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The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower I) by Stephen King

 in Adult / Adventure / Book Reviews / Books / Books-to-Movie / Creative / Fantasy / Fiction / Interesting / Series / Young Adult by

gunslingerSummary

““An impressive work of mythic magnitude that may turn out to be Stephen King’s greatest literary achievement” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), The Gunslinger is the first volume in the epic Dark Tower Series.

A #1 national bestseller, The Gunslinger introduces readers to one of Stephen King’s most powerful creations, Roland of Gilead: The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which mirrors our own in frightening ways, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake.

Inspired in part by the Robert Browning narrative poem, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” The Gunslinger is “a compelling whirlpool of a story that draws one irretrievable to its center” (Milwaukee Sentinel). It is “brilliant and fresh…and will leave you panting for more” (Booklist).”

-From Amazon.com

Review

Well this was certainly an interesting Stephen King book and nothing like I expected. At all. His writing was quite unique in it and unlike any of his others book which I wasn’t prepared for. It has moments that the dialogue and the writing style is definitely quite difficult to follow because it’s set, I guess you could call it, in a post-apocalyptic world and there aren’t many people around and such. I got the feeling, when reading this book, of the old wild west movies were there is sand everywhere and the few buildings which are around are just made of wood and are dilapidated. Then you have the people and they’re either alive or like these demon kind of things. I would go so far to say that they are zombies because some of the people had died but they somehow came back to life again.

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I will state blatantly that after finishing this book, I am still confused on many aspects on it. Such as the man in black. I wasn’t sure if he had magical powers or if he was just a normal man but just knew more than others and was good at messing with people. But then there was this other side character in the beginning who supposedly was dead but then was alive again. So I was not sure if there was a sickness which brought people back from the dead or if someone brought people back from the dead. I mean, I was totally lost in that aspect, but I’m sure that it will be all cleared up as the series continues. And I will be reading the others because The Gunslinger movie will be coming out soon and I want it to all make sense. After reading this book, I can understand why everyone is excited for the movie to come out because if it is done well (which I pray to God that it is), it will be really good!

Now, for the characters, it was quite interesting in how it was all done. I usually get attached to characters or am able to connect to them and understand where their decisions come from, but in this book you aren’t able to do that. You just don’t have enough time to connect with the characters or have enough information to do such a thing as well. It’s interesting. It keeps you on the fringes. Which is kind of useful as well because then you don’t get too attached to the characters, but it also is frustrating because you never know what a character will do. Their decisions and their attitude keep changing depending on the situation, and also how they are in that particular instance, and so you can never predict how someone will react in a particular moment. An example was I thought when the Gunslinger met the Man in Black, he was going to kill him or something was going to go down. But what happened definitely wasn’t expected.

Then there is the whole mission which the Gunslinger has of finding The Tower which was kind of like what? I can’t reveal anything but what the Tower is explained to be towards the end of the book had me sitting there like “mind-blown”. There was a whole life conversation and it hurt my brain but was so accurate and incredibly well written, so kudos to Mr. King for his writing and logic process.

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Overall, I honestly can’t say that I enjoyed it because it took a lot of effort to even understand what the purpose of the story was. But I am definitely intrigued and had more of a like of the book in the last section of it. Even though I didn’t love the book I will be reading on because I want to know what happens and I want to find out more. Which is a good job on King because it’s rare that you can have someone not love the book but still want to read more of the series just because of the story line and such.

I do recommend reading it as this is one of those books that I cannot say to avoid or not because the writing style is so different, and so is the story, that I can’t predict how anyone will react to it. So I do suggest checking it out and letting me know what you think about the story and such.

And I will be seeing the movie because I love books to movies. I just hope that it will be good!!!

But the cast looks fantastic. I mean come on! Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey?! What’s better! But Idris will be the Gunsligner which wasn’t expected because I see McConaughey more as the Gunslinger now after reading the book, but I think the actor choice will grow on me!

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Happy Reading!!!

The Mist by Stephen King

 in Book Reviews / Books by

Summary

After the summer storm the mist arrives.

But it’s no ordinary mist.

Things are in there…creatures that want blood.

In this terror filled short story, Stephen King writes about a bunch of people stuck in a supermarket with nowhere to go, a store with the front covered by plate-glass, and a crazy religious lady.

What is in the mist?

Where did it come from?

Who will survive?

Will anyone?

Review

Scary. This was a terrifying short story as you really got close to the characters and you really started to feel what they were feeling. I got scared and had to put it down quite a few times to take a break. Also this is not a good things to read just before you go to sleep (I learnt the hard way.)

Even though it is scary, it is still an amazing read. I absolutely loved it and I would definitely recommend it.

I cannot really say too much about it due to the fact it is so short. But I can say that the creatures are really terrifying, there is a lot of blood and gore talked about (all of which seems realistic), and there is a lot of swearing. But I think this all added to the effect of the book.

I definitely loved it but would recommend this book for people over the age of 15/16 due to the bad language and terror.

But please do check this out. You may find this book in Skeleton Crew which is a collection of his short stories. So if you cannot find this story alone, look for Skeleton Crew and it should be the first story.

Read this book, but next time, think again when you see that shadow in the mist. It may just be coming to get you.

the mist cover

wikimedia.org

Joyland by Stephen King

 in Book Reviews / Books by

HOT OFF THE PRESS REVIEW!!!!!!!!!!

Summary

Set in a small-town North Carolina amusement park in 1973, Joyland tells the story of the summer in which college student Devin Jones comes to work as a carny and confronts the legacy of a vicious murder, the fate of a dying child, and the ways both will change his life forever.

Review

This was a really good and moving book! Like none of Steven King’s other novels.

I have read quite a few of his novels before like Misery, Carrie, and his short story, The Mist. This was absolutely nothing like then. It did not really have many hair-raising moments like there were in The Mist, as many stomach churning moments as in Misery, and as many strange moments as in Carrie. This was completely different and stands on its own.

I will say this now that it is a book for more mature readers (as in older teens and adults) as there is sexual content, explicit language, and some violence.

This book is about this college student, Devin, who wants to have a summer job and goes to work at Joyland, a local amusement park. It starts out great, as the best summer, but later his girlfriend, his first love, breaks up with him and he becomes depressed but with the help of the people at this amusement park, he get’s over it, partially. But then there is the story of the murder which really does not come into play until later in the novel. People have supposedly seen the ghost of the murdered girl on the horror ride and toward the end of the novel you learn more about the killer and eventually find out who he is. The end of the novel read more like a CSI episode with the analyzing of the pictures and information.

To be honest, I was kind of disappointed in the book. Since Steven King is known to be more of a horror writer, I was expecting some more hair-raising moments. Moments that would not let me sleep at night, like in The Mist. Unfortunately there really were none of those moments. Do not get me wrong. This was a fabulous book and if I didn’t know anything about Steven King, I would have loved it (even thought I still do), but since I was expecting more horror, I was kind of disappointed.

The characters in the novel were really developed well though. You got to see the many sides of Devin and got to see that he was depressed after the break-up. You also got to see how his character changed throughout the course of the novel. Then there was the little boy who you really got attached too and cried over later in the novel. You also got close to the murder and many of the other characters. You got to see how they felt and how they reacted to different situations which was really nice.

I also really liked how King developed and created the scenes, places, and atmosphere. You really felt like you were in a places where events happened and like you were in an old amusement park with the classic rides and the type of people that worked there. I was a little confused sometimes with the carny language because it was so different, but it wasn’t used that much and if it was it would be used for the same ride over and over and you would get what it was talking about.

I loved the cover of the novel. It carried on the carny theme. I was and am a little unsure as to who the woman is on the cover, but non the less, the cover still gives the old carny feel to the novel. I believe that the girl is supposed one of the girls that worked at the carnival and takes the pictures, but I am not sure if she is one of the characters in the novel. It also has those vibrant colors which are not natural colors, which really add to the effect of the cover.

Also on a side note, there were quite a lot of time jumps between present and when the story was told. It was a little confusing sometimes but it was an interesting effect.

Overall it was a very good novel, but if you are looking for more of a classic Steven King, one that makes your hair stand on end, this really isn’t the one you would be looking for. I still recommend that you read it because it was still an amazing novel and I think that most people would enjoy it. It is hot off the press since it only came out on June 4th of 2013. So go and pick it up at your local library or you will probably find it on display in the front of your local bookstore.

Misery by Stephen King

 in Book Reviews / Books by
Misery (novel)

Image via Wikipedia

Summary

Paul Sheldon is the famous writer of the books Misery. But in the last book he killed her off. Unfortunately he had a bad accident and Annie Wilkes has rescued him. Unfortunately for him Annie Wilkes is his #1 fan. She will do any thing to get him to write her a book. A book dedicated and written to her. There are 2 things that make him write. One is a needle. Another is an ax. And if they don’t work as motivation, she can get really nasty.

Review

This was one of the scariest books I have ever read. It is also the most gruesome book I have ever read. The book was ok until about page 270. Then it got gruesome and there was a lot of blood. I wanted to read this book because I did not like R.L. Stine and I am reading Edgar Allen Poe at school so I wanted something in between. So I choose Stephen King. My mom said no to a lot of the books but she said OK (hesitantly) to this book. This is not a younger YA book at all. I would say no one should read this unless they are over the age of 18. This is definitely an ADULT book. Extremely scary and gruesome.

The characters in Misery were described really well. Annie was portrayed as a person with problems and I do not mean like something that makes you different from others. She looks the same (or is described to look normal) but her personality changes constantly. One minute she might be happy the next she might want to kill you. Then there was Paul Sheldon. He had an accident and could not move his legs because they had been completely shattered. He was described as a person who was fragile on the outside but inside he had some courage, no matter how small and insignificant it was. He was trying his hardest to survive his time with Annie Wilkes, but the whole time he was being kept prisoner with her, he was planning a way to escape. Towards the end of the book there was a considerable struggle between him and her. This showed that he was gaining his courage back. But every time that Annie lost her temper, Paul would feel really scared, and he should be considering the things she could do and did.

This book was written really well in my opinion. It was descriptive and it sucked you in. It sucked me in so much that when it got to the gruesome bit I jumped and started breathing heavily. My mom got worried by I told her it was just the book.

I think much older teen should read this book and I think they would probably enjoy it. Also it might be a book for males because of the violence. It seems boys get drawn towards that stuff. It is a definite read but beware about what I told you.

Hacking Timbuktu by Stephen Davies

 in Book Reviews / Books / Hot Off The Press / Young Adult by

Hacking Timbuktu by Stephen Davies

MLCWO Rating: 4/5 

Opinion: A fast paced witty book about teens and their impressive hacking ability.

Summary

“Danny is a freelance IT specialist—that is, a hacker. He and his pal Omar are both skilled at parkour, or freerunning, a discipline designed to enable practitioners to travel between any two points regardless of obstacles. This is fortunate, because they’re off on an adventure that’s filled with obstacles, from locked doors to gangs of hostile pursuers. Together they follow a cryptic clue, find a missing map, figure out how to get to Timbuktu without buying a plane ticket, and join the life-and-death treasure hunt, exchanging wisecracks and solving the puzzle one step at a time.An exotic setting and gripping suspense, as well as an absorbing introduction to parkour, make this thriller a genuine page-turner.”

-From Amazon.com

Review

This was quite a good book and was not confusing as you might think it would be because it is about hacking. It can always be a little 50/50 with these books – them being too technical or not technical enough and silly. But this one fit in the middle perfectly! This book kept you turning pages because you wanted to know what happened and I just couldn’t put it down. I mean, I read this book in under 6 hours because it was that exciting. It was full of stuff constantly happening, and it just made you want to read more.

My one complaint was that the characters in the book were not really described well because you never got a physical description of them. I don’t always mind that because I can make up my own image in my head but having a basic idea of who they are and what they’re like can be nice. It had a lot of humor in it as the two hackers were teenagers (16 and the other one was in the later teens) and they were going on at each other but it was usually funny. So this was a really great books and I strongly suggest that you check this book out. It is worth reading and I really think that a movie should be made of this. It would be a box office hit.

What is Parkour?

I am sure that there are quite a few people who do not know what parkour is (myself included) so I will tell you what it is. It is to use skills like jumping, running, climbing, swinging, vaulting, and wall scaling to get around different obstacles. In this book the boys could get off a 2 story building by using parkour becuase they used ledges around them and trees to drop the the ground. Here is a video of about parkour. This is part one of five of a Discovery Channel Documentary and part of it is in French but just watch because that is all you need to see to understand parkour.

Book Information:

Hardcover: 264 pages

ISBN-10: 0547390165

ISBN-13: 978-0547390161

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