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The Stand cover art

The Stand

By: Stephen King
Narrated by: Grover Gardner
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Summary

First came the days of the plague. Then came the dreams. Dark dreams that warned of the coming of the dark man. The apostate of death, his worn-down boot heels tramping the night roads. The warlord of the charnel house and Prince of Evil. His time is at hand. His empire grows in the west and the Apocalypse looms.

For hundreds of thousands of fans who read The Stand in its original version and wanted more, this new edition is Stephen King's gift. And those who are listening to The Stand for the first time will discover a triumphant and eerily plausible work of the imagination that takes on the issues that will determine our survival.

©1978 Stephen King (P)2012 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

'As a storyteller, he is up there in the Dickens class.' ( The Times)

What listeners say about The Stand

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  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

King's greatest novel

The long awaited audio release of SK's greatest book. A post-apocalyptic gem that has King's typical weave of immensely detailed characters, immersed in an epic biblical story. Grover Gardner does a great job in the narration and doesn't 'over do' the female characters.I can't recommend this book more highly.

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71 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

a key Stephen King title

I have been waiting for this audio book for years. I take the book with me everywhere.Its my go to book. King gives an end of the world tale hope along with the despair. One of his best books, a must have to complete your King collection,

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49 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

King addictive

Some books start well then fade away. Others may get put down before the opportunity to hear the climax. Some hold your attention throughout. This is one of those books. My family didn't know I existed throughout the time I spent listening to this book. A narrator can sometimes spoil the experience - not in this case. The voice suited the story.

I recommend this book to listeners who want to escape into a world they know to be fiction but believe could be scarily close to the truth ! Enjoy

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41 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

New and improved.

This book always rated as one of my best ever reads. This audiobook now rates as one of my best ever listens. Grover Gardner brings the characters to life in such a way that the written word never did and it's a true classic not to be missed. If you're new to Stephen King this is a fine place to start. If you've already read the original, the additional material in the audiobook version, and Grover's narration, make it well worth the purchase price.

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32 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

The Ultimate Story of Good versus Evil

In my opinion this is Kings very best novel.

An epic thought provoking story of what could happen if...........

This is an immense work of art, full of characters that you will in turn, like, love, hate and fear.
If you haven't read or listened to The Stand before, then you are in for a treat.

If you have already read the book and are considering the audio version, then in my view it loses very little if anything in the narrated form. It is still the same wonderful journey for Larry, Stu and the rest of the gang.

After 47 hours of listening I can't wait until the edges of my memory begin to blur so that I can listen to or read the book again.

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28 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars
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    5 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    5 out of 5 stars

Not for everyone

As you may have read tons of time - this is not a book for everyone. Having said that I can say I very much enjoyed it mainly because of the characters and the way how King manages to describe their inner selves with dialog and not with character descriptions like "he had brown hair, bla bla". I don't care how someone looks, I care about how they act in given situations and what they say or think - that in my opinion is what makes a character rememberable and not what kind of a shirt he wore. Anyways, exactly that is what King is doing and that's why I like this book so much. Also, I like the character development (Larry for instance) where he goes from being a really selfish $#"$%"# to a concious man. Anyways, if you like the book where the thing you'll remember later are the characters over the actual plot - you'll like this one!

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26 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

A great listen

I couldn't stop listening to this book. It's was highly entertaining and had a gripping plot. To top it off the narration was incredible, mr Gardner really made the characters come to life.

However, I have always thought Stephen struggles to write proper endings to his books. I can't put my finger on it but in a lot of his books I've found the ending to be lacking something, for me this book is no different.

MILD SPOILER ALERT
If you're a devout atheists you may find the strong religious theme a bit too hard to swallow towards the end and abused in order to get the ending over with. Being a king novel you are always going to get a religious/supernatural theme but one scene towards the end I was simply unable to suspend my disbelief.
FINISHED SPOILING.


Over all I wold say this book is more about the journey it takes you on rather than the final destination. It's interesting and gripping. I wish I could forget it so I can read it again.

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22 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    1 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    4 out of 5 stars

Probably just me but i don't like the narrator

If this book wasn’t for you, who do you think might enjoy it more?

Anyone who likes the sound of Grover Gardner's voice

What did you like best about this story?

Always liked the story, starts as end of the world man made plague & becomes a fight between good and evil, I have read the 'dead tree' a couple of times and wanted something familiar to listen to

Who might you have cast as narrator instead of Grover Gardner?

Almost anyone, I couldn't stand his voice & I didn't make it 1/3 of the way through the first part before deleting it

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20 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Performance
    2 out of 5 stars
  • Story
    2 out of 5 stars

Hmm

Not as good as I remember it. I was left with a vision of an old pervert of an author hanging over a typewriter trying to describe totally unnecessary sex scenes.

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19 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    4 out of 5 stars

Quantity vs quality

I have never read the book but I'm glad I've listened to it. The narrator is excellent and really brings the characters to life of which there are so many, some favourites include Tom Cullen, Nick and the Walking Dude himself among others. King is an excellent story teller and often detours into minute descriptions at times but with this Novel I felt too much was wasted on precisely that. Some major story lines are left hanging, some major characters are 'removed' too suddenly and without much of an explanation.

The ending was also disappointing verging on ridiculous, however, if you want an entertaining novel with a range of characters then this is it. Despite everything I did really enjoy this and consequently purchased Under the Dome!!

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12 people found this helpful