Cell: A Novel by Stephen King Summary and Reviews
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Book Reviews of Cell: A Novel
Book Review: A Thrilling, Albeit Flawed Read
Summary: 4 Stars
King finally tackles the zombie genre, and what a book it is. (Well technically the phoners aren't reanimated corpses but come on...a zombie is a zombie.)
A lot of people have compared this to the Stand, but there really is no comparision. I guess the most logical argument against this is that the Stand is an epic story about good versus evil whereas this one is more bleak and centered on the struggle to survive. Even the 'Randall Flagg' type character, when you get down to it, has nothing in common with the Walkin' Dude.
There are some really scary scenes early in the book, particularly when we don't know what is exactly going on. Its just complete, utter chaos. The main character, Clay meets two people on his journey; Alice, a teenage girl, and Tom, a gay man. I think this is the first time King truly tackled a homosexual character and he does a fine job with it breaking new ground in his work.
I think the book starts to flounder a bit when the 'rules' about the zombies are establshed and they start to 'evolve'. Although one could argue the book becomes more intelligent here, it also becomes a little less suspenseful.
Halfway through the book, a character is killed. This really spoiled the book for me, as this character was very interesting and the 'replacements' we meet after that aren't interesting at all. I really can't say anything else without spoiling it for you.
And it could have been more gory too. For a book that King compared to cheap whisky for being extremely nasty and having a splatterpunkish cover, its pretty light on the red stuff. IT, for example, was far more gruesome.
But overall this is a good book and harkens back to some of King's older work when he just wanted to scare the pants off you.
Book Review: A Waste Of Time
Summary: 1 Stars
I have read many Stephen King novels, and this is by far the worst. Why it is dedicated to George Romero, I don't know. There's no shooting, hardly any action, and really no reason the author gives to fear the so-called zombies. The characters have guns but don't shoot anything and are not even attacked by zombies. The beginning was interesting, but it only went downhill from there. If you are looking for a holdout against a bunch of zombies type book using survival skills, look elsewhere. And all of the telepathy and dream stuff was just plain stupid, like it was recycled from "The Stand".
What's even more disappointing is the lack of research by King:
* Revolvers don't have a safety.
* Highways in the US run North/South when they have an odd number and East/West when they have an even number. Looks dumb when you contradict this with highways that don't follow this formula.
* So called dum-dum bullets are not illegal in the United States and are not more, but less likely to blow up a propane tank than a normal FMJ bullet. Bullets that break apart and bullets that expand are actually preferred for defense. A bullet that does not do this is more likely to kill an innocent bystander and overpenetrate.
This was the kind of book that you get a thrid of the way through and wonder if it's worth finishing, unfortunately I chose to go on, by the time I really knew it was a dud I was too far in so I finished it. The last 2/3's of the book I was barely able to get through. I would describe the book as a lame duck!
Book Review: A bit pleased, partly disappointed.
Summary: 3 Stars
This book ended up leaving me a bit disappointed. I thought that it started out great - reminded me of "The Stand". (My favorite SK book.) Halfway through, I started to lose interest. (Around the time that they leave the Acadamy) I agree with one of the other reviewers who said that the characters seemed flat. I'm actually quite shocked at how little SK developed these characters into interesting personalities.
Towards the end, I felt that SK rushed to finish it. Things came together too easily, and with little explanation. I actually started to not care how it ended - I just wanted it to be over.
SK has written some fantastic books: The Stand, Misery, Bag of Bones, Gerald's Game, etc. I never get upset when one slips through that doesn't meet my expectations, as I know that for every one that I don't like, there's three more that I do.
Book Review: A brisk, entertaining read
Summary: 4 Stars
By no stretch of the imagination can one proclaim Stephen King's latest work, "The Cell" as one of his finest works - but examined on its own, it stands up as a perfectly serviceable horror novel with a sprinkling of social commentary tossed into the mix.
Fans of post-apocalyptic fiction, zombie movies and even Richard Mattheson's, "I Am Legend," will find much to enjoy within King's well paced and gory work.
A great summer-time read if you haven't already read it.
Book Review: A classic King novel
Summary: 5 Stars
While this novel had traces of The Stand in it, I felt it was a worthwhile entry in King's canon. For a while there, I felt that the old master of horror had lost a step, what with such a dry spell of the truly horrifying heavy hitters he had produced in the past, (Bag of Bones being one of the last), but he proved that he is still a force to be reckoned with with Cell. This novel has pieces of Romero and Matheson in it, but it is still heavily flavored with King's social commentary. This book will definitely put the reader in mind of Dawn of the Dead and I am Legend - so if you liked those pieces, you will like Cell. Very gory and very fun - but thought provoking all at once too.