I took a two-month hiatus between reading The Eyes of the Dragon and The Talisman, mainly because I had a rash of parenting books come in at the library and I wanted to be ahead of the game when it came to the toddler in my house. Picking up The Talisman, even though I’d never read it (or a Peter Straub novel at all), felt like curling up with a bowl full of comfort food.
I knew little about the book other than what I’d read in just a cursory Googling — that King and Straub alternated writing chapters and their editors allegedly couldn’t even tell their writing apart, that there were connections between this novel and the Dark Tower series, and that I was in for a hell of a story.
One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written,The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery. Jack Sawyer, on a desperate quest to save his mother’s life, must search for a prize across an epic landscape of innocents and monsters, of incredible dangers and even more incredible truths. The prize is essential, but the journey means even more. Let the quest begin. . . .
This book had a hold of me over the couple of weeks it took to read it (don’t judge, I’m a busy working mom … I used to have so.much.reading.time), and I really enjoyed the journey. Because that is definitely what this book describes — an epic journey across time and space … and a mysterious place called the Territories. Many of the parallels drawn are to Twain’s writing, the most obvious tie being Jack’s last name. However, I felt a very strong nod to Alice in Wonderland when the Territories were introduced. When Jack started eating some blackberries, I got concerned that something would happen to him — everyone knows you’re not supposed to eat things when you go to other-wordly fantasy realms. “Going west” is mentioned, as it is in The Gunslinger and even The Stand, although for slightly different reasons. A mirror that Jack had even fell down a sewer grate — is this a connection to It? The western area of the Territories are the Blasted Lands, perhaps related to the Waste Lands in the Dark Tower series.
After finishing The Talisman, I was more than ready to continue on my own journey into The Waste Lands, Dark Tower #3.
Further reading:
- Rereading Stephen King: The Talisman
- People Weekly article (1985)
- We’re apparently still waiting for a film adaptation
Marleah Reads 