Stephen ~ still King, or merely a Princeling?

[dm383]

Just finished 'Lisey's Story', and a few months ago, 'Cell'.

Now, don't get me wrong here:- as stand-alone books by one of my favourite writers ever, they were good. Well written, a bit scary at times, good characterisation.... ALL the things, in short, one would expect from him.

But..............


...Cell..... an updated and shortened version of 'The Stand', surely? And Lisey's story itself - an amalgam of 'The Dark Half' and 'The Talisman' (a fantasy book co-written with Peter Straub), no?

OK, what does anyone else think?

DM

[Lilith]

I haven't read any of them! I checked Lisey's Story out of the library twice but it is so damn slow. I have a Straub book STO sent me but it is not Tallisman. It is Hellfire Club.

[LixyChick]

Haven't read either but I'm disappointed to hear the synopsis[s]!

I was afeared King would "burn out" beings he trips one off after the other...seemingly!

Ya think he should sit back, relax, bask in his previous glory and revamp?

I do!

It ain't like he needs the money. Calm down Stevo!

[scotzoidman]

Haven't read any of King's stuff in years, but back in the day, even while I enjoyed almost all his works (I gave up many a good night's rest to eagerly devour them), I saw early on that he was something of a hack...a very good hack, but nonetheless, I'm not surprised that it may be catching up to him finally...

I say cut him some slack, he's been making people wanna crawl out of their skin so long, it can't be easy to not repeat himself (I still shudder at Jack chewing Excedrin tablets in "The Shining" :eew: )

[Aqua]

I enjoyed both a great deal, although it is not quite the King style of old.

I agree that Cell shares the same theme of The Stand, which is to civilization as we know it has come to an end. I don't see it as being any more similar than that though. I didn't care much for the ending, but other than that, I liked it.

Hmmmm, Dark Half + The Talisman = Lisey's Story? Yeah, that's pretty close now that you mention it. It's nothing you could directly relate straight across the board, but I do think it is near enough to call it so. Still, I really liked it, although I admit I could be a little biased toward that one since I have an autographed copy. :D

Oh, and Lixy... To hear Mr. King tell it, writing is in his blood. He'll stop writing when his heart stops beating. :p

[dm383]

I enjoyed both a great deal, although it is not quite the King style of old.

I agree that Cell shares the same theme of The Stand, which is to civilization as we know it has come to an end. I don't see it as being any more similar than that though. I didn't care much for the ending, but other than that, I liked it.

Hmmmm, Dark Half + The Talisman = Lisey's Story? Yeah, that's pretty close now that you mention it. It's nothing you could directly relate straight across the board, but I do think it is near enough to call it so. Still, I really liked it, although I admit I could be a little biased toward that one since I have an autographed copy. :D

Oh, and Lixy... To hear Mr. King tell it, writing is in his blood. He'll stop writing when his heart stops beating. :p

Oh, don't get me wrong Aqua - I did enjoy them, so I guess it was feelings of deja vu with both.

Cell vs. Stand : Raggedy Man vs. Randall Flagg, two distinct "camps", long journey to. the end? Like you, I didn't care too much for the ending either.

Lisey's Story : I agree, no direct correlations, but I still feel there are rather a lot of similarites there.


Autographed copy, huh? :curse: :)


DM

[Aqua]

I see you looking it over wyndhy... go ahead and post.

You know you wanna! :p

[wyndhy]

king's a good grab-you-by-the-shorthairs writer but i think pretty much all his endings suck. :p that said, i've read practically everything he's written, and will read anything he writes in the future.

i read blaze (written as bachman) just recently and loved that one, too.

[wyndhy]

:p...i was interrupted by hungry children demanding snack. vultures

[wyndhy]

also... in re to the similarities. i am not surprised or disappointed. kings weaves tales that intertwine all the time. when i go back and re-read a tale, i find hints about other stories that i missed the first time around. he also has created his own sort of universe(s), so for stories to cross, mimic or echo other tales just (for me) makes sense.

[FallenAngel5]

I read Cell when it came out and thought that it was a good addition to King's works. I also agree with wyndhy that all of his stories are intertwined, all part of a larger King universe. He alludes to - sometimes not-so-subtly - this fact in the Dark Tower. All of the stories work as standalone, but put them all together and you get something much more magnificent.

That being said, I'm in the same case as Lil as to Lisey's Story. I got it when it first came out, but I just couldn't get into it. Maybe I'll try again soon.