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Book Review: The Talisman

Book Review: The Talisman
Authors: Stephen king & Peter Straub 



“You don’t own a thing unless you can give it up, what does it profit a man, it profits him nothing." 

Reviewing a King novel is a very amusing task. Both the authors have such great finesse in writing supernatural horror that when they team up, something amazing is bound to be produced. The Talisman is one such instance. Stephen King and Peter Straub collaborate to produce a thrilling ride for the readers with an engaging plot and out of the ordinary narrative.

"He cried because safety and reason seemed to have left the world. Loneliness was a reality, but in this situation madness was also remotely a possibility.”

The plot revolves around Jack Sawyer, a twelve year old boy, son of a yesteryear heartthrob actress of B-movies, also known as the "Queen of the B Movies". Jack begins a journey, an extraordinary trip out from Arcadia Beach, New Hampshire with the only aim to save his mother, who is dying from cancer, by finding a magical crystal called "the Talisman." His adventure takes him through the country and the territories which is a strange land set in a parallel universe of the USA. The living beings in the Territories have twinners who are just the copies of the living beings of our world. The twinners can flip or migrate to the either world, but in doing so can only share the body of their alternate universe's analogue.  In the Territories, the beloved Queen Laura DeLoessian, the twinner of Jack's mother, is also dying of unknown circumstances. In his entire adventure Jack comes across various people who posed threat to his quest. He also comes across friendly beings who help him out with his mission. As the story runs back and forth between the Territories and our world, Jack faces from one life-threatening situation after another to reach the talisman.

“Everything goes away, Jack Sawyer, like the moon. Everything comes back, like the moon.”

What's good about this book? Well for starters, with the collaboration of King and Straub, nothing can go wrong. The narrative is engaging right from the beginning. And most of all the book is far away from conventional horror. The authors rather showed the dark and despicable layers of human greed and desire that takes the shape of a horrific evil that can't be bound by the true sense of goodness.
What's bad about this book? That's easy, it's the length. King and Straub tried to stuff everything into one book which clearly should have been an elaborate series. At times a reader can feel there is so much happening and the events take away the light from the central theme of the plot. The climax is a little underwhelming as compared to the first half of the book. Apart from these the other bad aspect of The Talisman is the focus that was given more to the supporting characters than the central ones.

“...he never forgot that sweet, violent feeling of having touched some great adventure, of having looked for a moment at some beautiful white light that was, in fact, every color of the rainbow.”

The Talisman is no doubt an excellent fantasy read which has to offer a lot. Although it might not be the best book of either King or Straub but it is definitely a must read for the fans.

A two and a half stars for The Talisman. ★

#TheTalisman #StephenKing #PeterStraub #TheFictionFreakReviews #HanifHassan

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