Novel Review: Revival (Stephen King, 2014)

"That is not dead which can eternal lie, and with strange aeons even death may die." 

Not so long ago, I discovered that the man who wrote the screenplay of The Shawshank Redemption was the same one who wrote that of The Green Mile. Both are two of my favorite movies, and are widely considered to be among the best movies of the 90's, if not of all time. I kept the name in my mind, and I later knew that the man was actually the author of numerous worldwide-known novels. That's why when I saw Stephen King's name on the spine of a greenish-black book at Malik's, I had no choice but to pick it up from the shelf and take it home.

I finished reading Revival yesterday (I have been reading it intermittently for the past month), and I have to admit that I wasn't disappointed at all. In fact, the last three chapters of the book (around a hundred pages) were so brilliant and engaging, yet absolutely terrifying, that I had to finish them on a single reading stretch, almost breathlessly.

King deals with controversial social, religious and scientific issues in this thrilling story, and readers are forced to think and wonder about some serious possibilities that were otherwise very doubtful previously. 

For me, the novel can be divided into three parts:

The first one, in which King develops the characters and the setting, is very catchy and enjoyable. I really doubted that the story was a "thriller" while reading the opening three or four chapters.

In the second part, King follows one of the main character's life journey with too much details, most of which are irrelevant and have minimal relation to the overall tone and the subsequent events. This is the part I wanted to finish as fast as possible and I felt slightly bored while reading it.

The third and final part, the one I mentioned above, was simply incredible. I just couldn't stop reading and it really scared the hell out of me. All these creepy visions that the main characters had are now imprinted in my memory.

"This is how we bring about our own damnation, you know - by ignoring the voice that begs us to stop. To stop while there is still time."

So while the novel would have been much more accomplished with around a hundred pages less, I can safely and surely say that I enjoyed it as my first Stephen King novel. Those of you wanting to witness King's genius and exceptional storytelling can turn to Revival as a kick-off; I already have another one of his works on my shelf (to be read a few weeks from now), as well as many others on my shop list.

My Rating: 7.5/10