A few weeks ago I was gifted 'Under the Dome' and 'Duma Key'by Stephen King


My question is, are these books worth reading? And more importantly are they horror horror books

I can't/don't/won't do horror , I liked Needful Things and the Stand is one of my favourite books, but stuff like the Shining, Cujo etc scared me

Has anyone read these titles?

if its from the dark tower series, its a good book.

many of his books arent really horrific horror, he simply builds up tension very nicely.

there were some failure of books, but its few(under the dome is good and very shit at the end he ran out of ideas clearly, for the ending).

oh and stay away from his short stories, they are terrible

dawnbreak wrote:
Yes I've read both and neither are what I would call 'horror'.
Slow build up thrillers perhaps.

Duma Key is particularly interesting in how he tried to convey how some people who have had a stroke feel, although in that instance its not a stroke per se...you'll see what I mean.

I also agree the dark tower series was epic, wizard and glass in particular was very moving and emotional.

andyh wrote: the glass one actually made me cry.
how roland lost his susanna

the dark tower series are the best books ive ever read hands down.absolutely fantastic

I haven't read Wizard and Glass yet, no spoilers!

I should crack on with it really, it's been sitting there for months gathering dust

irrepressible wrote:
I've just got hold of The Dark Tower series on MP3 audio - looking forward to listening to it!

Mandy

quietgirl wrote:
The first three books are brilliant IMO especially book II. They were talking about making a film but it fell through which is a shame. I think they might those impossible to make into a movie books anyway

I'm not a Stephen King fan - I find him long-winded and very dreary, also predictable to the nth. I'd say none of his works are "true horror". They won't sit in your mind replaying horrific ideas or scenes long after the reading. They're pretty much bubble-gum for the brain. No hard mental work involved, pick-'em-up-put-'em-down type things.

That said, I did quite like Duma Key. As andy says, he gave an interesting insight into disrupted mind and body performance (he'd had a stroke or brain injury himself by then, hadn't he?; car accident?).

It won't tax you, disgust you or demand too much attention.

If you want hard mental work, read Philip K Dick I've read a couple of his books and found myself still thinking about them days later
I'm not exactly brain of britain though

irrepressible wrote:


You're not exactly not brain of Britain either though.

cantata wrote:
I'm of unremarkable, mediocre intelligence I'm probably as intelligent as I need to be There's no reason why I can't increase it I reckon
It's a good job I'm not bad looking and fairly charming

irrepressible wrote:
...with great legs.

cantata wrote:
Yeah!

cantata wrote:
You've seen his legs cantata?

I hope you'll tell us if you get to see more body parts.

pheony wrote:
Haha no pheony cantata is referring to the time my sister said to me "you've got legs a woman would be proud of!"

I suppose it's some kind of compliment

irrepressible wrote:

cantata wrote:
*Goes off to get legs waxed*



Nah, as if!

irrepressible wrote: hey, i think,im fairly certain, "glass" was actually the 3rd book of the tower saga.


maybe you mean, the first 3 youve read, bc its made like this, until the last one, it doesnt matter which one you read first etc.

Glass is book 4 hada. I meant I've read the first three, Gunslinger, Drawing Of The Three, Waste Lands.
I'm now a couple of chapters into Glass, but the book is so big and heavy, it's a pain in the arse to read in bed, so I've put it down for now
Also I couldn't be arsed reading much of anything these days. I'll get back into it...eventually

irrepressible wrote:
Ooh! I like Philip K Dick, UBIK in particular.