I personally really liked the ambiguous ending. Sometimes an ending thats open to interpretation is a good thing. The whole book is written as David's journal so it makes sense that we dont find out what happened to them. The fact that the journal entries suddenly stop possibly means the crew met an ill fate. Great book anyway. Loved the review
Hey, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and for the compliment on the review! 😊 I absolutely see where you're coming from with the ambiguous ending. You make a solid point about the journal format providing a reasonable explanation for the open-ended conclusion. The sudden halt in the journal entries does add a layer of mystery and leaves room for readers to ponder the fate of the characters, which can be a very effective storytelling technique. I love how different elements of the story can resonate differently with each of us. That's a cool idea that the journal entries stopped because of a sudden end to the group.
I think The Mist was a really fun read. I enjoyed it (and well, every other short story/novella in Skeleton Crew) but I do agree on that the ending in the movie was waaaaay better. I also think that the ehm part where the main character, ehm gets together for some adult fun with Amanda (I think she was named, been a little bit since I read it) was really unnecessary. Great video as always! I’m excited to see your review of Salem’s Lot! :)
@@PaperbackJourneys dope! I’m looking forward to watching it! Been a while since I read it (read it before my Dark Tower journey) but I still remember it quite vividly :)
As always great review! The Mist is my favorite King book so far and I'm following the same reading order as you. I love the mystery and intrigue this book offers, I found myself desperately wanting to know more about these creatures and what the mist really is and about this so called arrowhead project, which is why I think the ending lends itself quite nicely to the story in my opinion. I agree with you that the open ending is pretty unsatisfying and that King is notorious for bad endings (don't even get me started on the Wastelands) but for this book I think it really sold the authenticity that David was just some dude who got mixed up in all this. I feel like in a lot of other King novels the protagonist and their party, a Ka-tet if you will, are fated or destined to be exactly where they are and have a quest that they must complete. The reason I love this book so much is that it truly feels like a group a people that got caught in the worst catastrophe of their lives, for example if I put myself in David's shoes would I worry about finding the origin of these creatures or what the arrow head project was? Hell no I'd do what I could to protect my child and care about nothing more. Although like I said I do still find myself really wanting to know more about the arrow head project and hope it gets brought up again later! I can't wait to see your Salem's lot review as it was actually the first King book I disliked so I'm curious to see how you'll take it. Keep up the amazing work!
Oh yeah I agree. If David took it upon himself to investigate the arrowhead project that would have been kinda crazy. I fully expected him to just try and escape. I think for me, it was just a case of the ending being unsatisfying. I wouldn't have minded if, for example, they all failed to escape, or if they saw that the world was effectively over. When I got to the end of the book I wanted about 10 more pages of resolution so I had a clear understanding of where the characters stood or what direction they might be heading in. My review on Salem's Lot will be coming up in about a week or so. What is it that didn't really work for you?
@@PaperbackJourneys I will avoid spoilers in case anyone reading hasn’t read Salem’s lot yet , but for me, my favorite part of every Stephen King novel is the mystery of trying to figure out what’s going on. In the stand I loved trying to decipher the dreams and what they meant, in the talisman I loved trying to figure out what this other world was and what laws governed it, and especially in Salem’s lot I loved the mystery and was incredibly invested in figuring out what was happening to this town. That being said, when it was revealed what the monster was, it sort of fell flat for me, it may just be a product of my time but I just couldn’t bring myself to fear the monsters in this book, I feel if I were to have read this book when it was released I’d have appreciated the monsters much more, but having read it last week they were just kinda meh for me. Coupled with this, I found the main antagonist to be kind of forgettable, which for a King book this was a first for me, I feel most of his antagonists are burned into my mind (rhea, randal Flagg, etc.) but for this book the antagonist just didn’t have the same effect. I feel the character I found most memorable and wanting to know more about was Father Callahan. I found the setting and most of the characters very enjoyable, but I could never really feel too much suspense or fear in this book, which I’m used to feeling in King books. Nonetheless I’m very excited to see how you felt about the book, can’t wait for the review!!
I love The Mist! Very Lovecraftian for a King book imo. I have this way earlier in my DT order, like around Wizard and Glass, because of the thinny connection. Also I prefer the movie ending because it's such a shocker. Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Salem's Lot, it's another one of my favorite King books lol
Thanks so much for commenting mate! I appreciate it. Yeah this was a great book. Have you completed the dark tower series and all of the surrounding multiverse? I'm really enjoying it but I can't wait to get to the end and look back to connect all of the dots.
@@PaperbackJourneys I've completed all of DT a couple times and "many" King books. This is the first time I'm going start to finish on the extended order though! We started around the same time (that's actually how I found your channel!) and I'm mostly following your order but not exactly. Compared to your reading order video, I'm on Insomnia, but I also finished Wind Through the Keyhole and Wolves of the Calla already! The rest of the extended books in your order (Insomnia through Black House) will be first time reading for me, so I'm excited to be able to follow along with you!
irony, this was the first stephen king book i ever read ..... the anthology with "the mist" in it......."skeleton crew" and i became a "dark tower"seeker. i miss the days before everyone knew there was a dark tower universe, and you would read a book, and be able to be freaked out, and almost "study" the books, to see the running themes, and characters....... i think i had read "wizard and glass" when i put together "the mist, and the thinny" where the same thing (edit) you just spoke about exactly what i just said!!!!! lol amazing!
Honestly, it seems to me to have more to do with the concept of the Todash-Darkness and the monsters in it. A "thinny" is just a place where the barrier between realities is "thin", and elements of disparate realities can bleed into each other. But the void between existences where countless unknowable horrors are born sounds a lot more like what happens in the mist to me.
@@existenceisrelative well you do remember in "wizard and galss" when they use "the thinny" as a weapon, and lead the coffin hunters into it? that had all creatures like "the mist" in it
I'm glad to see you continue with the dark tower series😁. I currently started to read it too but my reading order is a bit different. Right now i‘m reading the talisman and looking forward to your Salem‘s Lot Review
@@PaperbackJourneys I‘m half way through the Talisman and it took a bit time to catch me but now I‘m interested to see where it goes, especially for Black House (cause I think that was the one with the bigger Dark Tower connection). And after I‘ve finished the Talisman, I‘m gonna watch your review so i can see your opinion on it. Kind regards
I've finished watching your Dark Tower videos but I'm going back to watch your review on the other books that I've read. It's been a while since I read The Mist but my feelings about it were very similar to yours. I felt the story was going great, we were working toward the ending, and I was looking forward to seeing how this was going to end and be resolved, then they just kept going, keep driving. I didn't think it was a terrible ending but yes still slightly unsatisfying. I feel with an ending like that, we still need closure so where's the other book to explain what came next?! I have not watched the movie, but I did discuss the ending with a friend who watched it but never read it and hands down that's a better ending. I was shocked when they told me the movie ending. I even said, that felt like a Stephen King ending. It just didn't come from King.
Actually, "The Mist" is NOT a novella. It is a very long short story which was first published as such in his second Short Storie- Collection "Skeleton Crew". They probably published it as a seperate book because of the movie.
Hey thanks for the comment, I think they actually published the novella first (Viking Press in 1980 as part of the Dark Forces anthology,) and then five years later Stephen King edited it and released a short story in the1985 collection Skeleton Crew.
Thanks for the great review. I’m a big Stephen Hill fan, so I look forward to this. Full support from yoga/meditation, music channel friend in the UK ❤️🎹❤️
💯 the movie ending absolutely wrecked the meaning, was so fucking disappointing. Ohhhhhh the military came just too late 🙄. The books ending was far, far superior. It meant more, stood out about the hubris of man, that some actions have permanent, irrevocable consequences. That some thing we just can never fix. The movie? Nah. We fixed it. 🤦♀️
Ohhhh I think that you and I had a different interpretation of the movie ending, maybe I'm remembering it wrong? I didn't see it as the military solved everything, only that they were proof that others had survived and they bought them main cast a brief reprieve. I think the gate remained open. The reason I found it so devastating was the personal story of David (who is a small player in the grand scheme.) He tried to do his best for his family, to protect his son, but in the end, he needlessly took his son's life. There's no coming back from that. I do think that he would take his own life as soon as he could after that so it's a tragic ending of a victim but the gate is open and the world is changed forever now. That's how I saw it.
For some reason I hate Carmody more than Rhea of the Cöos I also would recommend getting Skeleton Crew instead of the mist because Skeleton Crew is the anthology book that the mist is from
Yeah man I hate Carmody. Ahhhh I didn't realise it was part of a collection of short stories. I'm looking forward to his next collection coming out soon.
I think Stephen King's endings can be hit and miss because the man himself never actually plans in advance how his books will finish. His writing style is basically to make it up as he goes along, therefore I feel he gets to a stage where he thinks, 'Oh, I better end this soon, ach, that'll do, people won't mind'. The best example of this is Under the Dome. Thankfully the rest of that book more than makes up for it (won't spoil it here incase you've not read it). I personally can live with that if what comes before is of the incredibly high standard it usually is. I didn't mind the ending to The Mist, but I agree, the movie ending is much better.
I just rewatched the ending of the movie and that is way too depressing. It is an ending but I think I'll take the open ended ending this time. Usually Stephen King's approach to endings drives me crazy but in this case maybe it's better not knowing because damn if I had done what he did at the end of the movie just to find out help was around the corner I would have jumped in front of the tank.
Yeah it's really really heavy. I think it just had such a big impact on me. I was sitting there with my jaw open like "no... no....... wait no." As you said, he did it out of kindness but then to see there are still survivors was just so cruel. if he had just waited like 1 more minute. In my mind he didn't last the rest of the day.
Good read BUT didn’t see the necessity to read it as part of TDT extended series reading list …. Or at least only a few chapters need to be read to continue the journey to the Dark Tower.. if you disagree PLEASE comment - I am not opposed to changing my mind when a valid argument is proposed. Thanks!!
For me I liked this story, but I liked the movie better which has one of the best endings in any movie IMO. I don't think this one belongs in the extended Dark Tower series book reads, there is just not enough of a connection to make it meaningful to the Dark Tower series itself. That being said, this was another great review on your part.
Yeah that's the weird thing for me. I'm kind of going in blind to all of these stories with their connection to The Dark Tower since I haven't finished the series. I think there's an argument to be made for finishing the series first and then coming back to read all of these connected books, but I've committed to it this way now and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Thanks again for commenting.
@@PaperbackJourneys Yeah I did the same thing the first time I went thru the extended series and didn't read just the series in order. The second time I did it I added a few more suggested books like The Mist, but I didn't see enough of a connection to be mandatory to the extended reading list. So now I have my own list of how I fell things should go, but it will be a while before I tackle the whole thing again.
Recently I have read a horror story book named Adams descent into darkness, it was really spookiest book I have ever read .I suggest this book to those of you who love horror, suspense, thriller stories 😊
I personally really liked the ambiguous ending. Sometimes an ending thats open to interpretation is a good thing.
The whole book is written as David's journal so it makes sense that we dont find out what happened to them. The fact that the journal entries suddenly stop possibly means the crew met an ill fate.
Great book anyway.
Loved the review
Hey, thank you so much for sharing your thoughts and for the compliment on the review! 😊 I absolutely see where you're coming from with the ambiguous ending. You make a solid point about the journal format providing a reasonable explanation for the open-ended conclusion.
The sudden halt in the journal entries does add a layer of mystery and leaves room for readers to ponder the fate of the characters, which can be a very effective storytelling technique. I love how different elements of the story can resonate differently with each of us. That's a cool idea that the journal entries stopped because of a sudden end to the group.
I think The Mist was a really fun read. I enjoyed it (and well, every other short story/novella in Skeleton Crew) but I do agree on that the ending in the movie was waaaaay better. I also think that the ehm part where the main character, ehm gets together for some adult fun with Amanda (I think she was named, been a little bit since I read it) was really unnecessary.
Great video as always! I’m excited to see your review of Salem’s Lot! :)
I agree with pretty much everything you said here and I CANNOT wait to talk about Salem's Lot. The review will be out in about a week or so.
@@PaperbackJourneys dope! I’m looking forward to watching it! Been a while since I read it (read it before my Dark Tower journey) but I still remember it quite vividly :)
As always great review! The Mist is my favorite King book so far and I'm following the same reading order as you. I love the mystery and intrigue this book offers, I found myself desperately wanting to know more about these creatures and what the mist really is and about this so called arrowhead project, which is why I think the ending lends itself quite nicely to the story in my opinion. I agree with you that the open ending is pretty unsatisfying and that King is notorious for bad endings (don't even get me started on the Wastelands) but for this book I think it really sold the authenticity that David was just some dude who got mixed up in all this. I feel like in a lot of other King novels the protagonist and their party, a Ka-tet if you will, are fated or destined to be exactly where they are and have a quest that they must complete. The reason I love this book so much is that it truly feels like a group a people that got caught in the worst catastrophe of their lives, for example if I put myself in David's shoes would I worry about finding the origin of these creatures or what the arrow head project was? Hell no I'd do what I could to protect my child and care about nothing more. Although like I said I do still find myself really wanting to know more about the arrow head project and hope it gets brought up again later!
I can't wait to see your Salem's lot review as it was actually the first King book I disliked so I'm curious to see how you'll take it. Keep up the amazing work!
Oh yeah I agree. If David took it upon himself to investigate the arrowhead project that would have been kinda crazy. I fully expected him to just try and escape. I think for me, it was just a case of the ending being unsatisfying.
I wouldn't have minded if, for example, they all failed to escape, or if they saw that the world was effectively over.
When I got to the end of the book I wanted about 10 more pages of resolution so I had a clear understanding of where the characters stood or what direction they might be heading in.
My review on Salem's Lot will be coming up in about a week or so. What is it that didn't really work for you?
@@PaperbackJourneys I will avoid spoilers in case anyone reading hasn’t read Salem’s lot yet , but for me, my favorite part of every Stephen King novel is the mystery of trying to figure out what’s going on. In the stand I loved trying to decipher the dreams and what they meant, in the talisman I loved trying to figure out what this other world was and what laws governed it, and especially in Salem’s lot I loved the mystery and was incredibly invested in figuring out what was happening to this town. That being said, when it was revealed what the monster was, it sort of fell flat for me, it may just be a product of my time but I just couldn’t bring myself to fear the monsters in this book, I feel if I were to have read this book when it was released I’d have appreciated the monsters much more, but having read it last week they were just kinda meh for me. Coupled with this, I found the main antagonist to be kind of forgettable, which for a King book this was a first for me, I feel most of his antagonists are burned into my mind (rhea, randal Flagg, etc.) but for this book the antagonist just didn’t have the same effect. I feel the character I found most memorable and wanting to know more about was Father Callahan. I found the setting and most of the characters very enjoyable, but I could never really feel too much suspense or fear in this book, which I’m used to feeling in King books. Nonetheless I’m very excited to see how you felt about the book, can’t wait for the review!!
I love The Mist! Very Lovecraftian for a King book imo.
I have this way earlier in my DT order, like around Wizard and Glass, because of the thinny connection.
Also I prefer the movie ending because it's such a shocker.
Can't wait to hear your thoughts on Salem's Lot, it's another one of my favorite King books lol
Thanks so much for commenting mate! I appreciate it.
Yeah this was a great book. Have you completed the dark tower series and all of the surrounding multiverse?
I'm really enjoying it but I can't wait to get to the end and look back to connect all of the dots.
@@PaperbackJourneys I've completed all of DT a couple times and "many" King books. This is the first time I'm going start to finish on the extended order though!
We started around the same time (that's actually how I found your channel!) and I'm mostly following your order but not exactly.
Compared to your reading order video, I'm on Insomnia, but I also finished Wind Through the Keyhole and Wolves of the Calla already!
The rest of the extended books in your order (Insomnia through Black House) will be first time reading for me, so I'm excited to be able to follow along with you!
irony, this was the first stephen king book i ever read ..... the anthology with "the mist" in it......."skeleton crew"
and i became a "dark tower"seeker.
i miss the days before everyone knew there was a dark tower universe, and you would read a book, and be able to be freaked out, and almost "study" the books, to see the running themes, and characters....... i think i had read "wizard and glass" when i put together "the mist, and the thinny" where the same thing
(edit) you just spoke about exactly what i just said!!!!! lol amazing!
Honestly, it seems to me to have more to do with the concept of the Todash-Darkness and the monsters in it. A "thinny" is just a place where the barrier between realities is "thin", and elements of disparate realities can bleed into each other. But the void between existences where countless unknowable horrors are born sounds a lot more like what happens in the mist to me.
@@existenceisrelative well you do remember in "wizard and galss" when they use "the thinny" as a weapon, and lead the coffin hunters into it? that had all creatures like "the mist" in it
I'd prefer the ambiguous ending in the novella rather than the dark twist ending in the movie adaptation.
Finished it last night and like yourself, enjoyed it, in Skeleton Crew collection. I wish King could write novels in this manner, concisely.
I'm glad to see you continue with the dark tower series😁. I currently started to read it too but my reading order is a bit different. Right now i‘m reading the talisman and looking forward to your Salem‘s Lot Review
Yeah the Salem's Lot review will be coming up in the next week or so. I'm excited to talk about it. How are you enjoying The Talisman?
@@PaperbackJourneys I‘m half way through the Talisman and it took a bit time to catch me but now I‘m interested to see where it goes, especially for Black House (cause I think that was the one with the bigger Dark Tower connection). And after I‘ve finished the Talisman, I‘m gonna watch your review so i can see your opinion on it. Kind regards
I've finished watching your Dark Tower videos but I'm going back to watch your review on the other books that I've read. It's been a while since I read The Mist but my feelings about it were very similar to yours. I felt the story was going great, we were working toward the ending, and I was looking forward to seeing how this was going to end and be resolved, then they just kept going, keep driving. I didn't think it was a terrible ending but yes still slightly unsatisfying. I feel with an ending like that, we still need closure so where's the other book to explain what came next?! I have not watched the movie, but I did discuss the ending with a friend who watched it but never read it and hands down that's a better ending. I was shocked when they told me the movie ending. I even said, that felt like a Stephen King ending. It just didn't come from King.
Actually, "The Mist" is NOT a novella.
It is a very long short story which was first published as such in his second Short Storie- Collection "Skeleton Crew".
They probably published it as a seperate book because of the movie.
Hey thanks for the comment, I think they actually published the novella first (Viking Press in 1980 as part of the Dark Forces anthology,) and then five years later Stephen King edited it and released a short story in the1985 collection Skeleton Crew.
@@PaperbackJourneys Okay, the more you know.
Literally just finished this book and I enjoyed every part of it, sucks how Ollie went out I really like his character
5:06 like Covid lockdowns? The store felt like a distopia to me in 2020 and 2021
The movie of this has my favourie ending ever :D I actually only recently got round to the book and enjoyed it, but I preferred the movie's ending
Totally with you on the ending my friend.
Thanks for the great review. I’m a big Stephen Hill fan, so I look forward to this. Full support from yoga/meditation, music channel friend in the UK ❤️🎹❤️
Thank you so much for commenting. I'm glad you enjoyed it.
💯 the movie ending absolutely wrecked the meaning, was so fucking disappointing. Ohhhhhh the military came just too late 🙄. The books ending was far, far superior. It meant more, stood out about the hubris of man, that some actions have permanent, irrevocable consequences. That some thing we just can never fix. The movie? Nah. We fixed it. 🤦♀️
Ohhhh I think that you and I had a different interpretation of the movie ending, maybe I'm remembering it wrong? I didn't see it as the military solved everything, only that they were proof that others had survived and they bought them main cast a brief reprieve. I think the gate remained open. The reason I found it so devastating was the personal story of David (who is a small player in the grand scheme.) He tried to do his best for his family, to protect his son, but in the end, he needlessly took his son's life. There's no coming back from that.
I do think that he would take his own life as soon as he could after that so it's a tragic ending of a victim but the gate is open and the world is changed forever now. That's how I saw it.
For some reason I hate Carmody more than Rhea of the Cöos
I also would recommend getting Skeleton Crew instead of the mist because Skeleton Crew is the anthology book that the mist is from
Yeah man I hate Carmody. Ahhhh I didn't realise it was part of a collection of short stories. I'm looking forward to his next collection coming out soon.
I think Stephen King's endings can be hit and miss because the man himself never actually plans in advance how his books will finish. His writing style is basically to make it up as he goes along, therefore I feel he gets to a stage where he thinks, 'Oh, I better end this soon, ach, that'll do, people won't mind'. The best example of this is Under the Dome. Thankfully the rest of that book more than makes up for it (won't spoil it here incase you've not read it). I personally can live with that if what comes before is of the incredibly high standard it usually is. I didn't mind the ending to The Mist, but I agree, the movie ending is much better.
I just rewatched the ending of the movie and that is way too depressing. It is an ending but I think I'll take the open ended ending this time.
Usually Stephen King's approach to endings drives me crazy but in this case maybe it's better not knowing because damn if I had done what he did at the end of the movie just to find out help was around the corner I would have jumped in front of the tank.
Yeah it's really really heavy. I think it just had such a big impact on me. I was sitting there with my jaw open like "no... no....... wait no."
As you said, he did it out of kindness but then to see there are still survivors was just so cruel. if he had just waited like 1 more minute.
In my mind he didn't last the rest of the day.
Good read BUT didn’t see the necessity to read it as part of TDT extended series reading list …. Or at least only a few chapters need to be read to continue the journey to the Dark Tower.. if you disagree PLEASE comment - I am not opposed to changing my mind when a valid argument is proposed. Thanks!!
Agreed. The only thing I can think is the phenomenon that caused the mist seems like a "Thinny"
great review of a really fun book. Totally agree that the movie ending is better. Won't give you the warm fuzzies, but better
Right! It's devastating in the best way lol.
Loved all of it except the ending
Same! Same! Thanks for the comment.
For me I liked this story, but I liked the movie better which has one of the best endings in any movie IMO. I don't think this one belongs in the extended Dark Tower series book reads, there is just not enough of a connection to make it meaningful to the Dark Tower series itself. That being said, this was another great review on your part.
Yeah that's the weird thing for me. I'm kind of going in blind to all of these stories with their connection to The Dark Tower since I haven't finished the series. I think there's an argument to be made for finishing the series first and then coming back to read all of these connected books, but I've committed to it this way now and I'm having a lot of fun with it. Thanks again for commenting.
@@PaperbackJourneys Yeah I did the same thing the first time I went thru the extended series and didn't read just the series in order. The second time I did it I added a few more suggested books like The Mist, but I didn't see enough of a connection to be mandatory to the extended reading list. So now I have my own list of how I fell things should go, but it will be a while before I tackle the whole thing again.
The ending of the movie was too forced, I prefer the ending of the book
Recently I have read a horror story book named Adams descent into darkness, it was really spookiest book I have ever read .I suggest this book to those of you who love horror, suspense, thriller stories 😊
Awesome! I'll have to keep an eye out for it. Thanks so much for commenting.
Yep Hartford you never know
Sorry?
You Like It Darker has a lot of shitty endings.
Yeah there were a couple of "non-endings" in there I noticed. I enjoyed most of the stories though.
1000th view
Hey thanks man!! You got me over the hurdle lol.