Book Review: The Stand by Stephen King

Minimum Spoiler Review

There is only one way I could describe this book: the best post-apocalyptic zombie novel — without the zombies. I stumbled upon this masterpiece of a horror-thriller while searching for novels related to the zombie apocalypse. However, don't go on reading waiting for the undead to show up, they won't (in this novel, they might in the real world).

Regardless, this is one good story. The plot begins before the apocalypse and continues on for long afterwards. Stephen King, the author known for 'The Shining' and 'It', brings his reader into the tale through relatable topics such as shopping for food, crime occurrences, medicine management and burying dead relatives. 14 protagonists are present (Yes. You read that correctly - 14!), and the story is told through their points of view. Moreover, there is almost the same number of antagonists. And each of these main characters are unique. There is a law abiding deaf person, a killer robber, a man who narrowly escaped being a lab test-subject, a washed-up musician, a man who likes to burn things up, and a bad guy who can straight up control matter, levitate and change his appearance.
The multiple points of view system makes the story more engrossing.

One issue that can be immediately noticed with this type of story telling is that it might get too confusing. This is true. However, slow reading and careful understanding while going through this book's 823 pages should negate this issue.

If that doesn't work, I found a simple method to keep track of the story. For each of the 14+ characters that is introduced, assign a famous personality or movie actor. e.g., Larry = Mads Mikkelsen, Fran = Chloe Moretz. This should help in the visualisation of each character. Also, we can keep track of which person is where at what point of the story. Oh! And these characters will travel across many of the 52 states in the United States of America. So, it will be an expository book as well with different obstacles in each state.

The main conflict in the story stems from a disease pandemic. "Captain Tripps" is the name given to the devastating disease that causes sickness wiping out most of the human race. The main characters only survive because they have an innate immunity to the disease. However, simply surviving is not enough as there exists another evil... slowly emerging from the other side of the country.

I did a Google search for the opinions of other readers and their reviews. I did the search because I was interested in reading books related to this topic. One particular result caught my eye; in the image below:

Peaceful Sparta is a fan of horror (as long as it is not too scary).