completely fine, I like where the story went too!

It was very slow burn, taking fifty years to come to fruition, and it was very interesting to see the characters develop over that time; the way they grow up and grow old, the way their beliefs and values evolve, everything they do to bring them where they end up. I’ve said it before that one of the reasons I love SK’s books so much is because he’s so good at character study. This book was amazing for that, and it’s still one I really enjoyed reading, even if I don’t love it as much as SK’s other books.

My Rating

⭐⭐⭐⭐/5 stars.

Have you read this book? Would you read this book? Did you like the book or do you think you would like it?

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