The Dead Zone by Stephen King

428 Pages
Fiction
1979

I have gotten into a kick of rereading a bunch of old King stuff so I revisited this.

Johnny has a bad fall as a kid and picks of the ability to occasionally get ahead of things and predict what is going to happen. He gets in a bad car accident and suffers in a coma for 5 years. When he awakens his power of foresight is much more acute. After touching a person or object and can occasionally see things about them in great detail. He uses is powers to help some people, but is generally avoided as a fraud or a freak. Eventually, he has a vision that he decides he needs to do something about.

Stephen King has always had an ability to draw me in like no others. I find myself reading longer and more often when I am reading his books. He writes without a lot of flair, but is able to make each character into a person you feel you could meet on the street. The Dead Zone continues this great story telling.

3 Intellectual/Emotional - You really get to know and care about the characters.

4 Style/Readability - King delivers again. (Even though this is early in his career.)

4 Long Term Impact - King has millions of fans and everything he writes is a bestsellers. He already has influenced writers for years and will continue to do so for as long as he is writing. Dead Zone stands as one of his better books and will continue to entertain for a long time.

11 out of 13. Great Book. Others to check out if you are interested. The Stand and The Dark Tower Series.

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You Suck by Christopher Moore.

328 Pages

Fiction Humor Horror

2007

I have read a number of Moore's books now. I started reading the Bloodsucking Fiends trilogy and this is the second in the set. I'll talk about Bite Me the final book at the end.

In the first book Tommy has been put into service by the vampire Jody. In the second book Jody turns Tommy into a vampire as well. We follow their misadventures of getting another servant, looking for a new place to live and avoid the cops who want them out of town. 

I read through the whole thing in a couple days. Moore keeps things simple and to the point, It is a humorous look at the dark side of vampirism. In some ways it does come off as sophomoric. A big part of this is Abby. She is the servant thy get. She is presented as a Goth girl who just loves vampires and wants to serve. A part of the book is written as if it is her diary. I found those parts to be hard to get through because she writes like a Valley Girl talks and it was hard to enjoy.

2 Intellectual/ Emotional - I had a hard time caring about anyone except Tommy and he comes off a jerk sometimes too.

3 Style/Readabilty- Moore is easily digested and is pretty funny. I think sometime he pushes the limits without much success, such as the Blue Hooker that everybody wants because of latent Smurf fantasies from childhood. 

2 Long term impact - I don't see this breaking the scene much. It is a niche humor and that is wear it will stay.

1 bonus point for the humor.

9 out of 13.

I enjoyed the first two books in the series. I started reading the last book in the Trilogy Bite Me and I had to give up. As noted I thought Abby was the most annoying of the characters and it seems like a lot of the last book is from her point of view. After the 20th time of her using Kayso to start a paragraph I decided I couldn't be bothered with it anymore.

I suggest reading the first two and ignoring the last.

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The Well of Ascension and Hero of the Ages by Brandon Sanderson

The Well of Ascension 781 pages Paperback
The Hero of Ages 580? Paperback
Fantasy Fiction
2007
2008

I was so drawn in by the first book in the series. I read the last two books in the trilogy soon after. We continue to following Vin as she develops her abilities and the other members of her crew start to learn what it is really like to be in a leadership role.

I enjoy Sanderson's writing. He has a handle on making politics play its role without dragging the story because of it. He has a fantastic sense of writing a battle that is able to be visualized. Often it is hard to understand exactly what is going on in a fight, but Sanderson makes it easy. His use of a magical world that has an understandable way that it works is also intriguing.

It has a been a little bit since I have read these.

I am going with 11 out of 13 for the series. It is really good and worth any fantasy fans time, you will be drawn in and surprised.

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