The “Stand” is the fourth and longest novel by bestselling author Stephen King.When originally published in 1978, The Stand was approximately 800 pages long. It is a post-apocalyptic fantasy and horror novel published in 1978.
The plot centers on a pandemic of a modified strain of influenza that almost kills the world’s entire population. Following the initial outbreak, a small number of individual survivors begin to find one another and band together. The first half of the book focuses on how quickly the virus spreads and how suddenly people die. There are some supernatural elements, but King doesn’t overdo it by any means. Each chapter switches perspective to showcase different accounts of the pandemic, and characters are brought together to overtake the greater evil at hand.
Aside from its length, the book is notable for introducing the character of Randall Flagg, who was to become a recurring villain in many of King’s later works.
Nothing in The Stand is an accident. It’s a novel about the battle between good and evil and Good wins by default, because evil cannot.It’s also a novel about fate.
The Stand is dense and rich. Every character is full and alive, and they’re all in the book with a purpose. They cover every shade of human morality.
The Stand is a masterpiece, King says in the novel’s introduction that he “wanted to write a fantasy epic like The Lord of the Rings, only with an American setting”, and that’s absolutely what he did.
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