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Thread: The Talisman / Black House

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    Sleep Controller ZoNeSeeK is on a distinguished road ZoNeSeeK's Avatar

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    Default The Talisman / Black House

    I know these books are definitely up in the favourites for most people that have read them, but for those that may shy away because they are co-written - DON'T!!!

    Out of anything else King has written, these use the most Dark Tower themes. Switching between the worlds, breaker prisons and the crimson king all feature along the way, so if you havent had a crack at them, its something you must do!

    Which book did people prefer more - the more adventure-based Talisman or the more crime-related Black House?
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    I have read The Talisman and loved it, but for some reason I have never gotten around to reading Black House.
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    Sleep Controller ZoNeSeeK is on a distinguished road ZoNeSeeK's Avatar

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    Its good, just a different approach. I preferred Talisman over the two - I could strongly relate to Jack Sawyer as when I read it was only a year or so after my mother had died.
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    The Tenant Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean has a brilliant future Jean's Avatar

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    I like about two thirds of Talisman. Especially the Sunlight Home part, which is unforgettable. But after the highest point of the story -
    Spoiler:
    Wolf's heroic death
    - it rapidly went downhill, and the last quarter was hardly readable. I love the whole of Black House, though.

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    I'm inclined to agree with Jean. I wasn't sure I'd be into Black House and that Jack would befriend anyone new I'd like as much as Wolf...then Henry Leyden came along...one of my favourite SK characters.ever.

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    The White! MonteGss is on a distinguished road MonteGss's Avatar

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    I loved them both. I remember reading The Talisman when I was a kid and I enjoyed it so much. I read Black House a few months ago, I think I now prefer that one cuz of its more prevalent DT connections.

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    I like the Talisman more, probably because of it's whole 'epic quest' thing that it has going on. Black House is more localized - a good story, but not as adventurous. I'll agree, though, Henry was a frickin' awesome character. I also liked the Thunder Five dudes.
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    THe Talisman was a much better read. I had trouble with reading Black House, I just couldn't get into it.
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    I loved both but, Black House didn't quite grab me like The Talisman did. It was still a really good book though and I can't wait for the supposed third book in the series(if it ever gets done).
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    I loved 'em both for different reasons - and am looking forward to the third compliation which should really tells us what happened to
    Spoiler:
    the wounded Jack once he flipped back to the Territories at the end of Black House!


    Each story also had one great supporting character!

    No doubt Wolf was one of the best ever uib The Talsiman - gee look at my sig why don't ya!

    And Henry Leyden in Blackhouse was simply awesome
    DT Spoiler - Enter at your own risk!

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    Henry Leyden is probably one of the coolest characters, ever. And grown yp Jack melted my knees.
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    I need to re read Talisman and then read Black house...it's been years and years on the firat and never on the second...


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    I love them both but listened out of order. Blackhouse first and all of the different references to Talisman made me salivate with anticipation.

    In the end, I liked Talisman best. It has a cool kid in it.
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    John F. Kennedy pol is on a distinguished road pol's Avatar

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    I loved The Talisman...it has a great feel of adventure, more epic than Black House which was a much different book.

    I don't think that the connections to the Tower in The Talisman were intentional, in fact I have read that it was really King's first attempt at toying with concepts that would later riddle the Tower books. Whereas the connections in Black House were obviously intentional, as this book was written specifically to tie in with the Tower. Both books are great, just different feels and the writing style in Black House, particularly the beginning, is a bit hard to get used to.

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    I loved both books, but I prefer The Talisman. I think the fact that I read The Talisman first and really loved it might make me a little biased towards it. Like others have said, I just really loved the sense of adventure in it.

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    The White! MonteGss is on a distinguished road MonteGss's Avatar

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    I will give props to Talisman for introducing the Twinner idea, which helped me understand pieces of the DT when I was first reading it.

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    Quote Originally Posted by pol View Post
    Both books are great, just different feels and the writing style in Black House, particularly the beginning, is a bit hard to get used to.
    Yes. It's mostly the use of the present tense. Rather annoying.

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    When I first read The Talisman, over 10 years ago - it was instantly my favourite SK book ever...but even then, I was dissatisfied with the ending. I mentioned that to a friend MANY years later and she pointed me in the direction of Black House for some "closure" as she put it

    Re-reading Talisman more recentley though, I was again bothered by the ending - as Jean said earlier, the last quarter of the book didn't flow right. Sort of made me wish I hadn't re-read it as I preferred my original memory of the book y'know?

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    The Talisman was a better, more epic story. But Henry Leyden was AWESOME!

    I do have to say, I was not happy with the beginning of Black House. The whole bird flying around and meeting different people didn't sit too well with me. All I wanted was to see Jack, and here I was being forced to meet people I don't know or care about. And about the time you start to get a little feeling of one of these people, off you go to start on another. I suppose it helped later, so the flow didn't have to slow down as much to introduce a character, but I really didn't like it at the time. I can see some people missing out on a great book because they didn't force their through that beginning part.

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    The beginning of Black House was rough for me too. I borrowed it from the library and ended up taking it back a few chapters in. Then I got it on audio and listened to it, it does seem to take you away.

    I almost got vertigo with those bird scenes at the beginning
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    The thing I most disliked was that Jack Sawyer so far hasn't become the major player in King's overall work that he seemed to be being built up to be.

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    Demon of the Prim Ruki is on a distinguished road

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    i listened to black house first and then read them both. the talisman is great and i agree that it's more of an epic story, but i'm psychotically in love with black house. i think it's the characters that make me like it more. the thunder five are awesome, henry leyden is so cool, the fisherman is so evil. and jack always kicks ass.

    i loved the beginning of black house, flying around coulee country with gorg was an awesome way to start out. i might be influenced by my first experience with it though, closing your eyes and letting frank muller carry you away is very different from working through it on your own.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Jean View Post
    I like about two thirds of Talisman. Especially the Sunlight Home part, which is unforgettable. But after the highest point of the story -
    Spoiler:
    Wolf's heroic death
    - it rapidly went downhill, and the last quarter was hardly readable. I love the whole of Black House, though.
    Jean, you summed up my thoughts exactly.
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    I love them both! I first read The Talisman when I was in Spain by myself for a few weeks visiting my family and now whenever I re-read it, I'm brought back to the feeling of being isolated and lonely (I didn't speak much Spainsh) but still safe and secure - I was living in my Grandparent's house after all.

    I will always have a special connection to Black House - my wife was prego with my son and we were debating names back and forth for a while and I was re-reading Black House in preperation for the release of the final Dark Tower books. Well, as I was reading away, she looked over at me and said "What about Tyler?" and I was reading about little Tyler Marshal at the time.

    Needless to say, my son Tyler will be 3 in about 2 weeks

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    Sleep Controller ZoNeSeeK is on a distinguished road ZoNeSeeK's Avatar

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    Quote Originally Posted by pol View Post
    ...
    I don't think that the connections to the Tower in The Talisman were intentional, in fact I have read that it was really King's first attempt at toying with concepts that would later riddle the Tower books...
    Thats correct - The Talisman was published in 1984, and King mentions The Territories again the DT3, published in 1991.
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