OurMissBooks - reviewed on 10/5/2011

Helpful Score: 1

Reviews I have read in newspapers and online seem to agree that readers either love this book or absolutely hate it. I am one of those who 'love it'. It measures 1,141 pages, so anyone who doesn't like the first couple of chapters probably will never finish it. All those pages are needed, though, to tell this truly epic, wide-ranging story. King's characters are so well-drawn, even ones that only appear on a page or two just so you'll know how they died. The main characters in particular are really interesting, and do grow and change with the events of the story. If you can get your book club to wade through this (and mine so far won't) you'll probably get some great discussion out of it. Science, politics, spirituality, religion, sociology, etc. all are a part of the story.

The book describes a plague - a man-made virus - that kills over 90% of the world's population. Survivors (in the U.S.) are lead by dreams to one of two places - Boulder, Colorado (the good guys) or Las Vegas, Nevada (ruled by The Bad Guy). Events lead to a 'final' stand between the two. Obviously, there's too much to tell here, but King does a great job of interweaving the lives of dozens of characters and overlapping events. I recommend it!

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