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Thread: Sleeping Beauties - Discussion and Spoilers!

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    Gunslinger Apprentice BountyHunter is on a distinguished road

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    Default Sleeping Beauties - Discussion and Spoilers!

    While I haven't read this yet (it's on its way to me via book depository), I thought I'd start a thread about Sleeping Beauties because I didn't see one on here yet.

    So let the discussion begin. I'm sure a bunch of you have read it already. How is it?

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    I thought it needed a proper editor. Steve and Owen have their own editors, and Steve's one is the least overworked person on the planet. This book is too long and average at best.

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    Darn. Not what I was hoping to hear. Hopefully, I'll think differently when I get mine.

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    There is definitely some bloat in the book. Overall a very interesting topic. I love that they collaborated and how they collaborated, but not the best book. Good, but not great. I was also a little put off in the need to throw in some politics.
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    Not one of his better books. With SB coming on the heels of Gwendy's Button Box I hope SK is finished collaborating for a while; like for the rest of his career.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Ben Mears View Post
    Not one of his better books. With SB coming on the heels of Gwendy's Button Box I hope SK is finished collaborating for a while; like for the rest of his career.
    Except, of course, for the third Talisman book, right? 😉

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    About 70 pages in and like it so far. I do think there's a bit too many characters this early on and wish it would've started with the sleeping sickness right away.
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    Mine just arrived today, and seeing the lack of activity on this thread leads me to believe it's gonna be a stinker. Good thing I prefer to read first and make up my own mind, eh? 😄

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    I'm currently at page 300 or thereabouts and so far I really like it

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    Page 403 and I'm struggling to find motivation to continue. There are simply too many characters. It's not just the quantity - The Stand had a pretty ridiculous cast but those people were interesting and we're able to illicit an emotional response. Sleeping Beauties is full of cliched caricatures and I simply don't care about any of them.

    And talking animals? Really?

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    Quote Originally Posted by WeDealInLead View Post
    Page 403 and I'm struggling to find motivation to continue. There are simply too many characters. It's not just the quantity - The Stand had a pretty ridiculous cast but those people were interesting and we're able to illicit an emotional response. Sleeping Beauties is full of cliched caricatures and I simply don't care about any of them.

    And talking animals? Really?
    Talking animals is my favorite part.. I Loved watership down

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    Talking animals? Lol. Wha?

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    Yes, so far the talking animals aren't bothering me at all. It's true that there are too many characters but I'm still entertained and curious where the story will take me so that's a good thing!

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    finished it today. I enjoyed it, but agree it was just average compared to King's other stuff.

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    Traveler writersblock is on a distinguished road

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    I am about a quarter of the way through and enjoying it at the moment. Got a few books on the go to read after this as I am trying to work my way through the whole bibliography at the moment

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    A real conceptual mess. I get the impression that Owen wrote the bulk of it. Too many characters that go nowhere. The best example are the Griner brothers who are referenced, make an appearance at the climatic moment, and then get themselves killed without advancing the plot one iota. It's too bad because they were among the more interesting of the characters. To top it off we get a jarring reference to shootings by white police officers toward the end. I do give SK and OK some credit for not following the standard plot lines. There really is no "bad" guy in the book or winners and losers. Everyone is equally miserable. I give it a forgettable C-. If they make it into a TV series, it's going to be another Mist-like disaster.

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    Funny cause I got the impression SK wrote most of it - I couldn't see Owen's voice at all.

    What happens to trans people during Aurora? Must be a bit of a kick in the teeth if you've identified as a female for years but you keep waking up

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    Quote Originally Posted by cowboy_ed View Post
    Funny cause I got the impression SK wrote most of it - I couldn't see Owen's voice at all.

    What happens to trans people during Aurora? Must be a bit of a kick in the teeth if you've identified as a female for years but you keep waking up
    For folks that have had their teeth kicked in their whole lives I suppose it would be just another drop in the bucket.

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    Finished the book today and loved it. Especially loved the way characters dropped like flies during the fight at the prison.

    Next up, Revival.

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    I liked it. Seems to be a book that some liked and some almost hated. I think they could have done MUCH more with the book though. It could have been a classic but it was just a book I liked.
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    I definitely liked it as well. I think they could have devoted some extra pages to tie up everything at the end - it felt a bit rushed, especially after the long buildup. But it was a solid and enjoyable book.

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    You guys have hit the nail on the head as to how I'm feeling. It's a real slog to get through for me...
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    Ok, I finally finished the book. It was a struggle but I kept thinking there would be a good wrap up for all of this. I was so very, very wrong. Alright. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Spoiler alert. Do not read any further if you have not read the book.


    Wow, where do I start? First, I get it. It was a good thought--i.e. what would happen if one gender was gone? This wasn't anything new. We saw something similar with "Left Behind". The dialogue was absolutely horrible. Everyone sounded the same and seriously lacked any intellect. An elderly lady saying "Yippie"? Wow. I wish I had a digital copy of this book as I would love to count the number of times a particular 4 letter word was used in the book (it begins with F and ends with K). I think every character in the book uttered that word at some point. I also think this book made a concerted effort to include as many catch phrases as possible. One of my initial issues was with folks swinging from one extreme to another within the blink of an eye. One question I kept hoping I would get an answer--i.e. why were the women trying to stay awake? Are we to believe Aurora was of concern only for Dooling? The world is filled with male scientists but a plastic surgeon in Dooling is the only one able to make any discoveries? (I'm referencing his discovery with burning the cocoon). BTW, how big of a town is Dooling if it has its own resident plastic surgeon? Back to my question--i.e. why were the women trying to stay awake? Ok, I can understand there are some women who may need to stay awake for as long as possible but we've got women in prison trying to stay awake. Is the answer because no one understood or knew anything about Aurora? Umm, this affected the entire world. Wouldn't places (medical facilities) have already established some of the obvious ... including the obvious of 'they ain't dead'? Wouldn't this be similar to a coma? Ok, I get that Lila would need to try and stick it out; she's the sheriff for gosh sake. But am I to believe a sheriff on drugs has a prayer at being productive in performing her duties (and in a crisis situation to boot)? Oh, let me get this out of the way as well. I had to laugh at the miserable failure of the evidence Lila collected accusing her husband of fathering another child. When their son looked at the picture and couldn't see the "obvious" resemblance Lila swore was there, I had to do a double take. This is a 20 year law enforcement officer. Was this an example of that law enforcement office's investigative skills? And speaking of Dooling's law enforcement office, am I to believe they don't have emergency response procedures which establishes chain of command and whatnots? The book suffered, in my opinion, when it tried to include real world instances such as mentioning 9/11, which, in law enforcement, is huge in terms of responding to disasters. I won't bother commenting on Terry, the alcoholic. He's 2nd in command, worked at the law enforcement office before Lila joined but is inept. (Ok, I did comment. LOL) This story was poorly done and could have benefited from some research. The deck was stacked. "All men are bad and violent. All women have been abused and taken advantage of." We all could close our eyes and finish the book just from reading the initial pages. Even Eve Black hated men. It struck me as funny how the men of the world couldn't carry own once Aurora started. No one went to work. No one opened any stores. Business stopped. Men couldn't do laundry, shave, etc. It was interesting Dooling only had a women's prison. I wonder where men went when they were sent to prison; out of town, maybe? But the story stated men were bad and violent so why did Dooling have a women's prison? (Duh, because the story needed it.) A point of the story was women didn't have a say. So, Our World, gave women a place where they had a say. What about the rest of the women of the world? What I mean is the decision rested with only the women of Dooling in Our World in terms of whether they would return or not return and it had to be unanimous. The point was the men would not give the women a voice (yeah, I know, loved how they made sure Lila reminded Clint about the pool to further show how the women were mistreated in the real world). So, the women who were still asleep during all of this didn't get a say in whether they wanted to wake up in Our World or wake up in the real world. I'll wrap this up with one more. Clint and Frank. Another pair of characters who are "gung-hoed" one minute and "I don't know" the next. Frank's goal was to collect Eve Black and bring in doctors from ... out of town<?> (apparently, the only doctors in Dooling MUST be women since the story only talked about the local hospital when Frank was taking his daughter there). Why didn't Frank get the doctor (or doctors) and have them go to the prison? I found none of the characters of any interest. Lila's goof with facial features (20 years of law enforcement!) was just too silly. Clint's internal rage at everybody (including Lila) seemed to come out of nowhere. Clint was certainly the most sex deprived character in the book. When he asked Lila if she met anyone in Our World, I started laughing wondering where that came from. Near the end, there was the bit of him sexually fantasizing about Eve Black. Geez. Oh, forgot about Fleckenger. Frank chops down his front door with an axe and the next thing they are BFFs. Oh come on! After reading this book, I wanted so badly to re-read Revival, Doctor Sleep, End of Watch, anything. I needed to find comfort in a really good book. lol. On a slightly positive note, I also purchased the audiobook and remembered it included an audio conversation with MR. Stephen King and Owen King. I learned the original plan was to make it a mini tv series. Owen noted they shot 2 episodes, including the pilot, but chose to write the book first. Knowing this, the number of characters in the book made sense. I will say this, knowing what I know now, I would have still read the book. I am too big of a Stephen King fan ... just wish it wasn't so bad. Anywho, just my loose thoughts.

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    Finally got around to starting this, and so far I'm loving it. Not having problems keeping the characters straight at all, and I can't put it down. Can't wait to see where it goes.

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    Quote Originally Posted by RichardX View Post
    A real conceptual mess. I get the impression that Owen wrote the bulk of it. Too many characters that go nowhere. The best example are the Griner brothers who are referenced, make an appearance at the climatic moment, and then get themselves killed without advancing the plot one iota. It's too bad because they were among the more interesting of the characters. To top it off we get a jarring reference to shootings by white police officers toward the end. I do give SK and OK some credit for not following the standard plot lines. There really is no "bad" guy in the book or winners and losers. Everyone is equally miserable. I give it a forgettable C-. If they make it into a TV series, it's going to be another Mist-like disaster.
    +1
    I struggled to get through it and am glad I am done so I can move on to a better book. It was just too long and slow.

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