The Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub Book Review

 The Talisman 

(The Talisman #1)

By Stephen King, Peter Straub 

Published Year: 1984

Page Count: 765 pages 

Medium Used: Paperback 

Genre : Multiverse, Science Fiction,  Fantasy, Epic Fantasy, Young Adult, Coming-of-age, Adventure,  Action, 2026-read. 

Rating : 5/5 😃😃😃😃🥳

I would say what a sensational book! The collaboration between two masters of horror and fantasy worked splendidly. I could easily discern the author by his writing style. The clonky book is broken into four parts - i think the 1st and 4th are written by Straub while the middle two are Mr. King's work. There isn't a book I haven't liked of King and this is my introduction to Straub. I liked the nuances and knowledge transfer that was happening from their minds into mine throughout the plot. Purely magical and addictive! I couldn't put down the book. Even if I was only managing to read about a hundred pages a day, the story lingered in my mind. I was churning through the experiences of the young boy Jack as he makes his journey to bring a solution to his mother's cancer. 

So the Talisman is a magical object that acts as the axle of multiple worlds. The one to possess it and seize its power can become the master of all parallel worlds there are and hence, invincible. Jack Sawyer is a boy of twelve whose mother, Lily, is on a run from his father's friend and business partner, Morgan Sloat. She is also dying from cancer and is abhorrent of getting medical treatment. Jack's father, Phil Sawyer, has inadvertantly introduced travel to another world called Territories to Morgan Sloat while he is heavily stoned and inebriated. Where Phil wants to learn from this world and help them with technology and training because it is an outdated world which is agrarian monarchy, Morgan sees chance to exploit and encroach. Later, Morgan gets Phil murdered. Lily sees him as a foxy character that is not to be trusted. Morgan knows of the Talisman which would make him even more powerful and sets his eyes on it. Even though he can't be the one to get it - because there are serious restrictions to his entering the black hotel where the Talisman resides - he knows eventually it will be someone like Jack who can. 

Speedy Parker is a janitor at the Alhambra Inn and Gardens in New Hampshire where Jack's mother has taken him to. He tells Jack of the Territories and convinces him to take the journey west to another (black) hotel just like this one where he can find an object that will cure his mother. Enroute, Jack learns there are twinners(different people but similar in personality and into whom these people can slip into) in the Territories for people on his side of the world. Morgan Sloat has Morgan of Orris, his mother Lily has the queen of Territories, Laura. Laura is also drying, she has been in a non responsive coma for a while. So Jack makes the journey from east coast to west coast California, hitching rides and avoiding trouble by flipping between the two worlds. At one point while trying to get away from Morgan Sloat, he jumps into the Territories and meets Wolf, a native of the other world who is a werewolf. The next leg of his journey, he is accompanied by Wolf and it ends at the Sunlight Gardener's home for wayward boys. I was wretched and devastated by what happened to Wolf. He is an innocent and naive character that has virtues like loyalty and herd care which touched me deeply. Jack continues on from there and is accompanied by Morgan Sloat's son Richard. They make it to the end .. with Jack fighting evil wolves, strangely mutated people and animals in the other world .. win the Talisman, set all wrongs right, punish and eradicate all evil they encountered, set to right all those that helped him on his way. It is a fulfilling and the last 50 pages are highly, highly valuable for me - i know that no one, not even the most purest of persons should have their hands on an object like the Talisman!! 

The portrayal of Sunlight Gardener's character is insane. It is pure mania. That there would be establishments like that where children are brainwashed into subjugation sounded evil. I thought he met his right end and even his diabolical son has his! The world development is superb. The transition between King and Straub is barely noticeable. The characters are well developed. I expected Jack to be a serious character but he has lot of fun and laughter despite the trials he has been facing. I didn't get one thing though - why Morgan Sloat tried to destroy the Talisman at the end instead of running to stove it away in his person? And if they can only jump into their twinners and reappear at their own locations, how they can move in this world while flipped into the other? I am sure there will be answers in the next books..

A truly spellbinding read. Cheers 🍻 🥂 do read for sure!