🤐 For me, it’s Misery. Putting this out there, I love Annie Wilkes. She’s top tier for me. But I can’t stand Paul Sheldon (and don’t give much of a shit what happens to him). It’s also an example of King putting a story within a story when it isn’t exactly necessary. It shifts tone and I’m ADD. (By the time it’s over, the spell is broken).
- IT Overrated. Repetitive, never-ending scenes, unnecessary length. I still graded it 7/10. - HODGES TRILOGY Not overrated Mr Mercedes 9/20 Finders Keepers 8/10 End of Watch 8/10 (The Outsider 8/10)
I agree with you on almost all of these. I felt Needful Things was very repetitive. I enjoyed the book overall but not one of my favorites. I also don’t quite understand the popularity of the Talisman. I almost gave up on this one. It felt like Stephen King was reveling in torturing Jack. I also agree with what you said about the Wizard and Glass. I know it’s most people’s favorite DT book but I didn’t feel like it added much to the overall story and I didn’t find the love story compelling. This was just one that I didn’t understand its popularity. The only one you mentioned which hurt was the Skeleton Crew. I can’t separate the phenomenal stories in this collection from the garbage. Granted there are quite a few not so great stories. To each their own. Thanks as always for the video!
Okay, I was set to not have to comment but then you pulled out Skeleton Crew, and further went on to say it might be his weakest collection. SIR.SIR! Sir. In no world is this collection worse than Full Dark, No Stars or Bazaar of Bad Dreams or Everything's Eventual. I'm pretty sure none of those would win in a survey of random fans.
Oh you’re totally right when it comes to surveying the wider fandom, for sure. But if you’re surveying this here TH-camr, I have Skeleton Crew below all of those others you listed - well, maybe tied with Bazaar. Thank for resisting the urge to stay silent! 😅
I agree on The Stand. It’s still a great book to me because the journey was so epic, but I feel like the ending was fumbled hard. It left such a sour taste in my mouth that it moves down in the ranks below other King classics. I honestly can’t recommend the Stand because of how poorly the ending pays off. What King did to some of our main characters was a travesty and really brought the story down. It was convoluted and didn’t make any sense.
Interesting list. I definitely agree about Skeleton Crew being wildly uneven and overrated -and I’ve enjoyed his other collections much more. I have to agree about The Talisman as well. Out of the 43 of his books I’ve read though, the one I’ve struggled with the most is Bag of Bones. It surprises me a bit how it was so well reviewed and people in SK forums go to bat for it often. Those three would be at the top of my overrated list midway through his bibliography.
I completely agree about Carrie, The Gunslinger, and Wizard and Glass. Carrie was the first King book I read, but I distinctly remember being underwhelmed when I reread it years later. Wizard and Glass I thought was boring to be honest. I agree about Skeleton Crew being a mixed bag. Personally, I've never understood why people think so highly of The Mist (novella or movie). I remember liking The Stand (which is due for a reread soon) but I've never understood why it appears on so many people's top 3 lists. My top 3 would probably look something like this: 3) The Stand 2) Carrie 1) Wizard and Glass.
I think The Gunslinger is underrated personally. I heard people trash that book constantly before I read. Some even saying to skip it all together. I absolutely adored it.
IT, really? To tell you the truth, I never got any more than halfway through IT, not because I hated it, but because I was exhausted reading it. I haven't read Needful Things. It's been decades since I read Carrie. Thinner, never read it. I Hated The Gunslinger. The Monkey is gonna be a movie, saw the trailer at the cinema. The Talisman is his WORST! I hate The Stand. Great video!😀👍
For me, I would say it’s 11 /22/63. I do like the book and I think it’s good but people have it as one of their top books (u included) and I don’t really understand why. there’s like 200 pages of him just sitting around in Dallas. A lot of filler in that one Speaking of filler I would agree with your pick of the talisman as well. There’s a 100 page section where the villains son just says over and over that he doesn’t believe this is happening. After like the 18th time reading that you want to throw the book across the room. But even me nitpicking I still generally like both of those books
Its fun seeing how people of the same fandom can like such diffrent parts of it. for me, for example, two of the most overrated books are The Dead Zone and The Shining. theyre fine books, but there are just so many i like more, and people always seem to praise these two and reccomend them to people for their first King read. I think if i had read The Shining as my first King book, it might have taken me a while to pick up the next.
Hot takes, but I like it! I can see people finding the Shining overhyped for sure, it has that 70s slow burn that can put people off. Can’t really comment on The Dead Zone though as it’s my all time favourite!
I agree about The Stand. The ending was bad. And, wasn’t only one of them supposed to die in Vegas according to Mother Abigail? Yeah, Stu and Franny are just going to go back to Maine and grow their family because they don’t need doctors when they can read books about medicine! --I do disagree about Skeleton Crew. Uncle Otto’s Truck, Survivor Type, and The Reach were also brilliant, imo. Not overrated and the best collection by far. SO, so much better than Nightmares and Dreamscapes.
I'm probably gonna get it for this but I've always felt like Different Seasons (especially Shawshank Redemption) and The Green Mile are overrated. Idk. Maybe I'm just too attached to my Horror King.
Not having read all of his books, the most overrated book is (by far) "Misery". After that is just a bad Lovecraft ripoff "Revival". "Needfull Things", "Thinner" and "The Outsider" (aka IT 2) are up there as well
To me, it’s definitely The Long Walk. A great idea for sure, but the characters could have been developed better in my opinion (I don’t remember anyone very well). Honorable mention for Different Seasons
Loving the recent up turn in content. I've reard30 of his novels and recently started at the beginning again but reading them all. Just finished Cujo which like yourself was my first King book. Also really enjoyed the Stand 2nd time round, first time I wasn't mad on it. But finding I'm getting loads more out of the books I've read previously
Thank you - had a bit of spare time recently so thought I would fill it with some big videos! And I agree with you on rereading - I’ve loved going back
1. Salems lot - Did not get the hype for that book at all. The romance stuff was crap. The main characters were boring and it was just way too long. Jerusalem lot was better 2. Dead Zone - Not great but not bad. No way near as good as people make it out to be. The best part was near the end. That should have been the main part of the book 3. Revival - again it was alright but everyone puts this as there top 5 king books. It just dragged. It was meant to be scary? Where? 4. Holly - total crap. Everything about this book was just an excuse put his political view across. Non covid vaxers bad non mask wearers evil. Leave it out.
Thanks for sharing this. I would naturally disagree on The Dead Zone as it’s my favourite, and I think the ending of Revival is so good and so scary that it elevates it up the list. The other two I can definitely see why people would find them overrated for sure
Totally agree on Salem's Lot. It doesn't have the strong characterization like his other classics. Plus the villain looks really goofy once he pops up, nothing scary about him
I KNEW "The Stand" would be your number one, and that if fine, but I wanted poke at one of your reasons, when you said that you have a chance to start over and the good guys just start everything over, that was what King was pointing to as "this isn't what you should be doing" (Yea the ending is a bit naff)
You’re probably right - I’ve been so bored by the time I get to that stuff that I’ve usually (free) zoned out. I will pay more attention on my upcoming reread
The Gunslinger is underrated if anything. It's frequently mentioned as the worst of the Dark Tower series, when in my opinion it's one of the best. It's more difficult than most King stories, more "literary" which puts some people off I guess.
Easily 'The Long Walk' for me. Makes many people's Top 10 or even Top 5 but I found it a real chore getting through it as it was extremely repetitive, not just in terms of the action (unavoidable) but I found the dialogue between the boys not at all interesting and the ending sucked hard.
@@andybroad189 Yes, I've read 41 books so far and it would also be in my bottom 5.. probably along with Fairy Tale , The Gunslinger, Lisey's Story and Rose Madder.
I completely agree with IT and The Gunslinger. I find both of them to be alright books, but not as good as everyone makes them out to be. Now this is gonna piss a lot of people off but I think Gerald's Game is slightly overrated as well. It's really not as good as everyone makes it out to be. Could also be that the translation to my native tongue ruined it.
11/22/63 is my pick for most overrated. I thought it was so boring and draaagged for like 400 pages. Opened up good good, ending was great, but everything in between just felt like filler. No big events happened until the climax. Love story was good but in terms of events that progressed the plot, there was nothing. Just school plays and sitting around stalking Oswald. Snooze fest. Unnecessarily long for what we got.
@@DaveReadsKing I know it’s a bold take and one of your favorites. I didn’t hate the book and can appreciate it, just think it’s overhyped. I love how everyone has different opinions on King books. Anyway, love your channel and the content you’ve been putting out.
@@DaveReadsKing… probably should have given reasons why lol. I just personally found some of the more extended passages talking about Paul Sheldon’s pain level and mental state to drag a bit. Also I understand the theme of “my readers are killing me” but it didn’t quite sit well with me. You know most of us adore you and are respectful enough to keep our distance, sorry it seemed like a few bad apples were spoiling the bunch for him at the time of writing
@@DaveReadsKing … really enjoyed your list. I actually appreciate when someone’s opinion differs from mine because it creates a more interesting discourse. The Stand is my favorite King Novel haha.
I’d chuck forward Joyland and Duma Key, Joyland got way too distracted, even for a King book and the ending of Duma Key dragged what was a great book to that point down significantly
Fair enough - personally I don’t think either of these are hyped enough to be considered overrated…I think they’re both slept on quite a lot. But thanks for sharing some more ideas, I’m always keen to hear them!
@@DaveReadsKingI mean overrated by Constant Readers, and these books normally come under “underrated” because of their relative obscurity so I suppose since I don’t really like them they are just “rated”? Lol idk
I was mildly disappointed by Joyland. It definitely wasn't the spooky, summery carnival story I had expected. I wasn't a fan of jumping forward to Fall and introducing the mom/son characters. The mystery of the murders felt like a complete afterthought
There's a lot to like about King's books, but he needs a damned good editor and to spend a lot more time working out decent endings. It's very frustrating to read 1000+ pages and get to a weak finale.
Interesting…I think he’s good at endings in general save for a couple of books. I even did a special about it a while back th-cam.com/video/dDsfeAOlb24/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hwntZfGS47VSFf6C
The Shining ... I saw Kubrick's film first and have always been a big fan of it, so it's probably hard to rate the novel objectively. But I read it twice and both times found it a rather boring haunted house story. Still ok, but it's not even close to my favourite King books.
Spot on about The Gunslinger. The first section is a great moody western piece in weirdland then it gets fantasy boring mess. Very pretentious and not very entertaining. I read half of Skeleton Crew too long ago (In France the paperback edition was cut in two books one I read in my teens one I read less than ten years ago) but going through summaries of the stories on Wikipedia I can see how some of them are not that great. It’s maybe less consistent in fact than Everything’s Eventual that I am currently reading. The Dark Half is for me the most obvious overrated King book I read. I was not really engaged by the story beyond its cool concept
The Dark Half is interesting…I always feel like that is overlooked by many King fans and therefore wouldn’t count as overrated as it doesn’t get much hype, but appreciate your thoughts!
Ah it pains me to see Skeleton Crew on here cause its my favorite collection so far but I also do agree with the lows. Though there were some great stories (Gramma in particular was awesome and of course The Mist.) The Stand absolutely has to be the most overrated thing I've ever read. First 3rd was phenomenal and then went peeeeeewww down after that. Need to check out your underrated ones.
Up to this point I read about 20 SK books. For me ‚the Shining‘ is by faaaaar his most overrated book. It was too long, extremely boring, zeroooo spooky except for one part. 2/10 for me. ((Billy Summers and later were also trash))
How did you not mention the ending of Needful things ? Probably one of the worst endings in all of fiction and turns the book into a joke. IMO a bleak ending would have suited the themes better
Fair, but does that make the book overrated as a whole? That’s what I found tough doing the special, separating stuff I don’t like versus finding books that are generally super popular among Constant Readers and reevaluating them
The one that is overrated for me is Lindsey's story. It was the first King book I read. Made me not want to read another King book for a decade. After that book I did not understand the hype. Thankfully I gave another one a try and he is one of my favorite authors right now...
Lisey’s Story is definitely a bold choice for a first King book! I love it, but had read dozens of his other works before I got there. Glad he clicked for you eventually though!
Here's my picks Duma key The shining The mr Mercedes trilogy even though i enjoyed finders keepers The girl who loved tom Gordon drawing of the three Firestarter The dark half
@@DaveReadsKing i feel both are solid but top 1 or 2 of all king works is a bit much for me 112263 is often touted as some peoples even top book period i just dont get that
When an author, actor, band, etc become well established then you could argue that everything they put out is overrated. Once they have their fan base they know people will buy whatever is released, whether it is good or not. They know people will buy it and rave about it until the next release.
For me the most overrated s.king book is dead zone. Im not american so all the political nonsence is boring, and this book its just about political nonsence
@@bernabefernandeztouceda7315 King is above so many people... There is a lot of trash being published but it was also the case 300 hundred years ago so can't complain
I wildly disagree. His books have already survived 50 years and I think his work will absolutely endure. In fact, I think once he dies then his work will actually be taken more seriously by academics and studying in literature courses
@@DaveReadsKing Not at all. Being studied doesnt means you will survive time. A lot of writers here in France are studied in class but then they fall off the programs and we never hear about them anymore. The thing is to survive time you have to bring something to Litterature, something new, something worth reading you in years. And I think King doesnt do that at all. He he just one of the best of the writers who write not for art but for entertaining people...
@TheReject182 ok. Again, I disagree. I think he has transformed horror fiction, he’s one of the finest short story writers ever, his creation of his own connected universe is staggering and he’s given a voice to working class fiction that has opened doors for so many others to come through. People almost certainly were as dismissive about Dickens when he was alive…King is our Dickens. Also, King tells terrific stories, and good stories don’t die
🤐 For me, it’s Misery. Putting this out there, I love Annie Wilkes. She’s top tier for me. But I can’t stand Paul Sheldon (and don’t give much of a shit what happens to him). It’s also an example of King putting a story within a story when it isn’t exactly necessary. It shifts tone and I’m ADD. (By the time it’s over, the spell is broken).
Yeah, Paul Sheldon is a dick - thanks for sharing!
With you, except even Annie is very disappointing for me. :)
- IT Overrated. Repetitive, never-ending scenes, unnecessary length. I still graded it 7/10.
- HODGES TRILOGY Not overrated
Mr Mercedes 9/20
Finders Keepers 8/10
End of Watch 8/10
(The Outsider 8/10)
👍👍
I agree with you on almost all of these. I felt Needful Things was very repetitive. I enjoyed the book overall but not one of my favorites. I also don’t quite understand the popularity of the Talisman. I almost gave up on this one. It felt like Stephen King was reveling in torturing Jack. I also agree with what you said about the Wizard and Glass. I know it’s most people’s favorite DT book but I didn’t feel like it added much to the overall story and I didn’t find the love story compelling. This was just one that I didn’t understand its popularity. The only one you mentioned which hurt was the Skeleton Crew. I can’t separate the phenomenal stories in this collection from the garbage. Granted there are quite a few not so great stories. To each their own. Thanks as always for the video!
You’re welcome, thanks for joining in!
Okay, I was set to not have to comment but then you pulled out Skeleton Crew, and further went on to say it might be his weakest collection.
SIR.SIR! Sir. In no world is this collection worse than Full Dark, No Stars or Bazaar of Bad Dreams or Everything's Eventual. I'm pretty sure none of those would win in a survey of random fans.
Oh you’re totally right when it comes to surveying the wider fandom, for sure. But if you’re surveying this here TH-camr, I have Skeleton Crew below all of those others you listed - well, maybe tied with Bazaar. Thank for resisting the urge to stay silent! 😅
I agree on The Stand. It’s still a great book to me because the journey was so epic, but I feel like the ending was fumbled hard. It left such a sour taste in my mouth that it moves down in the ranks below other King classics. I honestly can’t recommend the Stand because of how poorly the ending pays off.
What King did to some of our main characters was a travesty and really brought the story down. It was convoluted and didn’t make any sense.
👍👍 also, those Free Zone Committee Meetings 💤💤
Oh, agree about Needful Things. King took a premise and drove it into the ground. Thought it would never end.
👍👍
I LOVED Needful Things 🤣
Interesting list. I definitely agree about Skeleton Crew being wildly uneven and overrated -and I’ve enjoyed his other collections much more. I have to agree about The Talisman as well. Out of the 43 of his books I’ve read though, the one I’ve struggled with the most is Bag of Bones. It surprises me a bit how it was so well reviewed and people in SK forums go to bat for it often. Those three would be at the top of my overrated list midway through his bibliography.
Interesting choices, thanks - on Bag of Bones’ birthday no less!
I completely agree about Carrie, The Gunslinger, and Wizard and Glass. Carrie was the first King book I read, but I distinctly remember being underwhelmed when I reread it years later. Wizard and Glass I thought was boring to be honest. I agree about Skeleton Crew being a mixed bag. Personally, I've never understood why people think so highly of The Mist (novella or movie). I remember liking The Stand (which is due for a reread soon) but I've never understood why it appears on so many people's top 3 lists. My top 3 would probably look something like this: 3) The Stand 2) Carrie 1) Wizard and Glass.
Nice, thanks for sharing!
I think The Gunslinger is underrated personally. I heard people trash that book constantly before I read. Some even saying to skip it all together. I absolutely adored it.
King fans too dumb to enjoy the Gunslinger. They don't understand the long tradition of the weird which it came from@@MilesWilliams88
@MilesWilliams88 I think it is something of a marmite book
IT, really? To tell you the truth, I never got any more than halfway through IT, not because I hated it, but because I was exhausted reading it. I haven't read Needful Things. It's been decades since I read Carrie. Thinner, never read it. I Hated The Gunslinger. The Monkey is gonna be a movie, saw the trailer at the cinema. The Talisman is his WORST!
I hate The Stand. Great video!😀👍
Thanks!
For me, I would say it’s 11 /22/63. I do like the book and I think it’s good but people have it as one of their top books (u included) and I don’t really understand why. there’s like 200 pages of him just sitting around in Dallas. A lot of filler in that one
Speaking of filler
I would agree with your pick of the talisman as well. There’s a 100 page section where the villains son just says over and over that he doesn’t believe this is happening. After like the 18th time reading that you want to throw the book across the room.
But even me nitpicking I still generally like both of those books
Oh man, that character in the Talisman can get in the sea!
Its fun seeing how people of the same fandom can like such diffrent parts of it. for me, for example, two of the most overrated books are The Dead Zone and The Shining. theyre fine books, but there are just so many i like more, and people always seem to praise these two and reccomend them to people for their first King read. I think if i had read The Shining as my first King book, it might have taken me a while to pick up the next.
Hot takes, but I like it! I can see people finding the Shining overhyped for sure, it has that 70s slow burn that can put people off. Can’t really comment on The Dead Zone though as it’s my all time favourite!
I agree about The Stand. The ending was bad. And, wasn’t only one of them supposed to die in Vegas according to Mother Abigail? Yeah, Stu and Franny are just going to go back to Maine and grow their family because they don’t need doctors when they can read books about medicine! --I do disagree about Skeleton Crew. Uncle Otto’s Truck, Survivor Type, and The Reach were also brilliant, imo. Not overrated and the best collection by far. SO, so much better than Nightmares and Dreamscapes.
Fair enough on Skeleton Crew - I definitely prefer it to Nightmares and Dreamscapes!
@@DaveReadsKingcurious, did you like My Pretty Pony at all?
@katechambers3302 not particularly - I kept waiting for it to go somewhere more interesting
@@DaveReadsKingIt was the best one IMO. SK does write a wide variety.
@katechambers3302 absolutely he does!
I found Christine to be a little long for a scary car story. Still better than the movie. Still a good book.
Definitely a banger!
I'm probably gonna get it for this but I've always felt like Different Seasons (especially Shawshank Redemption) and The Green Mile are overrated. Idk. Maybe I'm just too attached to my Horror King.
😱😱😱😱😱 hot takes! But I very much appreciate you sharing them!
Not having read all of his books, the most overrated book is (by far) "Misery". After that is just a bad Lovecraft ripoff "Revival". "Needfull Things", "Thinner" and "The Outsider" (aka IT 2) are up there as well
Fair enough, thanks for commenting!
To me, it’s definitely The Long Walk. A great idea for sure, but the characters could have been developed better in my opinion (I don’t remember anyone very well). Honorable mention for Different Seasons
Honourable mention for Different Seasons as *overrated*?? That’s fighting talk! 😂
@@DaveReadsKingit’s a good book, the first two stories are some of the best stuff King has EVER written, but the last two are kinda forgettable IMO
But…The Body is the third story!! 😱😱😱 I’m biased, I flipping love that book - but thanks for getting involved 😊
@@DaveReadsKing thank you mate, great video!😁
Loving the recent up turn in content. I've reard30 of his novels and recently started at the beginning again but reading them all. Just finished Cujo which like yourself was my first King book.
Also really enjoyed the Stand 2nd time round, first time I wasn't mad on it. But finding I'm getting loads more out of the books I've read previously
Thank you - had a bit of spare time recently so thought I would fill it with some big videos! And I agree with you on rereading - I’ve loved going back
1. Salems lot - Did not get the hype for that book at all. The romance stuff was crap. The main characters were boring and it was just way too long. Jerusalem lot was better
2. Dead Zone - Not great but not bad. No way near as good as people make it out to be. The best part was near the end. That should have been the main part of the book
3. Revival - again it was alright but everyone puts this as there top 5 king books. It just dragged. It was meant to be scary? Where?
4. Holly - total crap. Everything about this book was just an excuse put his political view across. Non covid vaxers bad non mask wearers evil. Leave it out.
Thanks for sharing this. I would naturally disagree on The Dead Zone as it’s my favourite, and I think the ending of Revival is so good and so scary that it elevates it up the list. The other two I can definitely see why people would find them overrated for sure
Totally agree on Salem's Lot. It doesn't have the strong characterization like his other classics. Plus the villain looks really goofy once he pops up, nothing scary about him
@bernabefernandeztouceda7315 how does he look goofy in the book? He’s described as a very charming, enticing, handsome man?
@@DaveReadsKing because the poor characterization. That's why
@bernabefernandeztouceda7315 ok. I would disagree with you there but that’s fine!
I KNEW "The Stand" would be your number one, and that if fine, but I wanted poke at one of your reasons, when you said that you have a chance to start over and the good guys just start everything over, that was what King was pointing to as "this isn't what you should be doing" (Yea the ending is a bit naff)
You’re probably right - I’ve been so bored by the time I get to that stuff that I’ve usually (free) zoned out. I will pay more attention on my upcoming reread
Totally agree about the stand
Tried the dark tower 1 - bad. Tried book 2 - awful. Does it ever get better?
The Tower just might not be for you 🤷🏻♂️ I was ‘meh’ after book 1 and hooked after book 2
The Gunslinger is underrated if anything. It's frequently mentioned as the worst of the Dark Tower series, when in my opinion it's one of the best. It's more difficult than most King stories, more "literary" which puts some people off I guess.
For me I just found it pretentious and dull - and the fact it was five short stories smooshed together made it seem disjointed to me 🤷🏻♂️
Easily 'The Long Walk' for me. Makes many people's Top 10 or even Top 5 but I found it a real chore getting through it as it was extremely repetitive, not just in terms of the action (unavoidable) but I found the dialogue between the boys not at all interesting and the ending sucked hard.
Agreed. I don't understand how everyone likes it so much...easily in my bottom 5
@@andybroad189 Yes, I've read 41 books so far and it would also be in my bottom 5.. probably along with Fairy Tale , The Gunslinger, Lisey's Story and Rose Madder.
Fair enough - not bad for something he wrote in his teens though, right?
@@DaveReadsKing Oh certainly, I would never criticise the quality of his writing, he's a natural.
lol needful things is my second favorite king I can see the argument for IT being a bit bloated
I love both these books - only really included them as they came up so frequently when I researched this prompt online!
@@DaveReadsKing super fair!
I completely agree with IT and The Gunslinger. I find both of them to be alright books, but not as good as everyone makes them out to be.
Now this is gonna piss a lot of people off but I think Gerald's Game is slightly overrated as well. It's really not as good as everyone makes it out to be. Could also be that the translation to my native tongue ruined it.
That’s interesting on Gerald’s Game - I can’t tel if it feels hyped enough to earn the badge of being overrated tbh
11/22/63 is my pick for most overrated. I thought it was so boring and draaagged for like 400 pages.
Opened up good good, ending was great, but everything in between just felt like filler. No big events happened until the climax. Love story was good but in terms of events that progressed the plot, there was nothing. Just school plays and sitting around stalking Oswald. Snooze fest. Unnecessarily long for what we got.
😱 jk, I love to hear different opinions. I wildly disagree as I love this back, but thank you for not shying away!
@@DaveReadsKing I know it’s a bold take and one of your favorites. I didn’t hate the book and can appreciate it, just think it’s overhyped.
I love how everyone has different opinions on King books. Anyway, love your channel and the content you’ve been putting out.
@therubberman1997 thank you so much!
I just picked up full dark,no stars. Liking it so far
I love that collection - nasty!
I personally find misery to be his most overrated
Interesting! Thanks for sharing 😊
@@DaveReadsKing… probably should have given reasons why lol. I just personally found some of the more extended passages talking about Paul Sheldon’s pain level and mental state to drag a bit. Also I understand the theme of “my readers are killing me” but it didn’t quite sit well with me. You know most of us adore you and are respectful enough to keep our distance, sorry it seemed like a few bad apples were spoiling the bunch for him at the time of writing
@@DaveReadsKing … really enjoyed your list. I actually appreciate when someone’s opinion differs from mine because it creates a more interesting discourse. The Stand is my favorite King Novel haha.
@jg1335 fair!
I’d chuck forward Joyland and Duma Key, Joyland got way too distracted, even for a King book and the ending of Duma Key dragged what was a great book to that point down significantly
Fair enough - personally I don’t think either of these are hyped enough to be considered overrated…I think they’re both slept on quite a lot. But thanks for sharing some more ideas, I’m always keen to hear them!
@@DaveReadsKingI mean overrated by Constant Readers, and these books normally come under “underrated” because of their relative obscurity so I suppose since I don’t really like them they are just “rated”? Lol idk
@TheFuryOfRussiaCB 🤷🏻♂️🤷🏻♂️😂
I was mildly disappointed by Joyland. It definitely wasn't the spooky, summery carnival story I had expected. I wasn't a fan of jumping forward to Fall and introducing the mom/son characters. The mystery of the murders felt like a complete afterthought
Duma Key is one of the very few books by him that gets way better in the second half
There's a lot to like about King's books, but he needs a damned good editor and to spend a lot more time working out decent endings. It's very frustrating to read 1000+ pages and get to a weak finale.
Interesting…I think he’s good at endings in general save for a couple of books. I even did a special about it a while back th-cam.com/video/dDsfeAOlb24/w-d-xo.htmlsi=hwntZfGS47VSFf6C
The Shining ... I saw Kubrick's film first and have always been a big fan of it, so it's probably hard to rate the novel objectively. But I read it twice and both times found it a rather boring haunted house story. Still ok, but it's not even close to my favourite King books.
Fair enough! Thanks for the comment!
Spot on about The Gunslinger. The first section is a great moody western piece in weirdland then it gets fantasy boring mess. Very pretentious and not very entertaining.
I read half of Skeleton Crew too long ago (In France the paperback edition was cut in two books one I read in my teens one I read less than ten years ago) but going through summaries of the stories on Wikipedia I can see how some of them are not that great. It’s maybe less consistent in fact than Everything’s Eventual that I am currently reading.
The Dark Half is for me the most obvious overrated King book I read. I was not really engaged by the story beyond its cool concept
The Dark Half is interesting…I always feel like that is overlooked by many King fans and therefore wouldn’t count as overrated as it doesn’t get much hype, but appreciate your thoughts!
The stand, the shinning, and wizard and glass ( after reading that I still haven't finished the series)
I love needful things
👍👍👍 I love Needful Things too but it came up enough online when I was researching this that I felt like I should include it
@@DaveReadsKing I think we have the same taste. I really appreciate that you are honest and don't go with the norm just because.
@cassiemainella6515 thank you 😊
Ah it pains me to see Skeleton Crew on here cause its my favorite collection so far but I also do agree with the lows. Though there were some great stories (Gramma in particular was awesome and of course The Mist.) The Stand absolutely has to be the most overrated thing I've ever read. First 3rd was phenomenal and then went peeeeeewww down after that. Need to check out your underrated ones.
Your thoughts on the Stand 🤝 my thoughts on the Stand 😊😊
Most overrated ive read so far is easily the green mile. The writing was plain and rushed, it reads like a first draft imo.
Boom! Hot take! Thanks for sharing!
That’s why it was serialized initially. Chapter by chapter. Just for suspense
Up to this point I read about 20 SK books. For me ‚the Shining‘ is by faaaaar his most overrated book. It was too long, extremely boring, zeroooo spooky except for one part. 2/10 for me.
((Billy Summers and later were also trash))
Fair enough! I don’t know if Later and BS can be truly overrated though, as I don’t think they are particularly hyped
How did you not mention the ending of Needful things ? Probably one of the worst endings in all of fiction and turns the book into a joke. IMO a bleak ending would have suited the themes better
Fair, but does that make the book overrated as a whole? That’s what I found tough doing the special, separating stuff I don’t like versus finding books that are generally super popular among Constant Readers and reevaluating them
The one that is overrated for me is Lindsey's story. It was the first King book I read. Made me not want to read another King book for a decade. After that book I did not understand the hype. Thankfully I gave another one a try and he is one of my favorite authors right now...
Lol you should have started with some of his classics
Lisey’s Story is definitely a bold choice for a first King book! I love it, but had read dozens of his other works before I got there. Glad he clicked for you eventually though!
Here's my picks
Duma key
The shining
The mr Mercedes trilogy even though i enjoyed finders keepers
The girl who loved tom Gordon
drawing of the three
Firestarter
The dark half
The girl who loved tom Gordon is no way overrated. It's in most people's bottom tier. Think you missed the point of the video title
@@JungleOfMeat actually there are some people who love that book unfortunately I'm not one of them
Thanks for sharing these!
anything Holly Gibney
stand
it
geralds game
112263 (i know, i know)
It and 1122??? Wow!!! 😅
@@DaveReadsKing i feel both are solid
but top 1 or 2 of all king works is a bit much for me
112263 is often touted as some peoples even top book period
i just dont get that
@thegkbc4510 fair enough! 😊
11/22/63 was so depressing to me. But my husband and almost everyone else loves it.
When an author, actor, band, etc become well established then you could argue that everything they put out is overrated. Once they have their fan base they know people will buy whatever is released, whether it is good or not. They know people will buy it and rave about it until the next release.
This is a) a good point and b) a very long video if I include everything 😂😂
Joyland, worst stephen king book
But, does that make it overrated?
@@DaveReadsKing 100%. Because, even if you don't believe it, there are people who say it's good.
Anderson Lisa Lewis Paul Brown Matthew
What??
@@DaveReadsKing I think it's a bot - it's visited a lot of channels lately. Different 'commenters' but always just a string of names.
@parisgreen4600 ok thanks - thought it was either some cryptic code or a list of character names I’d forgotten about 😅
For me the most overrated s.king book is dead zone. Im not american so all the political nonsence is boring, and this book its just about political nonsence
So far, this for me as well. I loved the first half but the second became more and more ponderous.
That’s my all time favourite, you’re breaking my heart! But it’s your choice, and I’m always keen to hear it!
I personnaly think that King is overall a very overrated writer... In 50 to 100 years I dont think people will still read him
He's still above the average. Dean Koontz is the one to be forgotten within months
@@bernabefernandeztouceda7315 King is above so many people... There is a lot of trash being published but it was also the case 300 hundred years ago so can't complain
I wildly disagree. His books have already survived 50 years and I think his work will absolutely endure. In fact, I think once he dies then his work will actually be taken more seriously by academics and studying in literature courses
@@DaveReadsKing Not at all. Being studied doesnt means you will survive time. A lot of writers here in France are studied in class but then they fall off the programs and we never hear about them anymore.
The thing is to survive time you have to bring something to Litterature, something new, something worth reading you in years.
And I think King doesnt do that at all. He he just one of the best of the writers who write not for art but for entertaining people...
@TheReject182 ok. Again, I disagree. I think he has transformed horror fiction, he’s one of the finest short story writers ever, his creation of his own connected universe is staggering and he’s given a voice to working class fiction that has opened doors for so many others to come through. People almost certainly were as dismissive about Dickens when he was alive…King is our Dickens. Also, King tells terrific stories, and good stories don’t die