any advice on Stephen King novels?

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2004-03-08 02:30pm

Im currenly reading the Dreamcatcher, and im also getting the Dark Tower series boxset very soon.

Which of his books are the best for the Horror?and for Fantasy?

Thanks in advance for suggestions

Post by **haas mark** » 2004-03-08 02:35pm

The Dark Tower
It
Cujo
Misery
Insomnia
The Shining
Four Past Midnight
The Castle Rock series (I don't know which book it starts with, but it ends with Needful Things.)

< King enthusiast.

My personal favourite out of those is Insomnia. I haven't read past the first book in The Dark Tower series yet.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2004-03-08 02:41pm

)Execllent list

Ive only just started on some King stuff because i was terrible bored of reading my Discowrld books... again.

(its always handy to have a mother who works at a big libary and gets books for abosoloutly yonks and, where i can nick all the King books that it contains IE, a bloody lot

Enforcer Talen · Post by **Enforcer Talen** » 2004-03-08 02:46pm

stand and dark tower are my favs.

Dartzap · Post by **Dartzap** » 2004-03-08 02:50pm

Hmm, the Dark Tower series seems to have a lot of fans

Post by **haas mark** » 2004-03-08 02:59pm

antitrek wrote:Hmm, the Dark Tower series seems to have a lot of fans

With good reason.

Rye · Post by **Rye** » 2004-03-08 03:00pm

The Stand is one of my favourite books ever. Get that forthwith, if not sooner.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-03-08 04:40pm

I liked Firestarter (much, much better than the crappy movie) and Salem's Lot isn't bad.

Eyes of the Dragon was okay but it's mostly a drama/mystery with a smidgen of fantasy so don't expect a horror novel or a lot of fantasy.

Personally, I like his short stories better than his novels. In that regard Night Shift is excellent. You might find that you've seen movie or tv versions of a lot of the stories in that book.

theski · Post by **theski** » 2004-03-08 04:41pm

THE STAND by far his best work..... followed by the short novel... The Mist.... IMHO

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-03-08 04:43pm

If you want something short Cycle of the Werewolf is pretty cool. I think there's even a version available that comes with the script to Silver Bullet if you're in to that kind of thing.

Post by **haas mark** » 2004-03-08 05:00pm

Ooo.. Mustn't forget Carrie!

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-03-08 05:04pm

I never read the books to Pet Cemetary and Christine but the movies for both were good so I'd imagine the books were too.

Embracer Of Darkness · Post by **Embracer Of Darkness** » 2004-03-08 05:07pm

My advice: Forget it, and pick up some Dean Koontz books.

Post by **haas mark** » 2004-03-08 05:08pm

Tsyroc wrote:I never read the books to Pet Semetary and Christine but the movies for both were good so I'd imagine the books were too.

Pet Semetary was truly outstanding, IMO. I loved it. Insomnia is kind of along those lines, sort of.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-03-08 05:18pm

verilon wrote:
Tsyroc wrote:I never read the books to Pet Semetary and Christine but the movies for both were good so I'd imagine the books were too.
Pet Semetary was truly outstanding, IMO. I loved it. Insomnia is kind of along those lines, sort of.

FYI. I spelled Pet Cemetary wrong in my earlier post.

Post by **haas mark** » 2004-03-08 05:22pm

Tsyroc wrote:
verilon wrote:
Tsyroc wrote:I never read the books to Pet Semetary and Christine but the movies for both were good so I'd imagine the books were too.
Pet Semetary was truly outstanding, IMO. I loved it. Insomnia is kind of along those lines, sort of.

FYI. I spelled Pet Cemetary wrong in my earlier post.

Actually, King spells it with an 'S' for the book.

Ad for Dean Koontz.. Koontz is good, too. But get through King first.

Save the best for last.

Jawawithagun · Post by **Jawawithagun** » 2004-03-08 06:21pm

Personally, I couldn't stand The Stand

RedImperator · Post by **RedImperator** » 2004-03-08 06:41pm

Christine is my personal favorite, followed by The Shining, Carrie, and The Stand.

otter · Post by **otter** » 2004-03-08 07:30pm

I like his short story collections:

-Different Seasons

-Four Past Midnight

-Skeleton Crew

-Night Shift (The Lawnmower Man is NOTHING close to the movie!)

-Nightmares and dreamscapes

Wasn't to fond of his last short story collection, for the life of me I can't remember the title of that one?

Andrew J. · Post by **Andrew J.** » 2004-03-08 09:20pm

Salem's Lot is pretty cool, and Carrie serves as a nice introduction to the nonlinear story structure King likes to use so much. Firestarter, Cujo, It, and his later novels in general take their sweet time building up to events, so if you're not patient you might want to skip them.

Vertigo1 · Post by **Vertigo1** » 2004-03-08 10:53pm

The Langoliers.

Johonebesus · Post by **Johonebesus** » 2004-03-09 06:39am

I would avoid his more recent works. Insomnia, Desperation, and Green Mile were alright, but his best works were the early ones, like Carrie and 'Salem's Lot. In my opinion, Tommyknockers and Dreamcatcher were mediocre at best. He just doesn't seem to write as well as he used to.

As for Koontz, the first one or two you read will seem pretty good, but after a while you will realize that he has one basic plot that he does over and over. 90% of his novels involve a couple of folks, usually a man and a women, stumbling onto some secret government or corporate or magical plot and then running away from the bad guys who come after them while trying to solve some mystery or supernatural phenomenon. He has written a great many variations of this theme, and a few times he has done something different, but most of his career has been re-writing Firestarter over and over.

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2004-03-09 07:43am

Stephen King is tying a lot of his earlier work into the Dark Tower series. If you can, read his works in chronological order, leaving the Dark Tower series last.

BoredShirtless · Post by **BoredShirtless** » 2004-03-09 07:50am

antitrek wrote:Im currenly reading the Dreamcatcher, and im also getting the Dark Tower series boxset very soon.

You won't be disappointed. DT: Drawing of the Three is exceptional.

Which of his books are the best for the Horror?

All of them. I suggest going to epinions or amazon for reviews of his book.

and for Fantasy?

That's easy; the Dark Tower series.

Lord Pounder · Post by **Lord Pounder** » 2004-03-09 08:58am

Thinner is one of Kings best and greatly underestimated IMHO.

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

any advice on Stephen King novels?

any advice on Stephen King novels?

Re: any advice on Stephen King novels?