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** spoiler alert ** I rarely DNF books, but this one became too much of a chore after 70%!
I dragged my way through it the moment I realized it started becoming religious, but I just couldn't go on any longer!

I was so excited to read it at first, especially after all the praise I'd heard from people everywhere! Most of them even said that it's King's masterpiece and his best work! I strongly disagree now!
It's a disappointment, really.

The 3 stars are mostly for the first half, which was very interesting! I loved seeing things unravel with the plague and people's reactions. But once the whole dreams thing kicked in, I started to lose interest. Then it started becoming a chore to pick it up, and I just decided after like 4 months of struggling that I'm done! I read a few books in between when I just couldn't pick it up, but now I made my mind to just shelf it.

I hate it when plots turn religious out of nowhere! HATE IT! Like, we were talking about the plague and how it wiped most of humanity, and how the survivors and dealing with the whole thing, etc.! It was so interesting the way it was! And I had high hopes that it was gonna be this great thriller about how the plague changed the face of the Earth, blah blah blah. Then, BOOM!, Satan and God have some beef, and the whole dreams thing, it was just too religious for my liking. I don't understand why King had to go there! It ruined it for me.

I understand the need to go with good vs evil in an apocalyptic book. OK! But why make it religious?! Why make it cheesy and annoying like that?! Not to mention how SLOWWWW it was! Jeez, I mean it wasn't a "slow burn" as much as 3rd degree burn and it really hurt!

I have been curious about King for a long time now. I'd pick up one of his books every few months or so. So far, I only liked Misery (except for the novel within novel parts) but they were tolerable.
I couldn't get through a 100 pages of Insomnia, and I didn't really like his short stories. I had high expectations for The Stand and thought this would be it! Guess, I was wrong. Maybe in a few months I'll be in the mood to revisit King again and try something else by him, but for now I'm taking a break!

In a few words, The Stand just wasn't my cup of tea, unfortunately!