Although King is probably my favourite author, I don't think any of his books have ever truly scared me. Misery finally did. So many pages where I was just horrified at what I was reading. I truly think King is at his scariest when he's not writing about evil, supernatural beings, but instead about humans. There were some slow parts here and there, and the whole "novel-within novel" thing didn't really do it for me, but the rest of the book had me hooked like Novril.
I don't think any book could have lived up as a sequel to The Shining. Doctor Sleep got pretty close! I loved the beginning, most of the middle, and especially the end. In fact, I'd go as far as to say that this book has one of King's best endings ever, at least from the works that I've read. However there's just a few sections here and there that just kind of...drag. They're not boring by any means, but just overstay their welcome. However, this is pretty typical of King's writing, and some might even consider it his style. It just stood out a little bit more to me here because The Shining practically had no parts like this at all. Nonetheless, definitely a book that I plan on coming back to in a few years.
An absolute scare, filled with characters that you grow to both love and fear. This book and Kubrick's adaptation of it are probably some of my favourite pieces of media. Vastly different takes on the same story, yet still profound in their own, special ways.
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