The Wrath of God (The Stand - Stephen King)

Member Name: racing_gawp

Product:	The Stand - Stephen King
Date:	23/03/04 (33 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Great story, compelling!

Disadvantages: Verrry long

Stephen king is renowned for his great horror novels, this must be one of the greats of all time!. This book gripped me from beginning to end, the characters and general story line are very compelling. Be warned there are spoilers here!

The stand is set in the Usa during the year of 1990. The US government has been testing a deadly biological virus which if escaped could kill millions of people across the globe....... the inevitable happens. This is where the story sets off, a military personel escapes from a US test centre during the lock down. He and his family escapes the town. Of course this makes the virus slowly spread across the USA and eventually the globe however much the government tries to contain the virus.

There are many characters, the way the story is written gives it such depth that I was completely absorbed, convinced it was all happening. The main characters especially are given their own personalities, we know a lot about them, their pasts, their motivations.
There are many twists in the tail on the journey from the intial outbreak to the final moments of the plague, the world descends into panic, people rising up against the law, turning on the army and looting everywhere. This part of the book is also very exciting and well thought out and written. Makes you think how easy fragile society is.

Luckily this virus does not kill 100% of the population, the few survivors story is told individually and through dreams of a mother Abigall they get drawn together to form a new civilisation. While those evil survivors are drawn to Randall Flagg. But their journey is not always as it should be, some bits are quite emotional and gruesome. Such as Kings great portrayal of a pitch black car tunnel, with hundreds of bodies inside. Not a journey i would like to make.

Eventually a fight betwe
en good and evil rages, you'll have to read it to find the conclusion. But its a explosive, dramatic ending with a few common King suprises.

In conclusion it's a story that could very well be closer to reality than we would like to admit. Bioweapons gone wrong, released by accident and the world suffering. It shows how humanity could lead the path to destruction by it's own violent hand. It also shows the good part of humanity, our ability to come together and help each other when the times are bad. A very thought provoking novel.

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