The Stand by Stephen King is an epic masterpiece of an apocalypse novel. The Stand is a journey or a quest against evil where only one side can prevail. The character work is incredible. I can’t name a book where as many main and side characters stick with me. King will reward you for remembering a side character, who you thought might not show up again, but they do. The themes of good and evil are throughout. The book is an allegory for so many Bible tales. The book is also a sociological study of what humans will do after a major, earth-shattering event. I don’t know if it was going through Covid. Alternatively, I might have matured since the last time I read The Stand. But I loved it way more this time than I read it 12 years ago. I liked the book, but I didn’t appreciate it. Now I appreciate it. As a writer, the things King does with establishing and describing characters are genius. The book, for its over 1,000 pages, read pretty fast. There were only a couple of chapters that read slowly. The ending to the book is still over so fast. I know that bothered me a lot when I read it last time, and it still does a little bit. I picked up a lot more when rereading the book. I noticed how much the word “stand” is used, even at the beginning. I also picked up that the word “ka” is used, connecting it to The Dark Tower. The Stand has had two adaptations in mini-series format, but a film was just greenlit by filmmaker Doug Liman. I’m a fan of both the mini series. I don’t know how you do a movie of The Stand. However, I will watch it. My two main reasons for rereading The Stand were that I never reviewed it for this site.

My second reason is an upcoming book called The End of the World as We Know It. It is an anthology written in the world of The Stand by the top horror writers. I’m attending a book launch party and signing. One of the editors, Brian Keene, will be there, along with six writers contributing stories to the book. These writers are Chuck Wendig, Alma Katsu, Richard Chizmar, Ronald Malfi, Bryan Smith, and Somer Canon. The Stand by Stephen King was originally published in 1978. I read the complete uncut version that was published on March 4, 1990.

Plot Summary: A super virus that was created in a government lab escapes. The virus kills humans and animals alike. The virus that some call Captain Tripps has a 95% kill rate. The survivors all across America start having visions of Mother Abigail, 108 black woman, and/or Randall Flagg, the dark man with glowing red eyes. The visions will lead to a standoff between good and evil.

What I Liked: The character development is the best. I can not remember a book where so many memorable characters are created. The epic scale of the book is massive. There are so many set pieces. The story is an epic quest all over most of America. The writing in the story is amazing. I still think The Shining is his best work, but this might be a close second. I love the way good and bad are portrayed with many layers. I like how the characters react and play off each other. I loved how sociology was used in the story. Glen Bateman, being a sociologist, made the explanation of social theories easy to understand for the reader. The description of the towns and landscape made it easy to picture. My copy had illustrations that I found interesting and striking. Glen Bateman’s final scene in the book was epic. The scene cumulated all of Glen’s ideas on sociology and leadership. I loved the vision scenes and dreams. My favorite character arc was Larry Underwood. I love how much he changed throughout the book. I could spend a couple of pages just going over my favorite characters. On this read, one side character stuck out. It is The Kid. He picks up and escorts the Trashcan Man to Las Vegas. This character was crazy. I wanted to see a prequel of how he lived before Captain Tripps. Happy Crappy should be a saying.

What I Disliked: The Mother Abigail chapter was so slow where it discussed her background. I felt it repeated itself a lot. The rest of the book moved like a freight train. I think the Tom Cullen and Stu Redman chapter should have been shortened by a lot and kind dragged. The ending of the big moment is over so fast. I don’t know what I wanted, but I didn’t want it to end that fast. I do think there was a missed opportunity. Larry Underwood should have been at a crossroads with Mother Abigail and Randall Flagg. Randall Flagg gave Larry a pass he could have used him not being such a nice guy.

Recommendation: The Stand is incredible and should be read. If you have seen both The Stand miniseries, you still don’t know all the nuances, all the characters’ motivations. Randall Flagg is a lot scarier in the book because he is shadowed and built up until he meets Lloyd. Twelve years ago, I rated The Stand 4 stars, and I don’t know what I was thinking. The Stand is one of the top books from Stephen King and should be appreciated more. To all of my followers, do yourselves a favor and read The Stand.

Rating: The Stand By Stephen King. I rated 4.8 out of 5.

Ranking: I have read over 30 Stephen King novels but only read and reviewed 15 for my blog. I will rank where The Stand fits into the 15 I have read and fully reviewed. The ranking is from best to worst: 1) The Shining, 2) The Stand, 3) Misery, 4) 11/22/63, 5) On Writing, 6) IT, 7) The Outsider, 8) Fairy Tale, 9) Later, 10) If it Bleeds, 11) Elevation, 12) Joyland, 13) Mr. Mercedes, 14) Billy Summers, and 15) The Dead Zone.