Cell: A Novel

I loved this book, I wish he would have written a second one. I’ve read a lot of King’s work and highly recommend adding this to your collection if you’re a fan of his books too.

Stephen King is probably my favorite writer. I'm not sure why, and it feels a bit cliché and predictable for me to proclaim my undying love for him (he is, after all, one of the most successful writers ever). Despite feeling like a bandwagon troll, the fact remains that I adore his grip on the English language. His prose is masterful, if sometimes long winded (Wizards and Glass feels like one of the most needlessly padded novels he's ever written, even more so than The Stand Extended Edition) and his ability to give me the gooseflesh is unmatched.So when I heard that his self-imposed retirement had evaporated and that he would be releasing two new novels (I can't wait to read Lisey's Story) I was extremely happy. Never mind that I haven't finished The Dark Tower saga yet, I was eager to read King's latest jaunt into the horror genre, especially after hearing that it hearkens back to his work of old.Cell is the story of graphic novel artist Clay Riddell and his quest to find his son (Johnny) and estranged wife (Sharon) after a mysterious Pulse, delivered via that little Pandora's Box know as a cell phone, drives most of the world's (?) population totally bonkers.Early publicity for the book would have you believe that it was a spin on the zombie sub genre, but it's really more than that. King has created a monster within the mythology of Cell that is unlike any other spin we've seen on the zombie archetype (the opening chapter is really the only part of the book that in any way resembles its inspiration, such as Night of the Living Dead or 28 Days Later).The book in and of itself is a very enjoyable read, but I did notice more grammar errors and at least one repeated sentence ("Clay sat down next to them," is repeated twice in one paragraph, for example) than is usual for Stephen King, but those errors are down to the editor not catching them. It happens to the best of authors.The story itself is very lean. The reasons for the Pulse are only speculated by the characters, the story never leaves Clay Riddell's hip (unlike books like The Stand or The Dark Tower series, in which it tends to jump from character to character) and, because of this, it feels like a very personal journey in which we see what might happen to a man who loses everything, gains something else, and is forced to abandon it as well. The subtext isn't near as elaborate here as it has been in some of his previous work, but there's plenty of it there if you're willing to dig deep enough.The characters are all truly enjoyable - Tom, Alice, Jordan, the Head, Dan, Ray, Denise, Gunner, Harold - even if they do feel a bit underdeveloped at times, which I put down to the book's short length and unwillingness to spend time with anyone but Clay.The concept of "technology gone crazy" is beaten over the reader's head ever so slightly, but that's no surprise; King displays the same lack of trust for technology in Cell that he displayed for the government in The Stand. I'm actually a bit surprised that it's never insinuated that the government were at the heart of the problem, but I put that down to the current attitude of the country in general - most of the characters are very quick to blame terrorists, though this never pans out to be more than a sort of embodiment of our country's fear of attack from outside (which I would suggest is the over all theme of the book).As always, King is rife with pop culture references and callbacks to recent events - Hurricane Katrina, the September 11th attacks, the bombings in London that occurred late last year, et cetera. I'm not sure why, but it made me feel uneasy each time he name-dropped each of these events, not because it felt tacky, but because it reminded me of the world we live in, which isn't as prevalent in some of his past works (possibly because they were written before I was born, or while I was still too young to realize that he's writing about our world).The book does feature a couple of heart wrenching moments in which I did have to put it down, one of which involved the death of a character; fellow readers will know the moment I speak of, I'm sure. It felt cruel and nihilistic, but I understand the purpose for which it was done. I must say that I haven't been so moved by the demise of a character since The Gunslinger (Go, then. There are other worlds than this.) and I commend King for that. I've been reading his work for a long time, and it never fails to impress me when he manages to yank my heartstrings so thoroughly.The ending is a bit open, but I don't view it to be a nihilistic wreck like some fellow online fans. I think it's more hopeful than some choose to believe, and I feel good about the future of our hero, whether or not his final attempt to right the wrong done to him is ultimately unsuccessful.If you don't know anything about the Dark Tower saga, feel free to skip the next paragraph:I also wanted to address some of T. Baron's issues, and it ties in with something I had planned on commenting about anyway - this book obviously ties into the Dark Tower saga (as do all of his books, according to Stephen King). He admits in the author's notes to taking liberties with geography, which is no surprise considering each individual level of the tower differs in various ways. It's not beyond the realm of believability that Clay Riddell's word is different form our own in certain ways (it is established in Wizards and Glass that even the world of The Stand is a different world from our own). A safety on a revolver (I don't recall this, myself), the way the roads run, et cetera ... can all be put down to the differing nature of each level of the tower (it's a great way to explain author laziness, if indeed that's what it was). The inclusion of Charlie the Choo Choo was a nice touch as well, and it sent more than a few goosebumps down my arms.Cell is one of those books that certainly does recall King's older work, is a love-letter to fans of his horror work, and it is one of the most enjoyable reads I've had in a while, simply because I enjoyed the cast of characters so much. It does seem to be tailor made for the big screen, it's just a shame that Eli Roth is the one chomping at the bit to adapt it (Alice is bound to be an annoying teenybopper and the subtleness of Tom's sexuality will go into full on pantomime characterization, but one can hope against hope that something good comes from the project).If you're a fan of Stephen King's earlier work and don't expect him to write the next great opus every time he puts ink to paper, then I wholeheartedly suggest reading Cell. It's a fun, depressing, and creative spin on the zombie sub genre, and you might never look at your cell phone or boom box the same way again.

Such a page turner and good read. I kept going until the very end and thoroughly enjoyed it! Never lost my attention and I definitely recommend it.

The Cell is half a book. It stops in the middle, just at the point where it finally started to grab my attention. The characters aren't King's best. They're a bit stereotyped and some are too good to be true. A young boy would rather be torn to pieces by King's cell-phone zombies than leave an elderly professor behind, the professor would rather die than risk the boy's life. A truck driver blows himself to smithereens to save the lives of people he has known just briefly. But this at least is a real Stephen King book. You can see the master's touch at work...a touch that has been missing from many of his recent books. The story, of course, revolves around a mysterious pulse that turns anyone unfortunate enough to be talking on a cell phone into a murderous zombie intent on bashing and biting. The pulse may be an act of terror, but the perpetrators remain undisclosed. The opening pages of The Cell are up to the best King standards, as the hero tries to make sense of a world going crazy all around him. The book opens with a truly horrifying scene in which a well-dressed, middle-aged woman and a school girl chew big hunks out of one another. People grab anything that comes to hand and smash at one another. Those lacking weapons learn that teeth and nails can make quite a dent in their fellow citizens. As in all end of the world set ups, a band of survivors heads off for safety, picking up members and losing others, as they travel. But The Cell brings some interesting twists to the genre. Day after day, the zombies themselves appear to be evolving, at least up to a point. From mindless killing machines, they start to flock together to find food. Soon they're helping one another (although still kicking the pudding out of "normals"). They have a form of telepathy that unites them. The premise works for a while, but King takes it one step too far for me. The book falls down a little when he gives his zombies the power of levitation. It just makes suspension of belief a little more difficult, because there is no reason for floating zombies. It does not influence their actions, other than keeping their feet dry in the rain. But King throws another little twist into the mix: there's a flaw in the original cell phone pulse programming, so the zombies' evolution is taking some odd curves. We don't know what the evolution was intended to create, but we know that something's going wrong. Still, the question remains: will the zombies become a better version of humanity. King's story has them beginning to help one another at the point where normal humans have started fighting among themselves; will they regress to their previous mindless violence, or perhaps mind-morph into some sort of uber-termites sharing a collective consciousness, but no intellect. it's an interesting situation, but one that's not resolved. The rest of the plot is also unresolved. The hero goes to desperate lengths to find his son, including parting with his loyal band of comrades. They go through detailed plans to leave messages and trail markers along their route, they discuss how the hero will follow and track the comrades, and then...nothing. The book ends. Lots of hanging threads, lots more I want to know. Stephen King is not a stingy writer. His books usually give readers more than our money's worth in size alone. Not this time. As I sat, stunned, with half a story in my hands and no more book to read, all I could think of was: "Volume after volume of those 'Gunslinger' books, and when King finally starts writing like King again, he cheats us out of a good 200 pages." Read the book, if only to hear an echo of what King used to be...and then wait for the sequel.

I'm used to King books taking at least 200 pages to get warmed up, but this book hits you with action right away! I blasted through this book in a few days, it kept me interested and wanting to know what will happen.

An avid Steven king reader I wanted this story to keep up to date with his excellent storytelling

Una historia interesante y aterradora.El libro llegó en perfectas condiciones y envuelto en plástico.

This is the fifth Stephen King book I've read, and I honestly didn't think he could write a dud. I struggled through this one though, not because it was boring but because it was predictable and felt like it was a quite good idea for a short story but didn't have enough meat to turn it into a full-blown novel. The characters felt flat, the decisions they made were contrived and they were, for the most part, either unlikeable or overly 'cute'. With so many Stephen King novels out there I would recommend giving this one a miss.

Excelente

Another fast and furious blast of horror-fun, Stephen King style.