The Institute

i am disappointed. the first book i read by stephen king was the shining and i loved it. It had become my favorite book of all time. i started this with the same expectation, but not only did it take me forever to finish, but also, the writing was slow and dull? i don't know how to explain it. I did want to know what would happen next but also, it wasn't a page turner. I could read a page and just close the book and come back to it a day or two later. in face I think i finished 4 books since i started this which is a shame.

this gave me stranger things vibes but more unhinged. reading about children being slapped unapologetically really hurt and oh my god, murdering the parents with no guilt?

it makes me wonder after too many stories about organizations and programs like these, if it really exists in america. I wonder.

It was absolutely everything I wanted and more.

This was my first Stephen King book and I couldn't have chosen a better introduction to the man.

I could go on and on about how much I loved the characters, how satisfied I was with the ending, how I was on the edge of my seat every single page, but right now I just finished the book and, over everything, what I feel is awe.

The edition of the book I got is extremely dense, 480ish pages with a font size so hilariously minuscule, but the words just flew by.

“He wanted to tell Luke that he was brave, maybe the bravest kid ever outside of the boys adventure book. He wanted to tell Luke that he was strong and decent and his folks would be proud of him. He wanted to tell Luke that he loved him. But there were no words and maybe no need of them. Or telepathy.

Sometimes a hug was telepathy”

5 Stars, I am warm.

A cross between Stranger Things and [b:The Girl with All the Gifts 17235026 The Girl with All the Gifts (The Girl with All the Gifts, #1) M.R. Carey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403033579l/17235026.SY75.jpg 23753235], this novel is a straightforward sci-fi thriller. Much like the Breakers from The Dark Tower, kids are kidnapped and imprisoned because of their psychic ability and forced to work for a shadowy group. This book is what King does best: Takes a fairly simple premise, sets the stage, and then lets the reader just absolutely devour every word until the end. Dialogue and plot sometimes hit some road bumps, as can be expected with King, but the story itself is what's front-and-center here. The reader won't find anything life-changing here, but it was a very enjoyable read from start to finish.If you enjoyed this one, please check out the aforementioned [b:The Girl with All the Gifts 17235026 The Girl with All the Gifts (The Girl with All the Gifts, #1) M.R. Carey https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1403033579l/17235026.SY75.jpg 23753235] as well.

This story was kind of all over the place, but I liked it.

It started very calm, with the typical for King sort of slice-of-life introduction to a character, which I think I enjoyed the most.
Then we switch gears to another point of view and while that part was the proverbial meat on the bones, I found it slightly stale. Things were happening, but I was neither particularly intrigued, nor scared. I found myself mostly looking forward to the moment when the two perspectives would overlap.
And when they finally did, I did enjoy it. I think the way the author did it was appropriate and satisfying. And it pretty much saved the book for me.

The whole premise of this book is very good and it could've been really scary, but it was executed with so many conveniences, that all possibility for horror flew out the window. My biggest gripe being with the way the bad guys were portrayed. When you put a super smart protagonist, against a group of lazy and at times stupid villains, you simply can't maintain an atmosphere of fear.

I would qualify this book as a sci-fi thriller more than anything else, though given the slow pace in the first half of it, you might not feel too “thrilled” for a while there. But the second part and especially the ending definitely redeem it all.

I do want to point out something that upset me a bit though. And that is the inappropriate innuendo about children private parts in every other chapter, as well as the weirdly detailed thermometer scene (if you know you know). All of this was unnecessary and the plot wouldn't have suffered one bit if it was removed. So the author added it just because he wanted to and that really made me give him the side eye. I was ready to DNF the book then and there and while I'm happy I didn't, it has changed my opinion for the author as a person in a negative way.

I would recommend this book to those looking to explore (somewhat of) a sci-fi thriller with a paranormal aspect.

I enjoyed listening to the audio version of this book. The concept was interesting, as most of Stephen King's works are, but felt that there were two main issues I couldn't overlook (SLIGHT SPOILER):

1) Stephen King's political beliefs bleeding on to the pages of his work. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but one of my pet peeves is when an author tries to push his opinions and beliefs on to unsuspecting audiences. If it's part of the story, a core part, then fine. However, this was not, and was a shallow attempt at taking digs at a specific individual/party.

2) Needless loss of life at the end. I get that they were kids, but the situation was such that I feel certain lives did NOT need to be lost, regardless of the mental maturity of the individuals with the capability of stopping the loss of life.

You could argue that those two issues shouldn't color my opinion of the whole book, but it's my review, so deal with it :)

I liked the characters, the children's friendship, the plot and the concept of this book. This is almost perfect for me but the reason why I'm only giving this 3.5 stars is because I felt like the second half of the book dragged on a little bit and there are less TK and TP moments than what I expected. I also didn't know what the purpose of the lisping man in the story. I get that he's the boss or something but it failed to convince me and it seems like he's just there to make fun of his lisp. Despite that, I still enjoyed reading this.

The Institute by Stephen King is a great sci-fi horror novel. Children with unusual abilities are brought to a mysterious institute with an unknown agenda. Parts of the book seemed similar in tone and mood to Doctor Sleep, yet the book is distinct and brings many intense and horrifying moments. The mysteries of the institute and these new additions to King's universe are compelling. I didn't love the ending, but overall it's still a great read! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

This is my first King's book and I need to say the beginning of it was confusing, but most books are. I just needed time to realize what the history was going about. I needed to empathise with Tim, character I wasn't able to understand at the beginning, but I loved at the end.
I started enjoying the book with the appearance of Luke Ellis, his kidnaping and the abruptly appearance of the Institute facilities what kept me reading nonstop. Kalisha, Nick, George, Iris... and especially Avery. I really hated Sigsby, Stackhouse and every single one who made the kids suffer.
Talking about my first experience with King's way of writing, I think he's able to do magic with the kids, the dialogues are incredibly enjoyable and every kid is different in their own way. But I also have to say it was really difficult to me to follow when he started to describe some American things such as States, Roads, Towns...
Despite that, I think The Institute is such an enjoyable book. Very attractive if you like psychic abilities, and the fight against a bigger evil.
Sorry if my English wasn't good enough, I've lost practice.

4.8

Que buena historia, creo que la capacidad de sentir una gran conexión con la mayoría de todos, incluso con los malos. Solo me hace pensar que tan bien ha sido llevado todo.

Realmente estoy sintiendo un vacío al terminar la historia, he quedado satisfecho pero tan dañado por el trayecto. Las lágrimas estaban al borde de las últimas páginas.

Me entretuvo y mucho más, ha sido un buen viaje en todo esto... Que bonito ha sido.

This is the first Stephen King book I've read and I did so in 5 days after getting for Christmas, and all I can say is woah. I flew through this book and I didn't have to try. I genuinely read this book for hours at a time without getting tired or forcing me to go on. If King writes his others books like this I am definitely picking up a few more of his works.

The GOOD: I really liked the premise of the story. Kids with telekinetic and telepathic abilities taken away to a mysterious organisations. The entirety of the story leaves you wanting to know more and about their abilities, and the organisation, the tests, etc. You really don't want to put this book down. The character development is excellent, one of the best in any book I've read. They genuinely feel like real people changing and growing and adapting.

The MEH: The ending was good, and sad. A little bittersweet. But I didn't want it to end. I wanted to read more, find out more, know more. Being a bit nitpicky, I did find the ending slightly lackluster. Butttt, honestly only because the rest of it is so good. It's not really a bad thing, it's just, it's a story that would lend itself well to a series. I could easily seeing it going on for longer, but alas. The only weak point I felt in the book was when Frieda dobs Avery and Luke in. It was such a frustrating thing to read that their awesome plan almost got undone from something so dumb! Also Avery drawing attention to the hole under the fence when he tried to hide when the Institute honestly would not have noticed it til way later. One of the adults even tells him he should've left it alone. These two little mistakes were frustrating to read, and were a little out of place considering the context. Also, we never heard of Frieda again after she dobs them in. I would've loved a follow up on her towards the end.

The BAD: Nothing. Other than I want more!