Stephen King is a master of literary horror whose 63 published books have transcended the realm of belief with tales of the paranormal, murderous, haunting, bizarre, and most vile. When he authored Carrie, his first novel, in 1974, his name immediately skyrocketed to one of the most recognizable in the horror genre — both for his novels as well as his short stories. Almost instantly, Carrie was picked up by director Brian De Palma to be adapted into a movie starring Sissy Spacek as the titular character, Carrie White. Since then, King has been a powerhouse with new stories coming from the mind of horror's most cherished author every single year, but how do they compare to one another?
Over his nearly 50 years of writing, King has authored over 200 short stories and novellas as well as 61 full-length novels. Carrie was his first movie adaptation, but it was nowhere near the last. Stanley Kubrick took on the task of transforming The Shining into a major motion picture starring Shelley Duvall as Wendy Torrance and Jack Nicholson as Jack Torrance. Movie adaptations of Stephen King books are released at the same frequency as his literary tales, with at least one making its debut every single year since 1980. There are currently 14 upcoming King stories in development to become a series or movie. King also commonly collaborates with other writers; over the years, he has written screenplays with his son Joe Hill—of NOS4A2 and Locke & Key fame—as well as co-authoring a novel with his youngest son, Owen King, titled Sleeping Beauties.
King has quickly become known as the king of literary horror, with a legacy that could make his last name the definition of the genre. While some of his written works are short story collections, the most recent being 2020's If It Bleeds, he has a total of 61 novels as of this writing. King is set to release his next full-length story in 2021, titled Later, under the Hard Case Crime company. Each of King's novels are impeccable in their own right, but some are certainly better than others. Without further ado, here is every Stephen King novel—excluding short story collections—ranked from worst to best.
The Gunslinger is the first installment in King's The Dark Tower series. It introduced Roland Deschain, one of the last remaining gunslingers, who must navigate a fantastical world filled with demons, monstrous creatures, and more. While it is not a particularly bad novel, it's the weakest out of his entire bibliography. King is primarily recognized for his horror novels and The Gunslinger is far more fantasy-oriented than anything he had done prior to the release of this 1982 book. It was new to the author's general wheelhouse, and this was reflected in his writing.
If there's one thing that Stephen King does well, it's the apocalypse. In the 2006 novel Cell, a New England artist discovers that a bizarre cellular signal is transforming people into zombie-like creatures. It is no George A. Romero horror story, but it is King's own valiant attempt at making his mark in the zombie horror sub-genre. Due to the vast amount of literature featuring the living dead, it reads as an unremarkable tale that could've been far better had he focused more on the technological aspects and social commentary that was woven into Cell.
While some book series get better over time, The Dark Tower's sixth novel, Song Of Susannah, proved that some things just don't work. The fantastical elements are only utilized in an attempt to connect Stephen King's massive multiverse, as the characters find themselves in the author's own home with a copy of his novel 'Salem's Lot. Besides the personal Easter eggs he includes, Song Of Susannah is an underwhelming addition to a series that began as such.
Rage is the first novel King penned under the name Richard Bachman. Due to the fact that he was constricted to publishing one novel a year, he created Bachman in order to produce more content than his publisher would allow. It was a clever way to avoid over-saturating the market, but fans inevitably discovered that Richard Bachman was Stephen King. Rage tells the unsettling story of a school shooting. Its contents are so disturbing and relevant to real-life events that it was dropped from publication entirely. It isn't a bad story whatsoever, but it is a hard read that requires a lot of will-power to get through in one sitting. Rage's ending is particularly maddening, as it finds the school shooter with a somewhat sympathetic ending where he is found not guilty due to his mental instability; his victims do not find true justice.
While Gwendy's Button Box is considered a novella, it is consistently listed under King's bibliography of full-length novels. He co-wrote the story with Richard Chizmar. It follows the story of a young girl named Gwendy Peterson, who lives in the fictional town of Castle Rock, Maine. Castle Rock—another of King's fictional towns—was the recent focus of the Hulu original series, Castle Rock. It isn't a very remarkable story, as it is composed of remnants of each author that merge into a story which only strengthens the mythos of Castle Rock rather than Gwendy's experiences in the town.
The Wind Through The Keyhole is the eighth novel in The Dark Tower series, but it takes place between the fourth and the fifth book chronologically. This story serves as an adventure tale for the main protagonist. The novel is filled with rather unremarkable events that weren't entirely necessary to the larger story of The Dark Tower series.
Another Bachman book, The Regulators, was released at the same time as Desperation in 1996 to act as mirror stories to one another. They each represent a parallel universe where nearly every character is accounted for, but they each live under different circumstances than their parallel counterparts. The story is captivating, but its mirrored universe makes it more complicated than is entirely necessary, especially if fans were not privy to the fact that Bachman and King were the same person at the time.
Rose Madder features a common theme in King's stories: domestic violence. It is a fantastical story about a woman named Rose who has the courage to leave her abusive husband before he has the chance to take her life. While its story is important, the book's fantasy elements caused it to reside in a genre of disbelief, where the reality of the story became unimportant in comparison to the otherworldly design.
Stephen King's Dreamcatcher is an amalgamation of some of horror's greatest sci-fi elements, including alien invasion and body horror. The story is set in Derry, Maine, another one of the three fictional towns that King created for his literary multiverse. Dreamcatcher can be captivating in instances, but leads to underwhelming scenes and dialogue that could've been bettered had its plot not been reliant on so many sub-genres meshing together. Even the movie adaptation - despite its closeness to the source material - is regarded as one of King's worst.
After author Mike Noonan's pregnant wife unexpectedly dies, he is sent into a state of writer's block that he is desperate to break free from. Once isolating himself in hopes of bringing back his authorial spark, he begins to hallucinate. It is a riveting paranormal story but leaves a lot of questions left unanswered. Plus, its epilogue is rather abrupt. King has written far more nuanced and complete supernatural horrors than Bag Of Bones.
The Dark Tower's seventh installment, The Dark Tower, features Stephen King—once again—as a secondary character. This time, Jake rescues King from the van that nearly killed him in 1999. It is an interesting read and showcases the author's ability to weave his own personal stories into the greater narratives of his fantastical and horrific tales. Despite all of its good aspects, there are several elements introduced in this book that cause the overall series to become a bit more complex than is entirely necessary.
King has written several stories about cars throughout his career. From A Buick 8 features a supernatural car that can shift between worlds. It's an entirely different take on his first story about a possessed car, Christine, but its uniqueness does not make it better than its predecessor. It lacks the excitement that is attached to a killer Stephen King car story and opts for a bizarre story about a car that can transport between worlds instead. This is far more reminiscent of Charlie Manx's Rolls Royce Wraith in Joe Hill's novel, NOS4A2.
In this detective mystery novel, King tackles the genre with a clever tale about a nefarious killer at a North Carolina amusement park. After a carny grows privy to the death that shrouds the once pleasant location, it is up to him to help crack the case and catch a killer. King isn't a detective mystery novelist by trade, but this is an impeccable attempt at it. While it isn't necessarily the best in comparison to his other novels, it does highlight the author's capability to shift from genre to genre to capture the horrors that exist in every aspect of life.
The Dark Tower's third novel, The Waste Lands, forces the characters to confront the paradox they created by travelling back to 1977. As the series progresses, King adds numerous sci-fi and fantasy elements that can make the story overwhelming for the casual reader. The Dark Tower's interwoven narrative has the ability to draw someone in, but it also can lose an audience entirely. This installment in particular has been often cited as the one that causes fans to either abandon the series completely or carry on until the very end.
Clayton "Blaze" Blaisdell Jr. is a con artist who plans on kidnapping a wealthy man's son in hopes of making his partner in crime proud. While the story is rather cut and dry, it is complicated by Blaze's mental disability. It impacts the entire storyline and creates a terrifying image of manipulation and coercion. Blaze was a complex story to craft and navigate for the author, which shows through each page as Blaze's character is confronted with the spirit of his partner in crime.
Stephen King's favorite novels and stories often feature a Midwest or Northeastern setting, but Duma Key is his first to travel south to Florida as well as north to Minnesota. The story follows Edgar Freemantle, a man who has lost his right arm and has to learn how to navigate the world with severe brain damage as well. He decides to move to Florida, where he is convinced that his old artistic hobbies might better his ability to find joy in the world again. When his story begins to weave into one from the past, Edgars starts to experience otherworldly phenomenon that makes Duma Key a tragic tale of overcoming one's circumstances.
Cycle Of The Werewolf is Stephen King's shortest novel to date. Each chapter is its own story that features a werewolf terrorizing a small town every time the moon is at its fullest. It is a more traditional werewolf tale, with very little King twists, making it a solid and casual read. Cycle Of The Werewolf is neither good nor bad, it's just not the most remarkable story he's ever written and can easily get overlooked.
After a strange man is discovered off of the coast of Maine, he remains unidentifiable for several years. The Colorado Kid is a classic detective mystery that showcases King's ability to work well within the genre, whereas Joyland presented the opposite. It is an enthralling read that is able to capture the reader's attention from beginning to end.
The Dark Tower's fourth installment, Wizard And Glass, is one of the best books in the entire series. It finds four gunslingers in Topeka, Kansas during the 1980s. At this point, the world has been wiped almost entirely of any human life due to an influenza outbreak that is referenced in King's earlier novel, The Stand. When Randall Flagg appears, the gunslingers have to face one of King's most malevolent characters who has capabilities beyond the realm of belief. With references to The Stand and The Wizard Of Oz, Wizard And Glass is an impeccable story in King's expansive bibliography, especially in The Dark Tower series.
Another Bachman book, Roadwork tells the story of Barton George Dawes. While grieving over the loss of his child and divorce, he delves further into mental instability with the news that he will be left homeless and jobless as an interstate makes way through his Midwestern town. The book is currently in development to become a full-length movie with Andy Muschietti, who helmed IT: Chapter One and IT: Chapter Two, set to produce it with Pablo Trapero as its director.
The Eyes Of The Dragon is one of the first fantasy novels that King authored in his lengthy career. It features a medieval setting, magic, and the classic battle between good and evil. The novel's setting is tied into The Dark Tower series as a Delain is one of its In-Worlds. Critics regarded The Eyes Of The Dragon to be one of his best works when it was initially released. While it does have its merits, it's not the best story he has ever crafted by far.
When eleven-year-old Frankie Peterson's body is discovered, Terry Maitland is charged with the crime. As the story progresses, the case gets increasingly complicated and the Outsider starts to coerce the police officers and investigators in town. The Outsider was recently adapted into a HBO series that was cancelled after season 1. The story is filled with true crime, killers, detectives, bizarre characters, and more, making it an enthralling story from start to finish, despite being somewhat of a slow-burn compared to other King novels.
One of Stephen King's newest novels involves Jamie, a kid who can see dead people, dead people who can't lie to him. There is no writer alive who does "kid with powers just trying to survive" better than King, and that is Later's gift but also its curse. King's prose is as clean and snappy as ever, and quite often evocative and astonishing in the beauty of its simplicity. But none of the themes in the book are particularly new to King, or his readers. Later is certainly a zippy, entertaining read, but in the end, it's not one of the more memorable works from a writer who has produced so many.
Set in 2025, The Running Man (soon to be adapted by Edgar Wright). tells the story of Ben Richards as he participates in a game show that shares a title with the novel. The contestants are required to outrun hunters who are sent out to kill them under the totalitarian regime of the new world. The Running Man is as if Stephen King had written a long-form episode of Black Mirror. The book features elements of Charlie Brooker's series with its dystopian setting as well as the exploration of technology's impact on the world. Since 2025 is approximately five years away, it may be the opportune moment to read this incredible sci-fi horror novel by King.
King's favorite book changes from time to time. Lisey's Story is often considered the one that tops them all for the author due to his personal connection to it. The novel tells the story of Lisey in the aftermath of the tragic death of her husband. She must now learn to cope and navigate the world without him by her side. As new information about her husband reaches the surface, her perspective of him is changed forever. Lisey's Story is based on how King reflected on a vehicular accident that nearly took his life. It is his way of questioning what his family's life would've looked like without him had he died that day. It is a dark, painful, and melancholy story.
When Scott Carey discovers that he has contracted a strange illness, he is faced with several symptoms that are nothing short of bizarre. Set in Castle Rock, Maine, Elevation includes social and political discourse intertwined with an otherworldly story of a man struggling to be cured of his new ailment. It is considered a sequel to Gwendy's Button Box, but it is more of a soft sequel than anything. It isn't an entirely remarkable tale, as its attempt at detailing specific social problems in the world tends to fall short of achieving their intended purpose.
The twin novel to The Regulators, Stephen King's story in Desperation centers on Collie Entragian, who is kidnapping various people off of a Nevada highway. As Entragian makes excuses for their crimes, the townspeople of Desperation discover that they are actually possessed by a malevolent force named Tak. It features nearly every character from The Regulators, but finds them facing far different circumstances as a means of examining parallel universe theories. The twin novels work well together, but Desperation's story is far more captivating than the other's.
Co-written with Peter Straub, The Talisman is a harrowing tale about one boy's journey to save his mother from dying of cancer. Jack Sawyer sets out to find a crystal called "the talisman" that has otherworldly abilities, including the cure for cancer. When his adventure takes an unexpected turn, he winds up in a parallel universe. King has a notable infatuation with time travel, parallel universes, multiverses, and other sci-fi elements. In The Talisman, he and Straub capture a heartfelt fantasy tale that evokes empathy towards Jack Sawyer and his desire to save his mother.
Detective Bill Hodges faces the end of his life, which prompts him to investigate a string of suicides that are all tied together under one commonality — an encounter with Brady Hartsfield. End Of Watch is the second follow-up novel to King's Mr. Mercedes and features the titular character (Hartsfield) with a new set of supernatural powers. It's a riveting third installment in the trilogy and expands the mystery of Brady Hartsfield without over-complicating the character.
The first installment in the Mr. Mercedes series introduces Brady Hartsfield and detective Bill Hodges, who has recently retired from the force. As news of Hartsfield's crimes start to spread with attachments to Hodges, he is forced out of retirement to take down the nefarious killer. It serves as the perfect set-up for the trilogy. Mr. Mercedes immediately creates an environment and atmosphere that makes for realistic characters in horrifying circumstances.
The Tommyknockers isn't King's favorite novel. In fact, it is one that he regards as outright awful. The author has his own ranking system for his stories; fans and critics didn't find The Tommyknockers nearly as bad as he did. The Tommyknockers is a Lovecraftian tale with Stephen King stylization, and there's very little wrong with it besides its parallels to other stories that preceded it that, as a result, serve as comparison material for The Tommyknockers.
King is a master of taking his real-life stories and transforming them into terrifying tales, such as The Dark Half. The novel was written shortly after the author was exposed as Richard Bachman and follows Thad Beaumont, an author with a persona that comes to life. Nearly everything King utilized to stage Bachman—and then kill him—is reflected in The Dark Half. It's an eerie window into the inner-workings of the author's perception of his own alter ego and the character he made up in order to publish more than one novel a year.
Peter Straub and King teamed up once more to craft the sequel to The Talisman, titled Black House. This time, Jack Sawyer is a detective who has repressed the events that took place in the first novel. With several twists and turns, Black House is a captivating detective mystery with supernatural elements that includes cannibalism, mentions of the Dark Tower, and the darkness that lies within Hollywood's decadence.
Set in 2017, Under The Dome examines a Maine town and its residents when they are unexpectedly confined to a dome, entirely isolated from the rest of the world. As the brutality of humanity is exposed under these constraining circumstances, the town is without any mitigation from the outside world and within their community. It's one of King's most captivating stories as it includes horror elements familiar to The Lord Of The Flies as well as notable influences from George Orwell's work on dystopian universes and governments. At a whopping 1,000 pages, it isn't a casual read, but is worth the commitment.
Revival features a bizarre story of a minister who denounces religion, the murders that led him to abandon his faith, a young man who's left stricken with grief, and the potential for everything to get better by any means necessary. It features elements similar to Mary Shelley's Frankenstein as well as the cosmic horror that made H.P. Lovecraft so captivating for his time. King is a master of marrying several themes from influential horror novelists and creating his own unique tale from them. Revival is one of his most impressive examples of this ability to date.
While King's works with his son Joe Hill are the most well-known King family collaborations, his co-authored novel with his youngest son, Owen, features women wrapped in gauze who could become feral if given the opportunity. Sleeping Beauties is a bizarre story that includes a somewhat biblical character named Evie, the only woman who is immune to the illness that is causing women to fall into deep slumbers. This global pandemic is unlike any other in King's repertoire, which makes it stand out among the rest of his novels that feature a dystopian world or apocalyptic disaster.
Wolves Of The Calla is the fifth installment in The Dark Tower series. It is one of the most action-packed novels in the series, with several fantastical battles that culminate in a strange discovery. While it is the fifth story out of the eight total included in The Dark Tower, it's arguably one of the best due to its ability to grab the reader's attention and keep it for the entirety instead of bogging them down with heavy detail. Other installments have notably let down the series' fanbase, but Wolves Of The Calla proved that it could get better over time.
Firestarter is a story about hallucinogenic drugs, their lasting impact on the human body, and pyrokinetic abilities. With government conspiracies backing up this sci-fi horror novel, it is one of the greatest works King has ever authored. There is also a wealth of real-life conspiracies and true events that assisted in the story's overall creation, making it all the more fascinating. As of this writing, Universal and Blumhouse are working together to bring Firestarter to life as a full-feature for the first time in nearly 40 years.
Stephen King knows how to write a tale about a haunted car, which is especially evident in his novel Christine. The 1958 Plymouth Fury is purchased by an unsuspecting young man named Arnie, who isn't particularly popular, but hopes that the car will bring him some positive attention. As the novel progresses, the true nature of the vehicle—lovingly named Christine—comes to life. John Carpenter of Halloween fame adapted the story the same year the novel was published.
Known as one of his least adaptable stories, Gerald's Game is nothing short of disturbing and unsettling. After a wife is left handcuffed to a bed when her husband unexpectedly dies, she is left to her own devices to survive. With the appearance of the Space Cowboy, this story goes from disturbing to outright strange. It was adapted for Netflix by Mike Flanagan of The Haunting Of Hill House fame, proving it could be made into a movie despite its troubling storyline. This tale of a woman in crisis shouldn't be overlooked for its strange sci-fi qualities, as it only makes her torment even more complex and palpable when considering the circumstances she is left under.
When Billy Halleck is cursed by a Romani man named Taduz Lemke, he begins to shed weight at an alarming rate. While doctors speculate that he likely has cancer, others involved in his legal battle begin to show signs of growing scales and painful acne, all of which were not present prior to the case. Thinner has not aged well due to its ascription of curses alongside Romani people and their culture, but its story continues to be socially relevant. At its core, the novel is about the pressures of weight loss and disordered eating.
Women are a central topic in King's literature, especially in the novel Dolores Claiborne. Just like Gerald's Game, it features a woman in the middle of a crisis. It is a little-known fact that the two novels are actually connected by the solar eclipse that takes place near the end. Despite their connection, the story of Dolores Claiborne features a woman in distress at the hands of another woman. It is so captivating that it was adapted into a movie starring Kathy Bates as the titular character who torments Vera Donovan.
Billy Summers is an ex-Army sniper turned hitman pressed to do one last job before he can get out in a tale that is less horror, more thriller. Stephen King has always been a master at throwing together seemingly disparate topics and themes and somehow weaving them together in a fitting tapestry, the literary equivalent of grabbing whatever one has in the fridge and throwing it into the pan. That's what happens with Billy Summers–there's the horror of war, the rituals of small-town America, Fallujah, the inner workings of the mob, the art and terror of writing, a platonic love story, and more. Yet it all comes together into one delicious dish that is one of King's best novels in years, a thought-provoking novel that is more than it appears.
When Ralph Roberts of Derry, Maine begins to experience severe insomnia, his sleep deprivation allows for supernatural capabilities to develop. He is able to perceive people's auras as well as entities that are divided into "The Purpose" and "The Random." It is an investigation into the realities of life while questioning the concepts of fate and destiny. When random events take place, they don't follow the true purpose, but when purposeful events take place, the random doesn't impact the greater timeline. Insomnia ties in several Stephen King stories including The Dark Tower, IT, Dreamcatcher, Black House, and Pet Sematary. While it could be perceived as solely serving the purpose of being a universe-building device, the lengthy novel uniquely captures the impact of insomnia on the human psyche as well as life's greater design.
Finders Keepers is the second novel in the Mr. Mercedes trilogy and, by far, the best. Rather than slowly build on the universe, it immediately takes on an entirely new mystery that intertwines with Bill Hodges's as well as the series' primary character. It is filled with suspenseful scenes that make it a certified page-turner that will keep readers hooked from start to finish. King may not be known as a master of the detective mystery genre, but Finders Keepers gives him the title of having written one of the best of the 21st century.
Cujo happens to be another Castle Rock, Maine story, but instead of featuring the town's traditional killer or nefarious character, its malevolent force is a deadly dog. After a bat infects Cujo with rabies, the once well-tempered dog goes on a killing spree. When Donna and her son Tad are trapped in a car as he torments them with the threat of death, they come to the realization that they will inevitably die if they are not rescued before dehydration sets in or the dog breaks into the vehicle. It is an enthralling tale filled with tension that only King can create.
Another dystopian novel, The Long Walk is set in America as a totalitarian dictator rules over the nation. When the annual walking contest begins, each of the contestants are destined for failure in one way or another. The game isn't created with a true winner in mind, it is simply set as a form of torture for the one-hundred participants. It captures the lengths people must go to overcome the harmful nature of dictatorship.
When Leland Gaunt arrives in Castle Rock, he sets up an antique shop for all residents to peruse. When a proprietor of his establishment wishes to purchase an item, he requests that they perform mischievous acts in exchange for what they desire. As the story continues, his requests become even more devious, causing sheriff Alan Pangborn to step in. Needful Things, much like several of King's other novels, examines humanity and its most brutal aspects. With his continuous building of Castle Rock's environment, this novel in particular serves as an impeccable addition that makes even the most mundane and somewhat innocent elements of the location evil.
The psychological horror novel The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon tells the story of Trisha, a young woman who falls down an embankment and is forced to learn how to survive or die. In order to keep hope alive, she listens to her Walkman to hear news of her disappearance or to enjoy a baseball game featuring her favorite player, Tom Gordon. This story of survival is a bit more disturbing than some of King's other tales about the same topic, as it features a much younger protagonist than usual.
When children are kidnapped and taken to an institute, they are experimented on due to their supernatural capabilities. The Institute goes the distance to describe kids in bizarre circumstances with individualized stories of survival as well as escape for some of them. It is a sci-fi horror novel that eloquently captures the possibility of an X-Men gone wrong universe. Where, instead of children being praised and nurtured for their abilities, they are poked and prodded for nefarious reasons.
Doctor Sleep follows Danny Torrance after the events of The Shining. As he has grown into adulthood, he has fallen into the same patterns of behavior as his father, but when the world needs his shining, he courageously pulls himself out of his self-destructive behavior to help Abra Stone. Due to its ties to one of King's greatest stories of all time, Doctor Sleep is often regarded as an unnecessary follow-up to The Shining. Regardless of whether or not it was necessary, the novel has its merits and expands on the concept of "the shining" while not overshadowing its predecessor.
The 1996 magical realism novel The Green Mile is one of King's most impeccable works of fiction. It intertwines the harsh realities of the American prison system with the humanity of inmates who have complex and empathetic backstories. Even with the supernatural qualities of the novel, its foundation is an indescribable masterpiece that continues to prove that the author can examine humanity like no other. Although Stephen King's The Green Mile isn't a true story, it shines a light on very real racial inequalities in the United States.
King's second novel, 'Salem's Lot, follows Ben Mears and his experiences in Jerusalem's Lot, also known as 'Salem's Lot. As he starts to write a novel about the infamous Marsten House, he uncovers an even more strange and dark history that no one could've predicted when he set out on his mission. It is one of King's only stories to feature classic horror creatures: vampires. The novel is the truest to the horror genre than any of his other stories, as it could be considered a classic vampire tale rather than a complex paranormal story like The Shining.
After moving to the Maine countryside, Louis Creed couldn't be happier with his wife Rachel and their two children, Ellie and Gage, by his side. When their new neighbor, Jud Crandall, shows Louis the pet cemetery—misspelled as "sematary" on the entry sign—he tells him of the powers the land has. It brings the dead back to life. Even with the pleasant new life they've created in Maine, tragedy soon follows the Creed family and causes Louis to test the theory that the dead can come back with the help of the cemetery's dark magic. With dead animals, vehicular accidents, and a lifetime full of torment, Pet Sematary captures the horrors of losing a loved one and the lengths a person will go to have just one more day with them.
When a time traveler goes back to the day former President John F. Kennedy was shot, Al Templeton faces the harsh realities of messing with the fabric of space and time. In order to successfully stop the assassination, he recruits Jake Epping, a high school teacher who knows nothing of time travel, but agrees nonetheless. In this historically driven sci-fi novel, King creates a world where it may be possible to correct the wrongs in the world through the means of time travel while also emphasizing the importance of recognizing the complexities of trying to "fix" a set timeline.
The Drawing Of The Three is the second installment in The Dark Tower series and accomplishes what The Gunslinger could not. It opens up doorways to the lives of others who will impact Roland's adventures. The Drawing Of The Three perfectly establishes the multi-dimensional elements of the book series, whereas the first installment faltered in doing so. Each installment following the second novel has utilized its foundation of otherworldly travel to make The Dark Tower series what it is today.
King's story of Carrie White has been adapted and retold several times since the book's release in 1974. It was Stephen King's first novel, paving the way for the author to become the king of horror that he is today. Carrie tells the story of a telekinetic young woman whose powers develop after she menstruates for the first time. It is told through various documents uncovered during the investigation into the fire she caused at her high school. The format of this novel is relatively rare, and King perfectly utilizes the investigative method to tell one of horror's most important stories.
When a flu virus runs rampant across the nation, it leads any and all survivors to take shelter in their homes in hopes of avoiding the biological attack on the United States. As it quickly turns global, martial law is set into effect and over half of the world's population is wiped clean. While The Stand was initially King's dark concept of the world turned dystopian as a result of illness, it appears to be more relevant than ever in the wake of the COVID-19 global pandemic. It is one of his most detailed novels that features several outstanding characters and storylines. Much like fans theorize that The Simpsons have predicted several major historical events, King's fandom have also ascribed this predictive power to The Stand.
While The Stand's 1978 version is impeccable in its own way, the uncut edition of the story is far more detailed and gruesome than its predecessor. The original stood at approximately 800 pages. When King set out to create the uncut version, he included everything he left out of the original and also changed chapters, altered the setting to the 1980s, and made it more relevant to when it was released in 1990. IT was once Stephen King's lengthiest book. Since 1990, The Stand has taken this title, beating IT by 14 pages.
After Johnny Smith Wakes up after a five-year coma, he discovers that he is clairvoyant. The Dead Zone takes place in Castle Rock, Maine while a serial killer is on the loose. With Johnny on their side, the police may be able to find their killer sooner than they might've been able to accomplish if he hadn't woken up in time. The Dead Zone is one of the greatest sci-fi novels that King has ever written. It was even adapted into a movie of the same name starring Christopher Walken in 1983.
When Annie Wilkes kidnaps Paul Sheldon, he is forced to abide by her every wish or risk losing his life. Misery tells the tale of what happens after a fan decides to take their admiration for a creator and their art too far, especially when they are dissatisfied with one of the artist's products. It displays the courage and strength of an individual to overcome his tormentor's manipulation in Stephen King's universe. The sense of human spirit is strong in Misery, and King ensures that everyone in the novel gets exactly what they deserve. It is one of the most disturbing stories he's ever written, but it's also one of the most important, as it highlights a very serious issue in every creative industry.
Most fans of The Shining recognize the 1980 Stanley Kubrick adaptation over the 1977 novel, but the original story is much different than the one that was made for the big screen. It features Jack, Wendy, and Danny Torrance as they travel to the Overlook Hotel so that Jack can take care of the property over the winter months. As he struggles with substance abuse and a history of domestic violence, the hotel's spirits begin to torment him into falling back into old and troublesome habits.
While the movie depicts Jack as the primary target of the hotel, it was actually Danny that the Overlook wanted because of his incredible ability called "the shining." When they are unable to possess him, they go after his father. The Shining is one of the most captivating stories that King has ever written, and it has made an astounding impact on popular culture in the years since its release. It has been referenced in several popular television shows, including Ryan Murphy's American Horror Story: Hotel and The Simpsons. While it could be considered the best—and likely is to some—there is one book in particular that stands far above them all.
Ultimately, IT is the best novel King has authored to date. While it may be a divisive story, it is one of the most detailed, articulate, and timeless tales that he has ever written. It could tie with The Shining and Misery for its impact on popular culture and horror history, but its universe-building narratives set it apart from all the rest. If it weren't for Pennywise the Dancing Clown's own origin story, this book could have fallen lower on this list. However, its impeccable storyline alongside King's astounding ability to weave in several coming-of-age stories under the umbrella of one larger tale sets it apart from the others.
Several other Stephen King stories could have easily tied for first place, but none are as talked about, questioned, and theorized on as IT. Likewise, the recent movie adaptations of King's timeless novel have propelled levels of interest to an all-time high, leading fans to apply new meanings and thinking to a decades-old book, keeping it fresh for generations. The story of the Losers Club as they go up against Pennywise as children and then as adults has become a classic tale about overcoming obstacles, abusive environments, and the difficulties of growing up.
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