Revival by Stephen King... A Review

I cringed... I was hesitant, I was apprehensive, I was frightened when I cracked the spine of Revival... Not because I was scared of the book, but scared that I would be, yet again, disappointed in another "recent" Stephen King novel... BUT I wasn't! I kept reading and kept waiting for the story to fall off the edge and disappear down some secret hidden doorway in the book, but instead I was just on the edge of my seat experiencing the thrill of Stephen King.. the old Stephen King I loved as a young teenager while reading The Shining.

Revival is just that - classic Stephen King horror that innocently starts off on a warm summer day and transforms into nail biting blizzard of terror!

In a small rural town in Maine, the new preacher comes to town. He's young, charismatic, handsome with a beautiful perfect wife and a small cute son. All the boys are in love with the beautiful wife, and all the girls in love with the Reverend Charles Jacobs, a man with an obsessive interest in the power of electricity. Jamie Morton was 6 years old at the time and begins a life long relationship with the Reverend Frankenstein... I mean Jacobs. In the Church youth group, Jacobs teaches the children about God through the power of electricity, where God is infinite, so is the power of electricity. Find the secret to electricity and also find the power of God. Now, the Reverend's theories and interest in electricity seem innocent enough, but when a horrible accident takes his beautiful wife and son from him, the Reverend goes off the deep end and interest turns to obsession.

The story revolves around the reincarnations of the Reverend Jacobs, from a small town preacher to a carnival sideshow huckster, to a faith healer, to mad scientist, with Jamie innocently witnessing these transformations as he navigates his own life over the years. And like a bad penny, Reverend Jacobs keeps popping up in Jamies' life, sometimes in a good way, sometimes bad, but always as though there is this invisible thread that binds the two together. And the ending?! OMG! It's unsettling to say the least, but pure horror at its best.

King's writing is great! The story has great characters that are so well developed. You understand these characters, heck they don't even feel like characters, they feel more like people that you know! And then you start to feel vested in what is happening. Then there is the plot, which is just spot on, especially the way it develops over the course of the book. There are so many great elements in this book (great storytelling, the supernatural, the questioning of man's faith and even a bit of Mary Shelley's Frankenstein) that will capture and keep the reader's attention.

I really enjoyed this book! I felt a whole range of emotions as I got lost in the pages - nostalgia, remorse, butterflies, and ultimately horror. Best King I've read in a long, long time. AND best horror story I've read in a long time too. Definitely put this on your TBR list and for any horror fans out there, this would make a great Christmas gift!

This was part of my library loot this month, but I may have to pick up a copy to put on the shelves, so I can reread this sometime!

The 2014 Chunkster Challenge

ABOUT The Challenge

The Chunkster Challenge is a reading challenge for those readers who love to read the fat books - the doorstoppers that weigh you down, the books that take a commitment of time...and we require physical books for this challenge with only two exceptions.

Wondering what’s a chunkster? A chunkster is an adult or YA book, non-fiction or fiction, that’s 450 pages or more... A chunkster should be a challenge.

If you read large type books your book will need to be 525 pages or more ... The average large type book is 10-15% longer or more so I think that was a fair estimate.

The challenge is designed to give participants some flexibility by allowing them to choose between different levels of reading. Visit the sign up page by clicking this Chunkster Link to read more and join the challenge.

Additional Rules for this challenge:

Audio books and e-books are now allowed. You want to listen to a chunkster on audio? Be my guest.

Essay, short story, and poetry collections are allowed but they have to be read in their entirety to count.

Books may crossover with other challenges.

Anyone can join.

You don’t have to list your book ahead of time.

Graphic novels don’t count. Sorry guys but reading a chunkster graphic novel isn’t the same as reading a non-graphic chunkster.

The challenge runs from January 1 through December 31 each year.

This Challenge is hosted by Vasilly! Thank you Vasilly! You can find her at her wonderful reading blog: 1330v - Thoughts of an eclectic reader! You can also find suggestions on what to read and where to contact her if you have any questions.

This is my first Challenge sign-up for the year! My first book is going to be The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt, which I did start, but haven't had any time to devote to it. (My first Chunkster book turned out to be Three Souls by Janie Chang!) Now I am motivated!

Chunkster Reading Challenge Books Read List…

1. Three Souls by Janie Chang… 468 pages.

2. Under The Wide And Starry Sky by Nancy Horan… 497 pages.

3. Revival by Stephen King... 405 pages.