The Stand by Stephen King
A mutant strain of the virus that would kill 99 per cent of humanity within a few weeks spreads as a man escapes from a biological testing lab, starting a fatal domino effect. The remaining survivors are terrified, confused, and in need of a leader. Mother Abagail, a kind 108-year-old woman who implores them to create a peaceful society in Boulder, Colorado, and Randall Flagg, the villainous “Dark Man,” who takes pleasure in disorder and bloodshed, emerge as the two. The survivors will have to choose between the dark man and the peaceful woman as they both gain power, ultimately determining the fate of all humanity.
The Stand by Stephen King
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The Stand is an epic narrative of gigantic proportions! The number of characters throughout is huge and diversified, some you adore, and some you loathe. The year is 1990, and a pandemic, epidemic, or virus is poised to practically wipe out the entire planet. You may choose. When everything goes wrong at a military facility in California, a family’s journey into Arnette, Texas is swiftly followed by death. From this point on, the fatal infectious illness telephone game begins. Following the lives of the survivors, King spins a tale that is fundamentally about good versus evil and survival. All of the survivors start having weird dreams, which they may casually bring up to others and dismiss as mere chance.
These dreams, however, are too similar to be coincidences as more and more people band together. They all set out on a cross-country adventure to fulfil their dreams, observe what transpires next, and take a position. Accidentally, one man escapes from a biological weapons facility carrying the deadly Captain Tripps virus, a fast mutating disease that kills most of the world’s population within the following weeks. The survivors must decide whether to follow an old black woman to Boulder or the mysterious Randall Flagg, who has established his command centre in Las Vegas. In preparation for a conflict between the forces of good and evil, the two factions work together.
This key idea is presented at the start of The Stand. The fundamental concept of the book is that a federal research facility accidentally releases Captain Trips on the base after spending months developing a super flu bug for use in biological warfare. Everyone perishes, with the exception of Charles Campion, a security guard, who gathers his family and flees the base across Northern America without realizing he has the flu-like illness that spreads to everyone he comes in contact with.
So, King skillfully crafts his story, introducing us to a large cast of characters—some good, some bad—and demonstrating the consequences of Campion’s deeds. We see lesser characters get the illness and suffer via the eyes of our main characters, who come from a variety of backgrounds. In order for us to accompany the characters on the journey they would undoubtedly have to travel, King is ingenious in letting us see how the virus takes root and how it spreads throughout all of America. He also lets us get to know the individuals and watch the human race disappear through their eyes.
