I'm maybe a quarter of the way through King's new book "Under the Dome"

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

It's more science fiction than horror. Although it's got a couple of tiny, juicy hints at a horror twist. Just a couple of unexpected single lines that make you sit up and think "OK, now we're really going somewhere."

King's sci-fi stories are few and far between. And for good reason- he knows shit-all about science. Often that's no impediment for good sci-fi. But King's got a habit of writing really facepalmingly bad lines involving his misconceptions about science, scientists, and anything science related. See some of his early sci-fi short stories for yourself.

To his credit, King seems to be aware of his handicap and avoids science as best he can. I've only cringed once in that regard in this book so far. "Scientists estimate an 80% chance in penetrating this impenetrable force field." But I'm picking nits.

It's got a villain that DUers will love to hate. Well, most DUers. Some of the... people... over in GD will probably root for the guy.

Apparently King rewrote it from an unfinished manuscript from the eighties. It shows. It's old school King, filled with old King cliches but they still somehow work.

[NRaleighLiberal]

1. I thought Duma Key was his best in years, up there with The Stand.

[Chemisse]

2. I think you are right about Duma Key

It was quite good. I am excited to hear there is a new novel out!

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

9. Duma Key was good literature.

This isn't Duma Key. It's more pulpy. A good page turner.

[lob1]

3. I used to read everything he wrote, but the way he ended

The Dark Tower series was so unforgivably bad that I haven't been able to read anything of his since. The ending of the Dark Tower made the whole series meaningless, and I felt like I'd wasted my time reading the 7 or so books.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

4. Baloney. It was a good ending.

If you can think of a better ending, I'd like to hear it.

[lob1]

6. It's all a matter of taste, but I was disappointed to end it by being a time

loop, where Roland keeps repeating the 7 books over and over endlessly. First of all, that came out of the blue. There was no explanation as to why that should happen, it just suddenly popped up...and second, it certainly wasn't satisfying. Nothing was learned, nothing was gained, nothing even changed. Everyone died for absolutely nothing.

During the series, it was frequently asked, even by Roland himself, what was his purpose? Why did he alone chase the Dark Tower? What was his role in life? King gave no answers to those questions. I would've been happier if Roland actually did have a purpose. What if the beam, at the very end, was actually failing and the world was starting to fly apart? It's then that Roland realizes his purpose, climbs into the Dark Tower and literally integrates himself, throws himself into the beam. His body dies, but his spirit joins the beam and begins to heal it. His purpose was to save the world, and he does. At least he gives it a second chance.

I don't know that I've come up with a great ending, but at least it would've been more satisfying.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

7. But the quest was the purpose.

There couldn't have been any goal that would satisfy the quest itself. That's the point of the ending.

[Mist]

5. I have to agree lob1--the end of the "Dark Tower" series was too little, and

too quick. I really wanted more interfacing with the Crimson King, who was such a presence throughout the series. Yet at the end he's a senile enraged old man, and that's all.

I might give "Duma Key" a try--sounds good.

[rantormusing]

17. As time goes on,

I've warmed to the ending. Granted, i want more, but i think it was appropriate and cruel which is what Roland's life was. OTOH, if you check out the prequel comics, i'm thinking they are going to keep going and adapt the main books. Now if ROland keeps the horn in that one, we may be in for an interesting read.

[Paladin]

8. "Under The Dome" Is 1074 Pages Long.

Haven't read it, I kind of gave up on King a while back; but I'm willing to bet it would be a better novel if it were just 600 pages in length. Word processors and gutless editors aren't doing King any favors---and lots of other authors are similarly afflicted, these days.....

[hippywife]

10. I don't mind length if

the story is engrossing and the author really talented and not wandering all over the place needlessly. I don't know how many times I've not wanted a particular book to end. 1074 pages would come close enough. LOL

I gave up on King decades ago, too.

:hi:

[Paladin]

11. I Agree With You Absolutely.

I love long books by authors who can sustain them; King is just not among those authors any more, as far as I'm concerned. Having indulged in all this griping, I still might get "Dome" at the local library and give the guy one more chance; the story line sounds interesting.

By the way, I just got the new E.L. Doctorow best-seller---it clocks in at a solid 200 pages.....

[Paladin]

14. OK, Full Disclosure, Here.

I did in fact get "Under The Dome" at the local library recently, and I read it quickly---because I found it hard to put down. Far and away the best thing Stephen King has written in years, as far as I'm concerned. I hope the inevitable movie does justice to the book; it'll be a great bookend to go with "V For Victory," trashing the many excesses of the Bush administration.

Mr. King: If you have any other story ideas you put aside back in the 70's, for Gods sake retrieve them and get to work.....

[burrfoot]

12. I just finished it last night,

and I REALLY enjoyed it. I was actually going to start a thread asking what people thought of the parallel's to today's America in terms of the "state of fear" tactics of the main baddy; then I saw this thread!

(by the way, is that GD for general discussion or gun dungeon? 'cause I think you'd find the gungeoneers all in favor of Barbie)

:toast:

[Mad_Dem_X]

15. What did you think of the ending?

Without revealing too much, I thought that what they did to get the dome raised could have been done a few hundred pages earlier. Other than that, I thought it was a fantastic book.

"Duma Key" is terrific, as well.

[terryg11]

20. agreed/

once they found what they did and knew the only way to stop the "activities" under the dome, they should have focused on that. I found this one hard to put down which is usual for King, you get emotionally invested in a few characters and care about what happens.

[beyurslf]

13. I liked The Dome. It was an enjoyable read.

I don't think it is his "greatest epic" since The Stand unless they mean it is a really long book like that one. I always enjoy how King juggles dozens of characters and creates an entire town of people. I feel like I know them and I can see them as I read the story. It entertains.

[yawnmaster]

16. I enjoyed his blend of sci-fi and horror in tommyknockers. eom

[rantormusing]

18. After the cell phone thing,

I've been very apprehensive about picking up another King book.

[Greyskye]

19. I read the ebook preview available at B&N

Didn't grab me enough to buy it though. There was at least one tech thing that struck me as absurd (beyond his force field McGuffin), but damned if I can recall what it is now.

[MicaelS]

21. To me, King's biggest weakness is the anti-science / technology meme

That seem to run through his works. He has a tendency to make science and technology one of the main boogeymen in his novels, as if science were some sort of living creature rampaging around destroying people and things. The ironic this is that the science he so often debases almost certainly saved his life after he was struck by a minivan in 1999. I haven't read any of his later works, but I wonder if this accident has changed his writing voice?

[closeupready]

22. I'm reading Duma Key right now, based in part on the recs in this thread, and I have to say:

I recall now why I never got into Stephen King - I loved the Shining, but his later stuff got way too gimmicky and folksy - it just seemed to me like he got lazy and started relying more on tricks and weird stuff and less on simply plotting stories well.

And why the heck are all his books so long? ??? Everytime I look at The Stand on my bookshelf, I think to myself, "omigod, that's about half a year at my pace" and so I never actually get started on it.

Duma Key is good, but already, only 46 pages in (mass market paperback), I see him using worn-out plot devices - for example, he seems to think that using baby talk freaks us out, and it's just tedious, but he goes on forever with that stuff, over and over and over. No offense to fans here.

[HiFructosePronSyrup]

23. Duma Key's real slow in the beginning.

Umm, beginning and middle.

I don't think the "baby talk" (infant Elizabeth?) is supposed to be scary at all. The actual horror comes much later.