The Stand,
by Stephen King, can without question be called an epic; a one thousand, one hundred
and sixty eight page epic, depending on the typeset of your copy. The Stand was
first published in 1978 and re-released as the ‘complete and uncut edition’ in
1990. The book was nominated in 1979 for World Fantasy Award for Best Novel and
has been turned into a TV miniseries and Marvel Comics graphic Novel.
It’s hard to
do a book of such epic proportions justice in such a short review. Stephen
King, himself had planned The Stand as an epic on the same scale as The of The Rings,
so you can understand the problem. But boring, The Stand certainly is not, the
biggest problem a reader of The Stand will have, is finding the time to sleep!
The Stand is
a post-apocalyptic novel. That is to say that US army, in their infinite wisdom,
have developed a weapons grade strain of the influenza which is accidently released
onto an unsuspecting world. Despite the military’s best efforts to contain the
virus, it rapidly spread around the world, killing off 99.4% of the human
population.
After a
series of events along the way, the remaining population of the United States
are drawn together in two distinct groups. In Hemmingford Home, Nebraska, a
group of essentially good guys have been drawn together by shared dreams of a
108 year old woman, Abagail Freemantle or Mother Abagail, as she is better known. Mother Abagail directs the good guys towards Boulder, Colorado while meanwhile, in Las Vegas, another group are forming under the direction of a mysterious man with supernatural powers, Randall Flagg. Where Mother Abagail is the embodiment of goodness, Flagg is evil and he rules his group using torture and executions to keep them in line.
Stephen
Kings’ The Stand is an epic tale of good versus evil and it is on a par with
Lord of The Rings, albeit without the elves and the orcs. Not only is a book
that you will find hard to put down, you’ll also want to start reading it over
again, as soon as you have finished it.
“The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there...and still on your feet.”
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“The place where you made your stand never mattered. Only that you were there...and still on your feet.”
Please share on your social network site if you like this page...........Thanks