Sleeping Beauties

Sleeping Beauties is my eleventh read of the year and at just over 700 pages in hardback, is one of the reasons why it has been so long since the last time I posted.

Written by Stephen King, alongside his son, Owen, the book tells the story of what happens when all of the world’s women slowly start falling asleep and one after the other, begin slipping into what can only be described as a coma from which, as it soon becomes apparent, it is dangerous to try and wake them from. 

Meanwhile, in the small town of Dooley, a young woman mysteriously emerges from the woods, appearing as if from nowhere, leaving a trail of death and destruction in her wake. 
Her name is Evie, Evie Black - or at least that is what she calls herself - and though the towns people of Dooley might not know it yet, she is the key to it all, everything that is currently happening, and whatever happens to her will go on to help decide the fate of the entire world....

As some of you may know, I am a big fan of Stephen King and though much of his later and more recent work has its critics, there are plenty of his recent releases that I have still enjoyed.
Unfortunately, this isn’t one of them.

When I first picked this up, it was on loan from the library and I ended up returning it in the end both because I was struggling to get into it, and because I knew I would never in a million years get to finish it in time before it was due back.

Fast forward a few months, and when I saw this in a local charity shop, I decided to try and give it another go. 

In hindsight, I really shouldn’t have bothered.

Discussing this book with others online, on social media, the general consensus of this book is that it’s 300 pages of character development and then another 400 or so pages of story where, let’s be frank, not really a hell of a lot happens. 
And having read the book for myself, I can tell you they’re not far wrong.

The story in itself is okay, but that’s about it. For something that, in appearance, is not far off the size of something like The Stand, this book is nowhere near as epic or anywhere near as memorable. If I’m honest, it almost feels like a cash-grab and though I did not hate it, it really wasn’t something I think that I will bother to read again and as far as King books go, I’d probably rate it as being almost as disappointing, if not more so, than Doctor Sleep - the belated sequel to The Shining which similary failed to impress when I read it last year.

I don’t know how much of this was written by King, and how much by his son, Owen, or whether King just gave his name to this book to help boost sales, but for me personally this was nowhere near as good as the work of his other son, Joe Hill who - with the exception of Horns which I really couldn’t get on with - has successfully managed to carve himself out his own reputation without feeling the need to hang onto his father’s coat tails.

If you’re thinking of giving this a go, look at the length and the size of the book first. If, after that, you’re still willing to invest a lot of time and effort into what, ultimately, is a not very rewarding experience then fine, good luck to you, I wish you all the best, but this is one of those books where even I started to skim read towards the end in a bid to finally finish it off and that is something I very rarely do.

A weak 2/5 just because it’s King but really, I really wouldn’t bother with this if I were you because time is too short and there are plenty of other, better reads out there.