Back to the title question, I don't really think the order matters.
I agree. The Regulators and Desperation are twin novels of a sort. They happen in different worlds an can be read in different orders, although Desperation feels to me like it came first. That might just be because I read it first .
Of the two books Desperation is my favourite.
As for Rose Madder, yes they it shares a character with Desperation and as such is set before. However, you don't really need to read it first. The character (who happens to be quite central in this book) is quite minor in Rose Madder, and you can always catch up on his/her background later.
That being said, I really like Rose Madder, even if King himself wasn't keen on it.
Back to the title question, I don't really think the order matters.
I agree. The Regulators and Desperation are twin novels of a sort. They happen in different worlds an can be read in different orders, although Desperation feels to me like it came first. That might just be because I read it first .
Of the two books Desperation is my favourite.
As for Rose Madder, yes they it shares a character with Desperation and as such is set before. However, you don't really need to read it first. The character (who happens to be quite central in this book) is quite minor in Rose Madder, and you can always catch up on his/her background later.
That being said, I really like Rose Madder, even if King himself wasn't keen on it.
I loved Rose Madder - i actually ranked it quite highly on my favourite S.K books as well!! I wonder why he wasn't keen on it - i know a few people on here aren't big fans of it either
I loved Rose Madder - i actually ranked it quite highly on my favourite S.K books as well!! I wonder why he wasn't keen on it
I've read King felt he was 'trying too hard' with it. I'm not sure what he means by that. There was stuff that I really didn't understand at the end of the novel... maybe it's that complex stuff he was talking about, or maybe he felt he was trying to be too clever.
I quite like not understanding everything fully though as it gives me something to munch in my mind...
Apart from the
Spoiler:
mystical other worldly stuff
(which was a big bonus for me, I love reading about that) I rather liked the sympathetic way King dealt with the main character though. I don't think the book is without it's faults but it's far from bad.
Um, ok, sorry, this thread wasn't supposed to be about Rose madder was it? Still, for those wanting to read Desperation reading this would be recommended too, simply because it's a good book. It's not prerequisite, and the order doesn't really matter though as I said, but if you're gonna read both anwyay might as well read RM first as it's set first.
Um, ok, sorry, this thread wasn't supposed to be about Rose madder was it?
Very true.
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I prefer The Regulators which I read first. I just think the beginning bit when the regulators turn up and start laying waste to everything just comes out of the blue and you are just WTF I have read it a couple of times. You are really thrown into the deep end!
I wasn't overly fond of all the God stuff in Desperation
I agree, I think that's why I prefer The Regulators. All this talk has made we want to re-read it!
It's not that I had, you know, a problem with it or anything. I just differ in beliefs, so it kind of struck a "ooh, that's not how I would feel" chord.
I actually found that side quite interesting. Mind you I come from a Christian background, so that might have had something to do with it.
That wasn't the only thing I preferred over the Regulators though. I think it's because it felt closer to reality to me*. Two people get picked up by a cop... who isn't quite right... and things go downhill from there.
The setting with the spooky town and the critters helped a lot too. It's just so atmospheric while The Regulators is very... wham, bam. Cartoon dudes appear out of nowhere, shoot people, etc. It was an interesting idea though, and I certainly didn't dislike The Regulators, just my preference.
*That's not to say that all the stories I like have to be close to the real world. I some high fantasy work for example.
I'm actually really liking the cartoon-y violence of The Regulators. The stark, realistic approach in Desperation was great, but so is the seemingly senseless, child-like quality of The Regulators. They're like yin and yang, they fit together well. Though I must say I was confused at the beginning, because it was all the same... But not at all.
I read Desperation right when it came out and thought it was pretty exciting, even 13 years later I remember it very vividly. Five years later I read The Regulators and liked it even more. The surreal alternate Earth angle was really great, the book felt like it could have been a nightmare of a character in Desperation. That's probably why I liked it more, because I'd read it second and was getting lots of deja vu even five years between reading the two books.
One thing though, I don't think throwing this under the Bachman name makes any sense at all. Aside from Thinner all of RB's books are very black and white, non-supernatural, non-dreamlike King. It is no surprise that Thinner blew King's cover, it couldn't be more King in its voice if it tried! Regulators has a very 90s King feel to it, nothing like a real Bachman book. When I read Blaze a while ago, it felt much more correctly labeled as Bachman even if it seemed glaringly updated and re-written.
I was tickled by the use of the same characters but in completley different circumstances. I was a little afraid i would get confused by the two different realms but i needn't have worried.
After finishing both, i still think Regulators is the better story, there is more a fight for Tak than in deperation where it all seems a little staid (compared) and the whole God thing was annoying too, not because it was a God plot but because God didn't actually do anything. For me personally i would have been mega happy if it had been the turtle steering things.
I have a couple of questions about Regulators.
Spoiler:
Firstly, why do we think Seth saved Audrey? and not his own family, i understand he was younger then and not as powerful, but i would have thought if he was going to choose a time to 'haunt' it would have been a time where his family where around??
secondly, do you think they are alive? but in another realm - still living as it where? if this is so why have they not aged/ are they stuck in a loop, never getting older? or are they dead? For me the loop idea creates more of a nightmare situation than the whole Tak thing
that Tak had more control over Seth at the start, or that Seth was too scared to fight back at first. As for where Seth and Audrey ended up, it seems a bit like the other New York/when that Eddie and Jake end up in or maybe even someplace like The Territories. So basically, I think they're on a different level of the Tower and when they were spotted at Mohonk like in the examples at the end, they were really being seen because they'd come through a hidden highway or had maybe flipped for a while.
I loved them both. Read Desperation first then watched the movie for it. Then I read Regulators and I highly enjoyed that one much more then I did Desperation.
the names of the two books are blocked out so the thread didnt answer my questions. Which book do i read first and why?
Sorry just getting around to these two.
You can read in any order. They have elements that crossover, but do not rely on the other. Of course you probably are aware that there are similar characters in both books, but again they do not follow as a first and sequel.
Originally Posted by Brainslinger
I agree. The Regulators and Desperation are twin novels of a sort. They happen in different worlds an can be read in different orders, although Desperation feels to me like it came first. That might just be because I read it first .
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I wonder why he wasn't keen on it - i know a few people on here aren't big fans of it either 
Give us some feedback after you've read them both, just so we know how you felt about them!
