The Stand

By Stephen King

#1 BESTSELLER • NOW A PARAMOUNT+ LIMITED SERIES • Stephen King’s apocalyptic vision of a world blasted by plague and tangled in an elemental struggle between good and evil remains as riveting—and eerily plausible—as when it was first published.

One of The Atlantic’s Great American Novels of the Past 100 Years! This edition includes all of the new and restored material first published in The Stand: The Complete and Uncut Edition.

A patient escapes from a biological testing facility, unknowingly carrying a deadly weapon: a mutated strain of super-flu that will wipe out 99 percent of the world’s population within a few weeks. Those who remain are scared, bewildered, and in need of a leader. Two emerge—Mother Abagail, the benevolent 108-year-old woman who urges them to build a peaceful community in Boulder, Colorado; and Randall Flagg, the nefarious “Dark Man,” who delights in chaos and violence. As the dark man and the peaceful woman gather power, the survivors will have to choose between them—and ultimately decide the fate of all humanity.

"A master storyteller."—Los Angeles Times

• Language: English
• Publisher: Random House Publishing Group
• Release date: Jun 24, 2008
• ISBN: 9780385528856

Stephen King

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are 11/22/63, Under the Dome, and the Dark Tower novels Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Reviews for The Stand

[dendrea · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

good v. evil. not too complicated. my tv replacement

[oplibrarian · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of Steven King's best books and a must read.

[mhanover10 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I read this book in high school and let me tell you, it gave me nightmares for almost a year. Every time someone sneezed or coughed I was on alert. It really freaked me out big time. I might have to re-read it, because it was that good.

[nbmars · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

When I read The Passage, it seemed to be clearly derivative of what I had heard about The Stand. I wanted to read it and compare the two to find out.In case you missed my review of The Passage, one of my main objections to that book was the central role played by vampire-zombie-bat-thingies (VZBT) in spreading a virus that destroys most of mankind. King resorts to no such creatures to wreak havoc on the world: good old people are sufficient to destroy themselves. As you will see, I believe that The Stand - also a post-apocalyptic horror/fantasy novel - is a much better book. I think Stephen King is a better writer, and the characterizations are richer. King was dealing with all these BIG THEMES and ARCHETYPES. I saw Cronin as maybe trying to update some of the general thrust of The Stand and also put it into a format "modern" audiences would like - i.e., VZBTs. But I think Cronin got too bogged down by his Bat-Thingies, even as King got too caught up in trying to document every single aspect of the cultural era. King's story is not entirely devoid of the paranormal, but it really could stand on its own without that aspect, whereas Cronin's VZBTs are essential to the plot.The novel is divided into three parts, or books. The first is titled "Captain Trips" and takes place over nineteen days (and almost 400 pages), with the escape and spread of a deadly mutation of an ordinary flu virus secretly created by the Army as a possible biological weapon. The resulting epidemic of what came to be known as “Captain Trips” leads directly to the death of an estimated 99.4% of the world's human population. Much of this section traces the (accidental) escape of the virus and spread through one man, Charlie Campion. (Not always accidental however; after the effect of the virus on the United States became clear, the Army decided to “share,” exporting it stealthily and purposefully to Europe, the U.S.S.R., and Red China.) While the chain by which the devastation occurred is interesting, we probably didn’t have to know so many details about so many people who were a part of the viral transmission and died more or less immediately. And I was quite disappointed that King ended his digression on “the Captain Trips Chain Letter” with the phrase: “And so on.” That seemed a bit too inept.In Part II, “On the Border,” the survivors begin cross-country odysseys driven and directed by shared dreams, some of which feature an old black woman in a cornfield in Nebraska, and some of which feature “The Dark Man” who is waiting for them in Las Vegas. Pilgrims include: the first human discovered to be immune, Stuart Redman (The Hero – smart, macho, quiet); Glen Bateman (a philosophy-spouting sociologist) [enabling King - through this character - to expound on the social implications and complications of the plague]; Larry Underwood (a would-be rock star) [allowing King an excuse to insert any number of rock lyrics into the text]; Nick Andros (a deaf-mute whose condition expresses multitudes); and a number of others including some very insipid and inauthentic-sounding women. They take to the highways, “jammed with broken heroes on a last chance power drive… Chrome wheeled, fuel injected and steppin out over the line … “ And they meet, and aggregate, and form two separate inchoate polities, depending on which dream filled their heads at night.Two important characteristics of the post-flu world stood out for me. With so many professionals dead, those with skills like medicine, engineering and technology are highly sought-after by both sides. And secondly, it doesn’t take long for the old patterns of social organization to reassert themselves. As the resident sociologist observes: "Show me a man or woman alone and I’ll show you a saint. Give me two and they’ll fall in love. Give me three and they’ll invent the charming thing we call ‘society.’ Give me four and they’ll build a pyramid. Give me five and they’ll make one an outcast. Give me six and they’ll reinvent prejudice. Give me seven and in seven years they’ll reinvent warfare. Man may have been made in the image of God, but human society was made in the image of His opposite number, and is always trying to get back home.”While there are no VZBTs, King does add paranormal forces to the story, much in the manner of classical Greek epics, in which the tragedies and joys of man were but the outcome of games of the gods. Indeed, so it is in The Stand. In The Stand, however, the gods vying for the souls of men are not members of the Greek pantheon but rather those two prime movers of more recent Western Civilization, God and Satan.To this end, The Stand has many allusions to Job (in which God and Satan take bets, metaphorically speaking, on how much misery can be dumped on Job before he disavows God). But unlike The Bible, in The Stand, God and Satan appear through their earthly representatives – God through a 108-year-old black woman named Mother Abagail, and Satan in the form of the villain Randall Flagg. Mother Abagail tells one of the survivors her interpretation of the chaos being visited on earth: "She believes we are all a part of a chess game between God and Satan; that Satan’s chief agent in this game is the Adversary whose name she says in Randall Flagg…”[Here, one is reminded of “The Seventh Seal,” the Swedish drama about a knight who returns from the Crusades to find that his home country of Sweden is being ravaged by the plague. To his dismay, Death has come for him as well. He challenges Death to a chess match. Death agrees to the terms: if the knight wins, he shall go free.]Appropriately, Randall Flagg – the personification of evil, sets up his headquarters in Las Vegas, and those who feel his pull are drawn to that city, while more godly types dream of Mother Abagail and how to find her and her growing entourage. (They start out in Nebraska but move on to Boulder, Colorado.) [Personally, I think King should have chosen West Virginia for Mother Abagail, as in: "Almost Heaven... West Virginia... Take me home, country roads..."] Somewhat disturbingly, while Mother Abagail can die, Flagg never can. As one of the characters explains,"He’s in the wolves… the crows, the rattlesnake, the shadow of the owl at midnight and the scorpion at high noon. He roosts upside down with the bats. He’s blind like them.” Flagg, King said in an interview, "...is like the archetype of everything that I know about real evil … he is somebody who is empty and who has to be filled with other people's hates, fears, resentments, laughs. Flagg, Koresh, Jim Jones, Hitler — they're all basically the same guy." What attracts people to Flagg? One of the characters – a lifelong “loser” - suggests: "…when there are enough outsiders together in one place, a mystic osmosis takes place and you’re inside. Inside where it’s warm. Just a little thing, being inside where it’s warm, but really such a big thing. About the most important thing in the world.”And what of God? God for the most part only speaks through Mother Abagail, and His dictates do not always seem benevolent. Furthermore, He always requires a sacrifice: “His hands are bloody with it.” And as the hero, Stu Redman, says, “That’s the same God murdered his own boy, or so I heard.”Mother Abagail’s group tries to recreate democracy, and it's messy and chaotic. Randall Flagg comes up with a more effective polity run by tyranny and fear. Appropriately, slackers are punished by public crucifixions.The groups confront one another in Part III, “The Stand.” Both sides recognize that the other is a threat to its survival. Both understand there may be more death before the outcome of the chess game is decided. And both groups know that the future of the world depends on babies being born to the groups – babies that will be immune from the virus.I won’t tell you how the story ends up – you’ll have to brave the book for yourself. Or you can try the movie or the graphic novel version, both of which are shorter than the book.Discussion: There are some questions that never get answered by the book. How is it that everyone is having the same dreams? (The sociologist character theorizes that this psychic sense was dormant while we had telephones and televisions, but became active again in the absence of these technological substitutes for information sharing. Pretty quick evolutionary turnaround, I'd say.) And why can one of the [living] characters talk to one of the dead characters? (Of all the dead, only one comes back to talk?) And why do God and Satan’s representatives have some powers and not others? King doesn't give us the answers, but Mr. King, if you're reading this, PLEASE DON'T ADD ANOTHER 500 PAGES TO PROVIDE THEM!!! I'LL USE MY IMAGINATION!!! Evaluation: And so was it worth it? Yes, I thought so. I don't consider it a "great" book, but it does give you a lot to think about. One can't help but be fascinated by survival situations when all pre-disaster preoccupations no longer have any meaning. What turns out to matter? What would matter to you? Besides, the book is a fantastic doorstop. Did I like it? Yes, I did. ...which is not to say I wouldn't have cut about 800 pages out, but that's just me....

[stewartry · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Slightly longer review: on my blog.I knew the beginning of the story very well: top secret research facility + oops (I don't think we ever find out what that first oops was – simple butterfingers?) + second oops of unlocked gate + fleeing guard + third oops of inattentive guards = worldwide catastrophe. A monster flu, a mega-flu, an über-flu, resistant to all treatment (or, rather, adaptive to all treatment), spreading with horrifying swiftness – augmented, apparently, by release of the same strain in other areas of the world to level the playing field, or some such. And only something like 1% of the population immune. It's very realistic. It's too realistic. I can see a situation, a chain of catastrophes, in which every single "oops" – dropped phial or whatever it was, mechanical failure in the alarm system, mechanical failure in the door seals, human failure of the guards, who should have been the last failsafe protection, playing cards in their booth instead of paying attention to their duty - all of it, easily preventable, and still happening. That's why this is one of the scariest horror novels I can think of. Not because of Russell Flagg (as much) – I was mostly afraid of the man-made epidemic. My respect for Stephen King grows with every book of his I read, and my remorse at my long-held prejudice against him grows proportionately. This is a masterful work. Yes, I have a couple quibbles: it seemed to take forever to move from the plot arc of the illness spreading to the arc of the survivors' quest. There is a vulgarity of language that is off-putting in most books (another status update: " I think my only, only issue with The Stand is the sheer number of people who wet their pants ... And none of them ever just "pees" much less urinates - they make wee-wee, or just make, or their bladders give way, or some such. It just starts being funny after a while." That's pretty typical, really.) But those are just quibbles. The language is part and parcel with the story, with the points of view, and, of course, with the writing style. And it took as long as it took.The ending might not have been as ... "explosive" is hardly the right word, but I'll go with that - as it might have been. But, really, the book could have ended with a pie-eating contest between the Good Guys and Randall Flagg, and it would still be an astounding, even important book. This is a keeper.

[williemeikle-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If he never wrote another word, Stephen King deserves to be remembered for this, his contribution to the "Disaster Novel" genre. (NOTE: This review applies to the ORIGINAL release of the novel, not the "Special Edition")
It begins innocuously enough, with an army officer running away from his base. But he has left it too late, and he carries a new disease into the world. Over the next months people begin to die, in small numbers at first, then in their hundreds, thousands and finally millions.

The survivors, a disparate band drawn from all walks of life, find they have to make a choice; to join with the forces of evil, personified in Flagg (one of the best fictional villains in living memory) or to take a "Stand" for good, personified by Aunt Abigail, an old wizened black woman with a fundamentalist approach to her faith.

Soon all the survivors are lined up on one side or the other, and the final battle for their future destiny is set up when the main characters must take their own "Stand"

The questions of faith posed by this, and how each of the protagonists make their choices, form the moral core of this book, and the rigours of basic survival when civilisation has fallen forms the backbone of the plot, but it is the characters who stick in your mind long after you've finished reading.

King has always been good at "country" types, but here he shows a sure hand with such disparate people as a deaf-mute, a rock star, a garage worker, a pregnant teenager and her admirer-from-afar neighbour Harold (a gentleman so slimy you'll feel like taking a shower after just reading about him)

You feel rapport with these characters, and are soon cheering them on, and King has managed to reel in his propensity for "bloat", and doesn't let any one character take over.

The book carries a strong moral tone thoughout, and at times seems almost biblical in its "fire-and-brimstone" intensity. In typical King fashion there are some terrifying set pieces, the pick of which takes place in a tunnel which is full of dead and decomposing bodies that must be navigated without a light. Not for the squeamish.

A lot of people have been daunted by the sheer size of this book. At over 1000 pages, it is not a quick read, and in the early chapters it is sometimes difficult to keep track of its large list of characters. Also, King seems to take delight in slowing things down and looking in great detail at some pretty unpleasant deaths as a result of the disease - a super-flu which results in particularly messy fluid expulsion.

However once Flagg appears and starts insinuating himself into the survivors' dreams. the tension starts to crank up and King knows how to keep you hooked, cheering the good guys along to the denoument.

I won't spoil it by giving away the ending, but the final "Stand" doesn't come quite as expected, and has some truly shocking consequences for the protagonists.

For a jaded horror fan brought up on John Wyndham and John Christopher, this book revitalised my interest back in the late 70's. This was the book that brought me back to horror, and made me want to write it myself.

For that alone it's got a lot to answer for.

[eric_j._guignard · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of the best post-apocalyptic works ever made and one of my favorite books written by Stephen King. Epic and shocking and masterfully-written - I've read it three times and it gets better with each read!

[adam.currey · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

At 1,400 pages, this book is a fair slog to get through. Stephen King does a good job of keeping the reader interested however, with the narrative rolling along nicely. The one big exception to this is a very slow period about 2/3rds of the way through, during which the new residents of Boulder spend a lot of time indulging in small-town politics - who will be on what committees and whatnot. This is the only tedious part of what is otherwise a very non-tedious book.

[kristelh_15 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A long story. The superflu pandemic it lose and the US does nothing but make it worse and most people die all over the world. This is the story of creation, a few survive and they form two groups; good and evil and then there is the stand off. It’s a long story, I said that already. This is the expanded version. I’m not sure that it needed expanding, maybe it needing trimming. Oh well. King is a wordy fellow. He creates a lot of characters and then he slowly trims them away. It seems like a lot of his other books are in this book and his main bad guy is found in other stories. He wrote this, then rewrote it and then updated it. This book was updated to 1990 and still is dated which will happen when there is so much pop culture in the book. Besides the Bible; this book had many other inspirations for King and King wanted to write a fantasy epic like Tolkien. I still like hobbits better than Texans.

[trayceetee · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My all-time favorite book, I re-read this almost every single summer.

[ssimon2000-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my favorite books of all time. Great characters, engaging plot, and exceptional immersion into this semi-fictional "hey-it-could-happen" world. Apocalyptic authors, take note! This is a near-perfect example of this genre!

This time through, I listened to the Audible version, and the narrator did a great job, perfect for the book.

[dariazeoli · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

It's been years since I first read The Stand, and over the two weeks I just spent re-reading, its rank as my favorite book has been reaffirmed. Getting to know these characters again, and spending time with them as they made their stand, was worth every word.

[msaucier818 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is my favorite book of all that I have read. From start to finish I loved every minute of it. King's ability to weave a story is second to none. The idea of a virus wiping out most of mankind is fascinating in itself, but King creates a cast of characters to go along with it that I will never forget. This is probably the longest book I have read, so "constant reader" must invest some serious time to be able to get through it. I could not put it down, and finished the entire book in a week. This led me to read over a dozen other King books, and I still wish to finish them all. I can't recommend this highly enough.

[eltomaso · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Stephen King is my favorite horror author.

[gogglemiss · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

As this seemed to be the favourite of Stephen King's many readers, I'd thought I'd give this a try. I liked it, Entertaining, scary, sometimes unintentionally funny in sad situations, and even the evil guy was ever changing in character.For a big fat book, there were plenty of room for many great characters, and weirdos, Very readable.

[nategreen · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

King delivers a stunning cast of characters here. Each has his own arc, his own pitfalls and flaws, and the characters alone entertained me for hundreds upon hundreds of pages. On top of the gripping characterization, King's ability to create tension, danger (real or imagined), and unsettle the reader is a sharp prod to keep reading.

The Stand is a huge, intricate, amazing piece of work. But it collapses with an ending that makes me groan in frustration still. Worth the journey to get through more than 1,000 pages? Yes, because each step up until the final few is great. But it's still hard to get the taste of a disappointing ending out of my mouth.

[communityactionher-1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

His masterpiece!

[carol420 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is how the world ends: with a human-engineered superflu which escapes containment in the form of a terrified guard who unwittingly spreads death over a wide swath of southwestern America in his bid to escape infection. Captain Trips, they call it - until they die, and people die in droves within a matter of days. In almost no time at all, well over 99% of the American population have suffered an agonizing death. Those that are left all alone begin to dream: comforting visions of an ancient black lady called Mother Abigail in Nebraska rising up alongside nightmares of a faceless man out west. Many find their way to Las Vegas to serve under Randall Flag, the Walking Dude of their night visions, but many others flock to Mother Abigail in Nebraska and eventually Boulder, Colorado. As the citizens of the Boulder Free Zone attempt to reform society and make a new life for themselves, they are forced to come to terms with the fact that they are caught up in a struggle defined by their spiritual leader in religious terms. They must destroy Flagg or be destroyed by him - in a word, they must make their stand. I

I could not begin to describe the dozens of richly drawn characters King gives life to in these pages. They are ordinary people called to do extraordinary things in a world reeking of death and fear. Some are not up to the challenge, and betrayal has awful consequences in this new reality - to the betrayer as well as the betrayed. These are real human beings, flaws and all; there is good to be found even among those serving the greatest of evils, and at the same time, the good guys don't always behave in ways you think they should. There are so many points to touch on, I could write indefinitely, but what it all comes down to is this: if you're looking for a novel that will entertain you even as it makes you think, "The Stand" is for you. Oh...don't drop it on your foot.

[librarycin · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

3.75 starsIt starts with a family trying to escape a military base where everyone is getting sick and dying. The family dies, too, but not before bringing whatever it is out to the rest of the world. It spreads until a very large percentage of people in the U.S.A. are dead. Some of the people left are having dreams and are trying to find the woman in their dreams; some of those people meet up along the way in their travels, as they cross the country on foot. Some people are dreaming about an evil man; some are heading a different direction to find him. The world must be rebuilt, but not before a showdown between the two groups of people. It was quite good. With so many characters, King does jump between them to follow them all to keep it chronological. He does a very good job on the characters, though there was one particular character (Trash Can Man), who I found a little boring as we followed him. But there were, of course, others who I particularly enjoyed following (Nick, Stu and Frannie). It was very long, though, so it took longer to read than I would have liked. I did like the ending, though.

[regularguy5mb · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I feel like everyone should read this book, even if you're not a Stephen King fan. Why? Because this is how the world ends. Forget Nuclear Armageddon or planetary destruction from human ignorance; it'll be a little vial of deadly disease released accidentally or purposefully, and that's it for the human race. The world hits the rest button and whoever survives will have to figure out how to start over.So, what happens when one little mistake unleashes a deadly, manufactured, ever-changing superflu on the world? First, there's the attempt to hide the panic while the powers-that-be try to find a cure. When that doesn't work, and people start getting sick all over, panic takes hold. Then, death. And finally, the survivors, those immune to the effects of what is dubbed "Captain Trips," must figure out how to live in a world that is fast moving on.Using this tapestry as his background, Stephen King tells an epic tale of good versus evil in a dying world. The side of good is represented in Mother Abagail, a 108 year-old woman with the power of the White on her side who draws those with love in their hearts to her in order to rebuild society from the ruins. Meanwhile, there's a deep, dark evil drawing those with hate and fear in their hearts to Las Vegas. He's called "the dark man," "the Walkin' Dude," and even "Satan's Imp" by Mother Abagail; but he calls himself Randall Flagg, and he's Stephen King's most memorable villain next to Pennywise the Clown.The Stand is broken into three parts. First, we the release and spread of the superflu. Next, the survivors must choose a side, Mother Abagail or the Walkin' Dude. Finally, it's time to make a stand.King goes so in-depth with these characters as we follow them along throughout this story that it really feels like we know them. We feel for them, the good and the bad, especially those who might find themselves playing out a role they never would have dreamed of before Captain Trips came along.This is how the world ends.This is how the world ends.This is how the world ends.Not with a bang,but with an unassuming cough.

[ribson_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very good book

[saramh-1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

I liked the first part, about how the flu spreads.Stephen King is truly a master storyteller, as I have read everywhere. The sense of doom in that first quarter of the book is remarkable, and I enjoyed it very, very much.However, for the rest of the book, I just did not get it. There is no stand at all. There are no human decisions that matter. The only interesting character would be Harold for me, and even he did not have any say in anything at the end. Larry was great during the superflu part, but then it just blended with the rest.

[cynrtst · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is another of those, my favorite of all time books. It may have been the time I read it, but I think I have re-read it twice, but the story really rang true, like it could really happen some day. It's A whole world of a book and not to be missed

[stefferoo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

For me, there are two kinds of Stephen King books: those he wrote before 1990, and those he wrote after. For some reason, I've never really been keen his works in the former category. For example, It. Nope, couldn't do it, got tired of the way it dragged on and gave up about halfway through, too bored to even be scared.Don't get me wrong, King is a master storyteller who you can tell by the way he writes that he just loves to spin a yarn, but at the same time he has that tendency to go and and on and on. I believe he admits this freely too, and over the years I think his writing has become more focused if his recent works are any indication.Although I read the complete and uncut version of The Stand, I knew the original was first published in the 70s so I guess it technically falls into the pre-1990 category. So as such, I'd already anticipated what he himself calls his "Diarrhea-of-the-Word-Processor". This monster of a book is more than 1100 pages, so I knew what I was in for.Anyway, to get right to the point, I enjoyed this book immensely but as I expected, some parts definitely did drag. I'd get really drawn into a thread of the plot, and then the book would switch tack and follow someone else's point of view that I don't care about for a good long while (never skimping on even the tiniest details) which would distract me and break a good run. A part of me wishes I'd read the original published version instead. After I finished, I did some research into the differences between the two editions. Though the 400 or so pages cut from his manuscript were due more to the publisher's financial reasons rather than editorial reasons, I think King had made the right call in what he decided to cut out. Unsurprisingly to me, a few of the parts I felt were slow ended up being the ones that were left out in the original published version.I also didn't really see the need for the "updates", i.e. making this take place in 1990 instead of 1980. Sure, pop culture references were thrown in to make the setting more modern, but all it did was create a lot of contradictions, like the technology described or the slang or sayings that would come out of the characters mouths immediately betraying when this book was written and when it actually takes place. In my opinion, they should have just left everything well alone.Still, this was a very epic tale of the battle between good and evil; I can now see why so many consider it a Stephen King classic.

[br13geva · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I liked this book. Stephen King brings with him a knowledge and power so strong, that he will influence all that there really is going to be a virus. He managed to make an actual believable apocalypse story.I would rate this book 5 stars. It was tremendously well written, and should be nominated for something. I would recommend it for anyone that is in horror books, and likes a good read. Honestly, I’m glad I followed Stephen King’s writing and books. They really make your day.The book starts out with a man from the army who went AWOL, or in other words, he was leaving. Now, he got infected by a special type of influenza virus. When he went AWOL, he was killing this planet. Some years later, over 90% of the planet is wiped out. You do meet a variety of characters, some who betray and others who help. Some who die and some who live. You will have to find out for yourself.

[chrisconway_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This post-apocalyptic novel prefigures much of the 'end of the world' stories of the present. It is a marvel to think that King imagined all of this before all of the movies, tv and similar fiction that has come since. The setting up of the novel is just magnificent, then it lags a bit in the second half before ending in something of a rush. King can be a bit uneven as a writer but his story-telling sweeps you off of your feet and takes you all the way to the end. This was my second read and I was not disappointed.

[jgolomb_2 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Stephen King's "The Stand" is an awesomely epic creation. It's good versus evil writ large across the American landscape. It's heavy, detailed, and extremely rich in the characterizations of its people and themes.The story is familiar - an apocalyptic virus is accidentally (and inevitably) released from a government lab. Over 99% of all human life is wiped out by what becomes known as 'Captain Trips'. This story is about those who survived. The survivors are polarized around two god-like characters that magnetize individuals through their dreams. Mother Abigail Freemantle, a 108-year-old woman from Hemingford, Nebraska draws those with inherent goodness. Randall Flagg, from nowhere and everywhere, draws those with a slightly more dubious nature.The story is broken down into three large chunks. The strongest is the first third focused on the survival tales of all key and secondary characters. Each have a special genetic make up that leaves them immune to Captain Trips. King builds his world character-by-character and circumstance-by-circumstance. There are no glimpses of Presidential edicts and worldwide coordinated response efforts. We're given a vivid view into a decimated world through the individual actions of individual characters. The middle third of the book builds on the lives of these individuals, as they start to connect and socialize, primarily around Mother Abigail in Nebraska and then Boulder, but also in Flagg's domain centered on Las Vegas. The final third culminates the growing tension between good and evil, and how individuals and new societies move forward after such an incredible disaster.I read the extended version of the novel it's a beast that clocks in at over 1,100 pages. But it flows very well. I've recently read King's "It" which I loved completely. King has a very special way of creating characters that makes each very relatable. While the 'relate-ability' factor is lower with the characters in "The Stand", he still crafts very unique and differentiated personalities, with very real and believable emotions and motivations.Mother Abigail is a wonderfully strong character, acting as the collective conscience and vision in the Boulder Free Zone. But King has built something special in Randall Flagg. He represents anarchy and entropy. He doesn't embody chaos...he is chaos. King describes him as: “…a clot looking for a place to happen, a splinter of bone hunting a soft organ to puncture, a lonely lunatic cell looking for a mate -- they would set up housekeeping and raise themselves a cozy little malignant tumor."When we're first introduced to Flagg as The Walkin' Dude meandering down a western highway, readying to gather his minions, King writes, ""He was known, well known, along the highways in hiding that are traveled by the poor and the mad, by the professional revolutionaries and by those who have been taught to hate..."And at times, it's unclear where the dividing line is between Flagg and Captain Trips. "The beast is on its way," says General Starkey, commander of the facility that had housed the virus. "He was weeping and grinning. "It's on its way, and it's a good deal rougher than (we) ever could have imagined. Things are falling apart."”The war of good versus evil is led by Flagg and Mother Abigail, and acted out by their soldiers; the amalgam of individuals living in their respective towns. King sprinkles a modicum of magic and fantasy throughout the story, which build up a mythology around the two semi-gods. Naturally, religion sprouts from these roots. The intensity and acceptance of this religious outgrowth varies by individual. Some survivors willingly and easily give themselves over to this magic, while others have a hard time letting go of their agnosticism. As the behaviors of individuals start to change, a new culture develops, which informs how the new society will behave. One character explores the new religion: "The beauty of religious mania is that it has the power to explain everything. Once God (or Satan) is accepted as the first cause of everything which happens in the mortal world, nothing is left to chance...or change. Once such incantatory phrases as "we see now through a glass darkly" and "mysterious are the ways He chooses His wonders to perform" are mastered, logic can be happily tossed out the window." In Boulder, Mother Abigail's clan seeks to build a different and better world than what had been destroyed, but it’s well founded in the world that they knew. Flagg, however, has no interest in bettering, outside of improving his own lot. He had no real goal, simply to 'win', to regenerate his own kind (whatever demon-creature he was); and create anarchy wherever he roamed. And while magic (or religion) played a very real and active role in the character's lives, they each had the freedom to make their own choices. "But for each individual cell there was the old, old question, the one that went back to the Garden -- did you eat the apple or leave it alone? Over there, in the West, they were already eating them a mess of apple pie and apple cobbler. The assassins of Eden were there, the dark fusiliers."These two wondrous magicians arrive at a time when one could argue that god has forsaken his people. OVER 99% of all humanity has been wiped from the earth. In this context, one member of the Boulder Free Zone ponders whether "this the right time for gods."I've had an internal debate of how to rate "The Stand" since I finished the book two days ago: 1) is this as good as "It" - the answer is "no". "It" was a terrifically affecting and a satisfying read and I can't get passed how enjoyable of a journey King created with his thorough blend of characters and story. 2) if "The Stand" isn't as good as "It", can it warrant an equal rating? I'm concluding that it can, if for no other reason than the insights and analytical discussions the book has spawned. King knows how to write engaging and deep characters that thread seamlessly throughout a large-scale epic story. I’ve concluded that the 1,000+ page investment was well worth the time.

[pamkaye · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Original written in 1978, King was asked to drastically edit the novel. The publisher felt 1100 pages was too intimidating to the readers. So it was released with about 820 pages (400 cut out). I have read both versions of this book and find that the extra pages and little to the story. There is a new beginning which helps to set the stage, a few parts in the middle which do little for the book, and an extra chapter at the end to let the reader know where Fran and Stu have ended up.In the first quarter of the novel, we are introduced to some of the main players. (Stu Redman, Harold Lauder, Fran Goldsmith, Larry Underwood, And Nick Andros) We are given a little feel for how their lives were before the flu hits the country. Once the flu hits, we feel their worlds change. Many people die from the flu, some from after effects (such as the elderly or children with no one to care for them), and a few are immune. This is the ultimate story of good vs evil, God vs Devil.Randall Flagg is the dark man, the walking dude, the devil himself. Mother Abigail is an angel on earth, the positive image of all good and holy. Many survivors travel to met one or the other of these figures after seeing both in their dreams. This is a long book. It took me a month to read. But it is really worth it.

[henrimoreaux · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

At 1,007 pages for the BCA edition, or 1,100+ for most other editions the uncut & complete version of The Stand is quite the tome. It regularly features near the top of end of the world or post apocalypse best of lists and whilst it was alright, I didn't think it was really that great a fit for those categories, rather books like Earth Abides, Lucifier's Hammer and Alas, Babylon are better representations of those style books.That's not to say the world as we know it doesn't come to an end in this book, it does, but rather I found the focus more about the paranormal aspect of Good vs Evil. The trials and tribulations of the characters as they negotiated the events after the collapse of American civilisation and the conflict of Good against Evil and Evil against Good.Overall, it was a decent story, a bit long in parts but that's probably why those sections were omitted in the original publication. There are some vibrant descriptions of journeys across the country and some brief overviews of the attempts to set up new societies and the contrast between the two ideals. Would I read it again? Probably not, but it was certainly worth reading as someone who enjoys post apocalypse books if only to see why it features so prominently in best of lists.

[catellington · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

It's the end of the world as we know it ...

A deadly strain of influenza brings about a pandemic that begins to kill off a majority of the Earth's population?all caused by a technical error in a DD lab.

The Stand is a VERY lengthy post apocalyptic horror that pits good (an old woman named Mother Abigail) against evil (the dark man, Randall Flag), in an all-out battle for the eternal souls of the men, women and children who survived the plague.
. . .As it had been written: 'Those who died quickly were the lucky ones.'

Although not one of my all-time favorite King novels (I still enjoyed it, despite), and way too long for my taste, The Stand boasts an extremely good plot, and excellent character development. I would recommend it, but prepare yourself for a time-consuming read.