The Stand, Complete and Uncut ed.
by Stephen King

New American Library (New York): 1991. Paperback: 1135 pages. ISBN-10: 0-45-116953-0 Suggested retail price: $7.99 (US) Tags: biological warfare; made into movie; Science Fiction Tactical strength: [4/10]

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Most of the world dies when the US military accidently releases a nasty biological warfare germ. Those who survive have supernatural visions and follow one of two leaders: Mother Abigail, who leads those who follow the Christian God and congregate in Boulder, Colorado, and Randall Flagg, some kind of demon, whose followers congregate in Las Vegas. Mother Abigail's group does survive but not through any real effort of their own. Perhaps King meant to show that good people who exercise faith will triumph, but the deus ex machina ending left me totally unsatisfied.

I went a long time without reading any King. He does have good ideas for stories, but his writing style makes me want to throw his books across the room. I find King's tendency to characterize people through brand name recognition particularly annoying. Other than that, King made The Stand's story too long with a huge narrative distance between interesting events. As King steered the plot into an upward direction, I thought to myself, "OK, now this book will really start moving." But King would drop the action and return to a slow and meandering description that sloths wouldn't find exciting.

If King had written this revised and uncut version recently, I would have accused the publisher of just dumping King's word processing files to the typesetter -- the book had such a huge number of typos. But King wrote this in 1979, so I must accuse the publisher of sloppy typesetting. Of course, one must wonder why The Stand needed additional length? Or even to be told at all?

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