4.5 stars! Wow. This book was sooooooo good. There's no wonder that this is such a well loved book in the bookish community.

The Stand was full of three dimensional characters whom you will either love, hate, or love to hate. The character development seems so realistic in an apocalyptic story. I am not usually one to enjoy multi perspective books but each character focus that King did was interesting and engaging. Fair warning, don't get attached.

The story progressed in such a natural and easy going way. The way the flu spreads throughout the world in the subtle and not so subtle ways (I especially enjoyed the portion of the post flu wave of deaths based off of pure stupidity).

The way the plot leads to THE event is so satisfying and exciting. It kept me intrigued the whole way through, and it was interesting to read which characters ended up being involved in which portions of the book. Not everyone is as predictable as you would think.

All in all. I'm so glad I got to read this before I started my final year of my Master's program! Would recommend to anyone who loves apocalyptic (post-apocalyptic) books, descriptive yet fast-paced books, and (frankly) strong character driven books! Love love love