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Sleeping Beauties

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Sleeping Beauties

By: Stephen King, Owen King
Narrated by: Marin Ireland
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About this listen

 A spectacular father/son collaboration like no other, Stephen King and Owen King tell the highest of high stakes stories: what might happen if women disappeared from the world of men?

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place...

The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?

Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, SLEEPING BEAUTIES is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.

(P)2017 Simon & Schuster©2017 Owen King Horror Suspense Thriller & Suspense Scary Fantasy Fiction

Critic reviews

No longer content with dominating the horror genre for decades, Stephen King now seems set on creating top-notch chillers as a family business....kick-started by a very Kingish high concept...made immersively believable by the usual Kingian control of a vast cast of brilliantly drawn characters. Bravo
'A beauty of a horror tale...The first epic collaboration between Stephen King and son Owen King is ambitious, heartbreaking and, when it comes to its central horrors, all too timely...The Kings create a thought-provoking work that examines a litany of modern-day issues
A bulging, colourful epic; a super-sized happy meal, liberally salted with supporting characters and garnished with splashes of arterial ketchup. (Xan Brooks)
Easily devoured, and I look forward to the next book from either or both Kings eagerly.... One of my favourite books of the year.
This delicious first collaboration between Stephen King (Doctor Sleep) and his son Owen (Intro to Alien Invasion) is a horror-tinged realistic fantasy that imagines what could happen if most of the women of the world fall asleep, leaving men on their own...The authors' writing is seamless and naturally flowing...once the action begins, it barrels along like a freight train'
The prose never loses its vitality and humour; the ideas are always intriguing; and there's no gainsaying the adventurousness and ambition
All stars
Most relevant
the master storyteller and one of his apprentices produces the magic yet again
another King triumph!!

the master

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I love Stephen King, I really do, but this? This is some kind of mistake I think... Never read anything written by King jr, so I assume that's the main influence here. Anyway, the whole thing is just a combination of "it" and "the stand" with a touch of "orange is the new black ". I'd say it was written on the awesome wave that mr King is on currently with netflix and cinema and the fact that feminism is kinda trendy now.
The only good about this audiobook is the narration as it is truly a master performance. Other than that it is disappointing.

Naive, predictable and boring...

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another great story by King and his son. I love how he writes about people. a good listen for long journeys.

very enjoyable

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Enjoyed Sleeping Beauties & I would recommend it.

it has a really good start with great characters, I lost it a bit in the middle & towards the end though for some reason as I felt like it didn’t capture me enough to keep me interested, however I liked the story idea & the narrater was excellent!

Very good

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I had something of a difficult experience with this book, but I am not exactly sure why. I struggled with it in the beginning, loving the book, but it seemed to escape me all the same. Started again, and stopped again, halfway through.

Then I reread (for the fiftieth time...) the good book 'It' - and somehow that provided a key into finishing this one. And I liked it quite a bit.

Maybe listening to it helped - what a great performance! Really entertaining and supporting the story.

A lot of the theme's that are touched on in It return here. Men abusing women? Just ask Beverly Marsh. Children playing a key part? Well, ask all the losers club. Some decent adults, sometimes where you expect them the least - they are in all Kings stories. And of course there is someone (something?) supernatural. Strange, scary - and always with beauty in it. (No, there's no beauty in Pennywise, but remember the turtle! And how that one shows up in The Dark Tower)

So a revisiting of old stories and storylines, for sure - but so are all Kings books. The way that story gets retold is what keeps you hooked, even (or maybe especially) in the always meandering back- and sidestories. For me, they are the true genius of King. And apparently that is a family thing.

What parts are written by Stephen, and what parts by Owen? That's playing the same game I played in Black House, or The Talisman. It doesn't matter - the co-working is also just a continuation of something that King did earlier.

I certainly are going to read/listen to this book again. Maybe I will find what kept me from finishing it in one sitting.

Probably something I knew instinctively, from the start, and didn't want to acknowledge. Maybe it has something to do with me being a man.

Go read/listen to this. It's worth your time.

Vintage Stephen King - with hope for a future

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