International Book Club discussion

Have you ever read a book and the descriptive writing turns you off. Especially for in this example, Stephen King writes about this bridge where Charlie's (Main Character) mom get's hit and killed on much early on in the book and every time Charlie mentions the bridge it is GODDAMN BRIDGE. Every time Stephen King brings it up it is always THAT GODDAMN BRIDGE. Ok King, we get the fucking point but don't have to put it into each sentence and at times, in a couple chapters, in the next couple of pages, 10x on each page. It is a real turn-off from reading and makes the reader lose connection with your story. It is poor story writing but sadly that never improved in this novel at all. 600 pages? Please, could have been done in 300. The extra 300 is a waste of paper in my opinion.

I found this novel, which many described to be one of the best of King yet, to be so slow that I literally put it down for a month and came back to it later and was still able to know what was happening. It is like a poorly written soap opera and its sad to say even those are written better. There is nothing keeping the reader hooked in this story until 400 pages in, when the story is finally reaching the climax, is when it starts to get really faced paced and good. As A King fan, I was truly disappointed in this book. Maybe my expectations were to high, I don't know, but truly I did find the writing to be atrocious and I had hoped it would get better but once I was 200 in, I came to the conclusion it never would.

The gladiator fighting in the novel truly intrigued me and that is when I found the story to really get going is when we finally meet the horrifying Night Soldiers, Living Dead Soldiers, and I loved that the twist is the brother of the royal family that was all presumed dead. That kind of surprised me. Leah, princess in this story, becoming Queen once she helps practically kill her brother to save her world, but not getting Charlie and Charlie not getting the girl, I truly loved.

The one other thing I truly did not like about this novel is that it felt completely plagiarized and lacked any originality. Story building also lacked. That truly made me sad for Stephen King. Hope his next book is better.