written by vkgenjoy on 31/07/2007
When I started this Novel I was surprised by its starting.. It was looking like a Kings Novel..... action-reaction, blood, devastation everything was there, Also it was the first zombies novel I was reading. The kickoff is able to allow anyone to call your hairs, goosebumps. But once after the hundred page mark the story gets slow and sometimes even boring (Although I hate to call such for Kings novel, but it is so..) Somewhere it even looks like the author is writing just for the sake of adding pages. Also the end of the book is not well written, everything looks like you are watching a movie, a movie which you will see and not watch.
written by Dreadlocksmile on 11/03/2006
Synopsis: Stephen King, Cell
"Civilisation slipped into its second dark age on an unsurprising track of blood, but with a speed that could not have been foreseen by even the most pessimistic futurist. It was as if it had been waiting to go. On October 1, God was in His heaven, the stock market stood at 10,140, and most of the planes were on time (except for those landing and taking off in Chicago, and that was to be expected). Two weeks later the skies belonged to the birds again, and the stock market was a memory. By Halloween, every major city from New York to Moscow stank to the empty heavens, and the world as it had been was a memory.
The event became known as The Pulse. The virus was carried by every cellular phone operating in the world. Within hours, those receiving calls would become insane or die. In Boston, a young artist, Clayton Riddell, flees the explosive heart of the city. He makes the connection between those using their cell phones and the mayhem that ensues. Clay's son has a little red cell phone. Often out of juice. But what if this time the battery is full? Clay has to reach his son, before he reaches for his phone."
After the recent success of George A. Romero's return to the "Dead" series with "Land Of The Dead", Stephen King has obviously decided that once again visiting the post-apocalyptic genre would be a good move. And why not? His 1978 novel "The Stand" proved to be a triumphant success, delivering a refreshing new angle to the popular genre. Now with his new novel "Cell", we see very, very similar ideas being used once again with hints of "The Tommyknockers" thrown in as well. The novel begins with a dedication to both Richard Matheson and George Romero. Obviously Matheson's classic novel "I Am Legend" influenced this novel and indeed the whole post-apocalyptic genre immensely, as did Romero's "Dead" films.
The story sets out well, quickly throwing the reader into the devastating events of "The Pulse" that brings the world to its knees. Violence erupts everywhere, as those who are effected return to a primordial state of mind. As the novel progresses, King decides to take a new and interesting direction with the storyline, creating a weird and somewhat surreal tale. The characters, as with all of King's novels, are easily liked and beautifully developed. Unfortunately this alone does not rescue the tired and weak storyline. The book draws towards a classic second rendition of the ending to "The Stand", and then seems to suddenly wrap itself up quickly, as if King himself simply got bored of writing the novel.
The novel was still an enjoyable read, with its fast paced nature, and plenty of unexpected twist and turns in the story to keep you gripped. It's just unfortunate that it lacked any real originality or indeed a spark of enthusiasm for the tale that was present in so much of his older work.
The novel runs for a total of 398 pages and includes a 12 page excerpt from the forthcoming novel "Lisey's Story" which is due for release in October 2006.
Written on: 22/05/2006
Thanks for adding your views on my review of Stephen kings recent novel “Cell” Rushloser2112. I particularly enjoyed your view that I should “read and look into the subjects” next time. Being an obsessive fan of the horror genre for many, many years now I thought I was rather knowledgeable on the subject. Perhaps not in your eyes! With a collection of over 4000 horror films (VHS, laserdisc & DVD) and over 2000 horror novels, I’ve done a fair amount of research over the years.
Thanks for your little snippets of knowledge on “Land Of The Dead” by the way. “Dead Reckoning” was indeed an early working title as was “Twilight Of The Dead”. Yeah, I too have been anticipating the film’s release for many years, reading articles in mags such as Fangoria, Darkside and Samhain on it’s ongoing development. It was a shame the original concept was scraped due to the game “Resident Evil” coming out. A zombie style “Assault On Precinct 13” sounded like a corking concept.
Anyway, back to the review. The reason for my “unoriginal” point in the review was due to “Cell” being almost a reworking of King’s novel “The Stand”. Yeah, the idea of a ‘pulse’ produced from mobile phones to produce the post-apocalyptic downfall of mankind was an interesting angle on the whole genre. Like with “Living Dead At The Manchester Morgue”, “Alpha_Dog”, “Tombs Of The Blind Dead”, “28 Days Later” etc, a new approach towards how it all started does add a lot of originality towards the work, but is not the be all and end all of it. With “Cell”, I felt that King didn’t really take the novel anywhere past areas he has already explored in novels such as “The Stand” and “Tommyknockers”.
The comparison with Romero’s classic zombie work and Matheson’s cult novel “I Am Legend”, was mentioned in my review due to King’s dedication at the beginning of the novel to the two heroes of the genre. Your comment that they “have nothing to do with one another besides the fact that the both contain zombies” did amuse me as the book begins with this dedication!!!! Obviously Romero was heavily influenced by Matheson’s novel “I Am Legend” when he did “Night” which he is the first to admit. I felt that you hadn’t really taken in what I wrote in my review of “Cell” and simply jumped on the first point without actually giving it any thought. I merely mentioned King’s dedication to allow readers of the review to have some initial understanding of where King was coming from with his book. I was in no way saying that the book copied, stole or repeated Romero’s or Matheson’s work. Your observations on the differences were highly unnecessary and a little patronizing.
Oh, and LOTD came out in 2005 not 2004!!! Yes, the film had been on the cards for about 10 years previous to its release. I felt that King had decided to revisit post-apocalyptic zombie fiction due to the release and the mounting interest in that field of the horror genre. The big news of Romero’s return to the dead series was an obvious influence to his choice of novel…and why the hell not? That was merely my point! King didn’t take two years to write “Cell”, he has the unbelievable skill to be able to churn his work out very quickly, sometimes in as little as six months!
Post-apocalyptic fiction is one of my big passions in life, and when it is done well, I feel it can really produce a powerful experience and at times deliver an important message. I personally felt that “Cell” used a clever idea initially, but never really developed from that point onwards.
The sci-fi and horror crossover had great potential, especially with such a talented writer as King weaving the tale. The novel built up tension from the very first page, but soon this dissolved away. I felt the book ended with a very weak and unsatisfying conclusion, with many questions still hanging in the air.
I’m glad you enjoyed the novel and obviously got a lot more out of it than I did. That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it, I just expected much more from such a great writer. I hope to hear a response from you to my comments, perhaps re-reading my initial review might give you a better understanding of where I was coming from.
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Rushloser2112's Response to Dreadlocksmile's Review
Written on: 19/05/2006
I personally think that you could not be more wrong with you comment about the plot line being unoriginal. As a very large fan of both the genre on Horror novels especially Stephen King and Of the George A Romero zombie films. I can say that the two things having watched/read both very extensivly have nothing to do with one another besides the fact that the both contain zombies. Also Land of the Dead orignally called Dead reckoning was set into motion long before Stephen King began to write the cell. It also came out in 2004 i believe Stephen takes a longer time to write a book than two years especially considering the magnitude and depth of this book. I must say it is a great read and that it is well worth the buy. Next time i suggest you read and look into the subjects you relate a book too next time. IN addition as i think of it in the cell, the virus is spread throught cell phones and the pulse. In the dead series it is done throught an airborne virus that efects the core of your brain re inhabiting your primal instincts in the core of your brain after you die. Also in the dead series it takes 4 movies and some odd years before zombies begin to develop basic intelligent pattern as shown by Bub in day of the dead and Big Daddy in land of the dead. Thank you good day thanks for considering my views.