Book Review: The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

Only the Talisman will save young Jack Sawyer’s dying mother and he must embark on a quest across America (and into another world) in order to obtain it.

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

I had been anticipating The Talisman since forever, I can’t even put my finger on why, I just had the feeling it would be a book I would fall in love with. And if I’m completely honest, it just wasn’t what I had hyped it up to be in my head. I still REALLY enjoyed it and think it’s a fantastic book, but it’s not a new favourite. *sad face*

Jack Sawyer is a great character, he reminds me so much of Jake Chambers, and this perhaps is the problem – he’s not Jake Chambers. This book also gave me intense Dark Tower vibes… but once again, this is not the Dark Tower. I think part of the problem is that I was comparing it to the Dark Tower, and it was never gonna come close to surpassing King’s magnum opus, and my favourite book series of all time. I have a feeling that if I had read this first, I’d perhaps have loved it a lot more.

Now this opening to my review feels harsh, because I did LOVE aspects of this book and thoroughly enjoyed reading it. Wolf quickly became a new favourite King character – what a sweet soul. “Right here and now!” I really could have done with even more Wolf. I also loved the concept of the Territories and Twinners etc, although it did get slightly confusing at times, especially because some of the Twinners had names that were very similar (which is intentional, of course), but sometimes my brain had to connect the dots and work out who was who. The story also dragged at parts for me… and I wish we had spent more time in the Territories, because normal earth is just boring in comparison, and I wanted to know more about this different world!!

The Talisman is fraught with emotion – Jack is a very emotional child, who felt very real to me, and his quest to save his mother is so damn brave and admirable. It’s really something special to watch his growth and development as he travels across America. The collaboration between King and Straub felt pretty seamless – I honestly just felt like I was reading a King book, I’ve yet to read any Straub so can’t really comment if it felt like Straub’s writing, but King was definitely stamped all over this one.

I’m honestly so upset that I didn’t LOVE this one, I just didn’t connect with it in the same way I thought I would. I did really enjoy it though, and am looking forward to reading Black House soon! 4 stars!

Johann

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