The Stand

The Stand is a book covering many subjects, and has an even bigger range than I anticipated. It's my favorite King book, and I was pleasantly surprised at the twists and turns as the story evolved.

It begins with the end of the world (as we know it). It provides a glimpse into some of our main cast, and does a fantastic job of keeping the narrative realistic. After the 2020 pandemic, this section hit pretty hard. The "pandemic" portion also pulls into the fold long-term characters from across the United States, and we get a strong sense of the scale and impact.

The Stand then starts to really open up, falling into a traditional "epic" story; our significant characters slowly start to interact more, the entire country is in-scope for the background, and there's a lot of character and plot development that slowly starts to build. We see our characters shine and falter, and King does a brilliant job of keeping us guessing which direction things are going (while still giving us enough framework to figure it out). I found myself loving the characters more and more as they develop.

Just as society begins to rebuild itself, everything comes crashing together; some characters grow, some sour, some succeed, and some die. Every character gets their story, and every character makes a sizeable impact to the plot. The ending in particular packages together the entire narrative into a cohesive whole, and I was compelled to keep reading as the build-up and action picks up. The ending (at a few different points) is a tear-jerker, and I came to appreciate every single word on the journey to the ending.

The Stand is long, and at times a bit slower-paced. However, I've found it completely worth the time, and find myself even more drawn to the King universe than ever before. If you have the patience for epic stories and enjoy King's work, this is an easy recommend!