Revival

[Martin]

I have the 'bookstore' version, still undecided if I will pick up a 'B&N' copy.

[srboone]

Picked up a "bookstore" version today....

[jhanic]

I wish I knew how many of each were done. I don't think we'll ever know for sure, though. I'm guessing the the Barnes & Noble version will be the scarcer of the two, but, as I said, it's just a guess. I've heard that all the copies from Amazon are the "bookstore" ones.

John

[srboone]

I found a "bookstore" edition at Walmart. I would imagine all supermarkets have that version.

[Tommy]

Bought a "B&N" copy and noticed that there were also copies of the "bookstore" edition, almost bought one without noticing

[marduk]

I started it yesterday. So far I like it; much better than Mr. Mercedes, which to me seemed forced all the way. The writing is much smoother and the characters seem more like real people and less like caricatures (which, in my opinion, he tends to fall into now and then).

edit: updated. Finished. And, well, it wasn't spectacular. I can't agree with King as to the comments he made last June about this one - that it is "a nasty, dark piece of work... a straight-ahead horror novel." Well-written? Yes. Better than what he's done recently? Yes. But it just seemed like there was something lacking. I don't know why but I became disengaged as soon as the initial setup was out of the way. A bit too much about Jamie's wandering, perhaps. I didn't find the ending shocking or surprising, and as much as people toss around Poe and Lovecraft (major reviews, anyway) when discussing this, it seems they should be throwing around Tesla instead.

[Martin]

I started it yesterday. So far I like it; much better than Mr. Mercedes, which to me seemed forced all the way. The writing is much smoother and the characters seem more like real people and less like caricatures (which, in my opinion, he tends to fall into now and then).

Definitely a better story than Mr. Mercedes. I really enjoyed Revival.

[srboone]

I agree. Mr. Mercedes has made my bottom 5 King books list, not from anything particularly wrong with it other than a severe case of the blahs.

[divemaster]

I also did not like Revival all that much. However, I seem to be on the opposite pole as much of the criticism I've read. I thought the ending was by far the best part of the book. It was the first 5/6th that went nowhere for me. I didn't feel any real connection to the main character (Jamie) and the antagonist was really weak. This surprises me, as King is usually so good at developing his characters. Not only the "good guys," but also the "baddie" (whether that be a supernatural entity such as a possessed car, evil clown-thing, a haunted hotel, dark man; or just a bad dude such as Rose Madder's ex), as well as his supporting characters (Wireman, anyone?). I didn't dislike Jamie, he just never clicked for me. Maybe it's because we see him at three stages of his life and don't really get a chance to know him at any of them (especially the first two).

And the Jacobs character? Very weak. He's not evil or even really bad. And his obsession didn't instill any kind of horror, unease, or foreboding throughout the book at all. I actually kindof liked the guy.

Now, the climax and ending *did* click with me. As a huge fan of Lovecraft, I really appreciated the homage to the "Cyclopean landscapes" and "Old Ones," etc. "Mother" would have made a great antagonist, but we only get a few pages of all that.

So, this doesn't go into my worst-King pile, but it goes into my "read it once and have no interest in ever reading it again" pile.

Which is disappointing because much of King's recent work has been so very very good.

[Brian James Freeman]

I can't get a great photo of this because it's a dark and rainy day here in Maryland and our office lighting is terrible for photos, but here is our REVIVAL slipcase. As I think I mentioned before, we used a special order iridescent material that we've never used for any kind of case before. The material looks blue in the first photo, which is the "default" color you'll see most of the time when you look at your case, but as the light hits the material from different angles, it flashes to purple as shown in the second pic:





These are on track to be finished at the slipcase maker and we hope to be shipping them in May.

Best,
Brian

[bsaenz24]

Gorgeous!!!

[Dave1442397]

Looks great!

[durden_5150]

...curious about the shipping ...I just saw one on eBay ..and got a little worried mine got lost

[Dan Hocker]

...curious about the shipping ...I just saw one on eBay ..and got a little worried mine got lost

We're still working on these. I hope to be done with them this week.

[durden_5150]

Thanks !