Finished it yesterday. Spoiler I thought it was pretty meh. It felt rushed for a King novel. Virtually no side stories that build character development and the whole cloak and dagger purpose of what the Institute is to save the world ect is barely mentioned or explored. If this is going to be a duology or trilogy then Im more ok w this book. As it seems to be setting up other stuff. As a stand alone novel, it’s pretty lame.
Spoiler Now that I’ve finished, I definitely agree. King tends to really set the hook in me at the beginning of a lot of his novels since the accident, but then completely miss the landing at the conclusion. This one was a bit different. The ending didn’t fall completely flat on its face, but I also found myself losing decided interest more quickly. Last half of the book was a bit of a struggle. Like you said, I think this novel works a lot better if it is setting Luke up as a character who will appear in following novels. I really enjoyed the Mr. Mercedes trilogy, and I hope this is the beginning of something similar with Luke being the Hodges type character.
Anybody ever read Christine? One of the few older ones I haven't read. Have the hardcover on my shelf and might pick it up soon
Speaking of older books I read Misery for the first time about a month ago and holy fuck that book is a wild ride
Gotta be one of his best. I didn't read it in my teens when I read a lot of the older ones; read it within the past few years. Still thought it was awesome. The paperback version I read had a false second cover inside that was the cover of a romance novel with the male lead looking like a jacked Stephen King, haha
It's just constant suspense and the villain is one of the most terrifying people I've ever experienced in pop culture
Looks like King is continuing down the storyline and characters started in Mr. Mercedes... https://www.cbr.com/stephen-king-if-it-bleeds-first-look/
Just finished It. Why in the fuck is there a Spoiler child sex scene in the book? What the fuck did I just read?
I just finished reading it Monday and don't quite think I read a child sex scene. Read a little kid coming to sleep with older kids because he couldn't sleep, but no sex scenes. Also agree with what Truman said earlier about it should've spent more time building up what the institute's history was. That part felt like an afterthought and the book seemed like it's destined for an Amazon or Netflix release.
My wife and I listened to the audiobook together and got to that scene and just looked at each other like what in the everliving fuck are we listening to.
Just finished The Institute a few days ago. It was fine but nothing special. I do like a good underdog escaping from powerful assholes story so overall I'd say I enjoyed it.
Over past 5 weeks Read the institute the shining Rita Hayworth and Shawshank Redemption and listened to Dolores Claiborne on a road trip. Pet semaraty and outsider are in my shelf ready. Leaning to pet semaraty. What other books you guys recommend?
Listening to The Institute now. Not quite halfway, but as usual, King has gotten a grip on me, and I can't stop listening. I listened as I took my dog for a walk today. After the walk, I didn't want to stop listening, so I started to find other things to do around my place, like the dishes, cleaning, and other odds and ends. I'm sure I'll ultimately be disappointed with the ending, but the ride there -- as usual for King -- is fantastic (in a King sort of way).
I enjoyed it a lot. With that said... Spoiler Common complaint with King is he can’t end books. I think he didn’t have an issue with Revival, but that shit was DARK. I know it was jarring and turned off a lot of readers, but I was a fan, if anything, because it was so unexpected.
Honestly, that may be one of the reasons it was my favorite. I can't think of a book of his with a more appropriate ending (that I've read anyway).
Truman Finished yesterday Spoiler I loved the book. I agree about setting up more side stories, and the Institute "saving the world" was not explored nearly enough. The biggest thing that I felt he missed the mark on is explaining the "bad guys" a bit more. How are these people justifying institutionally torturing and murdering children beyond just saving the world. You don't have to cruelly torture them to get the same result, and they'd realize that, so I wish that had been explored more. Other than that, I really enjoyed the ride.
Had my worst year of reading in 2019 and really want to change that in 2020. Started The Outsider last night and knocked out 50+ pages pretty fast. Looking forward to diving back in.
Ugh read 150 pages on the airplane of Pet Sematary and really not enjoying it so far. Does it pick up ever?
I have to say something about Pet Sematary but want to use spoilers - how do I put the spoilers text ?
I dont think you need to worry about spoilers w a 30 year old book. But [ spoiler ] [ /spoiler ] take out the spaces.
Ok Thanks. so the part that really fucked with my head was when he buried his wife after the shit that happened with his son. The state of Lou’s mind King lets the reader believe is something I’ve never experienced book or movie. It’s truly beyond fucked up. I thought about throwing the book away last night too lol
I listened to it while in a public gym working out so my facial expressions had to be something to witness
Never cared for King. Picked up Desperation in the used shop and loved it. Since then, I've done Desperation: 9.5/10 Needful Things: 8/10 The Shining: 8.5/10 Regulators: 7/10 The Stand: 9/10 IT: 9/10
I was the same until we read 11/22/63 for book club. Now Im working my way through his stuff. Although none have been as good as 11/22/63. Still enjoy it.
I'm actually keeping away from that one because it was super hyped at the same time I read Under the Dome, which was also hyped, and I fucking hated Under the Dome
Kind of... I don't want to say more. They're not sequels, they're concurrent takes on the same people.