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The Shining #1-2
The Shining / Doctor Sleep
Please Note That The Following Individual Books As Per Original ISBN and Cover Image In this Listing shall be Dispatched Collectively:
Stephen King The Shining Collection 2 Books Set:
The Shining:
Danny is only five years old, but in the words of old Mr Hallorann he is a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, Danny's visions grow out of control.As winter closes in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seems to develop a life of its own. It is meant to be empty. So who is the lady in Room 217 and who are the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why do the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive?
Doctor Sleep:
An epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.King says he wanted to know what happened to Danny Torrance, the boy at the heart of The Shining, after his terrible experience in the Overlook Hotel. The instantly riveting DOCTOR SLEEP picks up the story of the now middle-aged Dan, working at a hospice in rural New Hampshire, and the very special twelve-year old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.
Stephen King The Shining Collection 2 Books Set:
The Shining:
Danny is only five years old, but in the words of old Mr Hallorann he is a 'shiner', aglow with psychic voltage. When his father becomes caretaker of the Overlook Hotel, Danny's visions grow out of control.As winter closes in and blizzards cut them off, the hotel seems to develop a life of its own. It is meant to be empty. So who is the lady in Room 217 and who are the masked guests going up and down in the elevator? And why do the hedges shaped like animals seem so alive?
Doctor Sleep:
An epic war between good and evil, a gory, glorious story that will thrill the millions of hyper-devoted readers of The Shining and wildly satisfy anyone new to the territory of this icon in the King canon.King says he wanted to know what happened to Danny Torrance, the boy at the heart of The Shining, after his terrible experience in the Overlook Hotel. The instantly riveting DOCTOR SLEEP picks up the story of the now middle-aged Dan, working at a hospice in rural New Hampshire, and the very special twelve-year old girl he must save from a tribe of murderous paranormals.
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About the author
Stephen King
2,400 books888k followersStephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
January 28, 2024
I loved this classic series from the master of horror Stephen king!
The Shining -
This one took me way longer than it should have, even though I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did do a great job. Everyone knows this is one of Stephen King's most well known stories, and because of that it does have a bit of a following. Add the interest from the infamous movie on top of it and this book may very well have a reputation that is realistically hard to live up to.
Don't get me wrong, I love the premise. An evil, haunted hotel that slowly takes over the mind of our central character. Jack's slow descent into madness was one of the things I was really into. Also, the relationship between "Doc" and his mystical ability of "The Shining" was very interesting. So much so that I wish more could have been done with it. The plot does come to a satisfying conclusion. In my opinion though, it just takes way too long to get there. For example, there is a part in the middle where about 100 pages are almost exclusively used on Jack learning and reading about the history of the hotel. While this could have been interesting in it's own right, it dragged on way too long, as King sometimes does.
I think this book does stand up to the test of time and has aged pretty well. I can also see why so many people love this book, but I think that it could have done with a bit more editing. The pacing felt off at times and some of the characters including the mom were so annoying (though not as bad as in the film) I was basically praying for her death from page 1. I will rate this one a 3.5 star book. Fans of Stephen King should find plenty to like here, and for hardcore classic horror fans it probably is a must read. For someone starting out on their Stephen King journey however, I would recommend starting with one of his other hit books such as It, The Green Mile or Pet Cemetary:)
Doctor Sleep -
This sequel to the master of horror Stephen King's The Shining was a fun and unique ride.
This book has plenty of scares and horror in it just like The Shining, but I loved the angle the sequel took. We follow along with this group of people who all have the special shining ability. But rather than using their powers for good, they hunt and kill others like themselves in order to "eat" their steam, or their "power" in order to greatly extend their own lives. Our main character Danny, teams up with a few others, including a young girl the group is after, to try and stop them.
There are some really cool scenes and themes in this book, and I would go as far as to say I liked this one better than the first book. While maybe not as scary or as "horror themed", this book had a much faster pace and I liked the character work that was done here far more than with The Shining. I would highly recommend the Mike Flanigan movie as well to anyone who hasn't seen it.
If you're a fan of Stephen King, or just a horror buff, then I would consider this series required reading. I also just found out about a prequel short story to The Shining that's available online:)
The Shining -
This one took me way longer than it should have, even though I listened to this on audiobook and the narrator did do a great job. Everyone knows this is one of Stephen King's most well known stories, and because of that it does have a bit of a following. Add the interest from the infamous movie on top of it and this book may very well have a reputation that is realistically hard to live up to.
Don't get me wrong, I love the premise. An evil, haunted hotel that slowly takes over the mind of our central character. Jack's slow descent into madness was one of the things I was really into. Also, the relationship between "Doc" and his mystical ability of "The Shining" was very interesting. So much so that I wish more could have been done with it. The plot does come to a satisfying conclusion. In my opinion though, it just takes way too long to get there. For example, there is a part in the middle where about 100 pages are almost exclusively used on Jack learning and reading about the history of the hotel. While this could have been interesting in it's own right, it dragged on way too long, as King sometimes does.
I think this book does stand up to the test of time and has aged pretty well. I can also see why so many people love this book, but I think that it could have done with a bit more editing. The pacing felt off at times and some of the characters including the mom were so annoying (though not as bad as in the film) I was basically praying for her death from page 1. I will rate this one a 3.5 star book. Fans of Stephen King should find plenty to like here, and for hardcore classic horror fans it probably is a must read. For someone starting out on their Stephen King journey however, I would recommend starting with one of his other hit books such as It, The Green Mile or Pet Cemetary:)
Doctor Sleep -
This sequel to the master of horror Stephen King's The Shining was a fun and unique ride.
This book has plenty of scares and horror in it just like The Shining, but I loved the angle the sequel took. We follow along with this group of people who all have the special shining ability. But rather than using their powers for good, they hunt and kill others like themselves in order to "eat" their steam, or their "power" in order to greatly extend their own lives. Our main character Danny, teams up with a few others, including a young girl the group is after, to try and stop them.
There are some really cool scenes and themes in this book, and I would go as far as to say I liked this one better than the first book. While maybe not as scary or as "horror themed", this book had a much faster pace and I liked the character work that was done here far more than with The Shining. I would highly recommend the Mike Flanigan movie as well to anyone who hasn't seen it.
If you're a fan of Stephen King, or just a horror buff, then I would consider this series required reading. I also just found out about a prequel short story to The Shining that's available online:)
March 10, 2024
2.5 stars
I am not a huge fan of this series or Stephen King's writing in general. But I wanted to read these because of their popularity and out of pure curiosity.
I personally don't find either book to be very scary. They are slow paced and the writing feels disjointed and scattered to me, making it hard to stay in the story.
The Shining is better than Doctor Sleep, but I can't say I'd recommend either one, unless you just want to see what all the fuss is about, I guess.
You can see my review for each book below:
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
The Shining (3 stars)
(Read 10/13/2023 to 10/18/2023)
You can read my review for this story on it's individual book page here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
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-----------------------------------
Doctor Sleep (2.5 stars)
(Read 2/27/2024 to 3/10/2024)
You can read my review for this story on it's individual book page here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
I am not a huge fan of this series or Stephen King's writing in general. But I wanted to read these because of their popularity and out of pure curiosity.
I personally don't find either book to be very scary. They are slow paced and the writing feels disjointed and scattered to me, making it hard to stay in the story.
The Shining is better than Doctor Sleep, but I can't say I'd recommend either one, unless you just want to see what all the fuss is about, I guess.
You can see my review for each book below:
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
The Shining (3 stars)
(Read 10/13/2023 to 10/18/2023)
You can read my review for this story on it's individual book page here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
-----------------------------------
-----------------------------------
Doctor Sleep (2.5 stars)
(Read 2/27/2024 to 3/10/2024)
You can read my review for this story on it's individual book page here: https://www.goodreads.com/review/show...
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
October 29, 2025
I went into this one blind and honestly couldn’t picture what a sequel of The Shining would look like, but this book did not disappoint.
There are so many parallels throughout from The Shining and Doctor Sleep, and while they’re not subtle, they fit well with the story without it feeling forced to get as many references in as possible.
In this book, Danny struggles with the aftermath of the Overlook trauma, he slips into alcoholism but eventually begins to make a life for himself, until he is approached by a young girl Abra who’s abilities are even stronger than his own shining.
Abra is finds herself hunted by the True Knot, a vicious group of quasi Vampires who take the lives of children who can shine to feed themselves.
The ending for me was a little emotional, obviously no spoilers but I really felt it was a great way to wrap up this book and honour the original.
There are so many parallels throughout from The Shining and Doctor Sleep, and while they’re not subtle, they fit well with the story without it feeling forced to get as many references in as possible.
In this book, Danny struggles with the aftermath of the Overlook trauma, he slips into alcoholism but eventually begins to make a life for himself, until he is approached by a young girl Abra who’s abilities are even stronger than his own shining.
Abra is finds herself hunted by the True Knot, a vicious group of quasi Vampires who take the lives of children who can shine to feed themselves.
The ending for me was a little emotional, obviously no spoilers but I really felt it was a great way to wrap up this book and honour the original.
October 26, 2024
Stephen King's *The Shining* and its sequel, *Doctor Sleep*, are a masterclass in horror and character development. *The Shining* is chilling, with the Overlook Hotel as a menacing character in itself, creating an atmosphere of dread that grips you from start to finish. Jack Torrance's descent into madness is hauntingly portrayed, making it a truly unforgettable read.
*Doctor Sleep* picks up with Danny Torrance, now an adult, grappling with his past and his powers. King’s continuation of Danny’s story is both terrifying and heartwarming, blending supernatural horror with themes of redemption and healing. King’s ability to evolve his characters over time is remarkable, and *Doctor Sleep* feels like the perfect resolution to *The Shining*.
Together, these novels make an unforgettable journey into terror, family bonds, and resilience. A must-read for any horror fan!
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews