Under the Dome

Most reviews of this book say it's a return to the style of 'The Stand' - which is true - and no bad thing in itself!
Characters - (of which there are dozens) are well rounded and believable.
Plot - Entertaining throughout and frightening in parts.
Interest is maintained throughout the book - although it may have been a slightly better book for being just a little shorter.
Generally - well worth a listen - and well read.
Recommended - try and make the time to listen to this book.

This was my first Stephen King novel and i loved every minute of it. Raul Esparza was a wonderful narrator (if only there where a lot more books to choose from with his narration). I recommend this to anyone. My next download has a lot to live up to.

Is this book good? Yes. If you have read many Stephen King books to date, will this book given anything new to the reader? Not really...
Not to make it sound like the book is unoriginal, it's just the characters and psychoses developed are so similar to those in countless other situation by King. It is thoroughly readable/listenable, and I recommend this book if you like Stephen King, or just a decent thriller! But don't expect something new from the King of horror/thriller writing. People being trapped under a dome? Okay, that's not exactly unoriginal, but that's really only a small part of the book. The framework on which rests the character development and the good and evil elements of the heroes and villains of the piece.
It is a roller coaster ride for sure, and i don't doubt anyone would enjoy this book, if they are considering it, or reading this.
However, if you are new to King I recommend Needful Things, IT, Christine, Cujo, Carrie and even Dreamcatcher as original and exciting stories.

I've struggled with some of King's recent stuff - for me his early works have a sharper edge, but this, I'm happy to say, is back to form. This feels like Stand-era King, in scale and style, and I love it. Raul Esparza voices dozens of characters uniquely - men, women, toddlers, grandparents... how does he *do* that? - but town official Jim Rennie steals the show. Where Cell was oversaturated with the supernatural, here the appearance of the dome on page one is enough to drive the very human chain of events that form the bulk of this long, but utterly engaging story.

Absolutely awesome book! I usually save my books for reading before i go to sleep and this one had me quaking in my bed in parts! I felt like a small child who'd seen the boogieman. Unfortunately this book was so more-ish that it didn't stay in my bedroom for long. I just couldn't put it down until it was all over. Absolutely awesome!

I'm sorry to disagree with other reviewers of ths book but I found it a frustrating listen. It came across to me like an old Cowboy B-movie. Characters are either wholly black or wholly white. You don't learn much about any of them, or care much about any of them either. The plot is telegraphed to an extent that you can safely skip forward through the more rambling bits to get beyond the point you have already grasped. This may be a genre of fiction that goes over my head, so I appologise to King's many fans, but I'm afraid it left me wishing I had used my credit on something else.

I loved this book and although i agree it did bring Steven King's The Stand to mind i dont think that making it any shorter would have been of any benefit. i was slightly disappointed by the fairly quick ending to it all though. The true star to this though was Raul Esparza. He made the book far more enjoyable with his numerous accents and voices for all the different characters considering how many Steven King always includes in his books. I didnt want to stop listening to this as i wanted to know what was going to happen next which is always a good sign.

I loved this audiobook, what totally made it was the excellent narration- probably one of the best narrated audiobooks I have listened to and couldn't have come too soon as have listened to some pretty rubbish narrators recently.
It's a great novel and my first Stephen King, great characters and there are a lot of them but all are really well developed. The story is out there but actually it feels really believable, I agree with some reviewers about the ending but to be honest that didn't take away from how great the entire novel is.

This story is essentially about the fact that "the best laid plans of mice and men gang aft aglee". The "clustermug" reference is to the habit of Jim Rennie, the corrupted 2nd selectman of Chester's Mills, in avoiding cuss words (he is oh so religious). Big Jim is typified by King as the wheeler dealer who worms his way into positions of absolute power, and then becomes so corrupted thereby that he can't discriminate between his ego needs, and the welfare of his community.
His character may be familiar to many who look over the parapet from time to time and he is also the most interesting character.
Chester's Mills is not unlike many closely woven social groups, embodying the best and the worst of human usage and abusage. Most of us would not object to much of what routinely goes on here, and King's descriptions (although seen by some reviewers as over-long) establish the necessary basis for the disaster which is immediately apparent from the start of "Under the Dome".
Whatever moral judgment a listener may be tempted to embrace, such issues are more or less irrelevant, as the events unfold it seems that Chester's Mills is being randomly sinned against by forces beyond our ken.
One always hopes for a happy ending when sh** happens, sometimes there is one, sometimes not - so wait and see - you will have to listen until the end of Raul Esparza's fine reading of this everyday story of country folk.
Raul has a brilliant ear for the nuances of the "yankee" dialect, and to non-American english speakers such as myself, this dimension is really entertaining.
Thanks Stephen you work very hard to get a result - I believe you have one here!

A tedious story line that seemed to be a quest to write about the most characters ever in a book and the guy narating was dreadfull - especially his attempts at women, If I had paid the full amount for this book I would have been outraged.