There is no denying that King weaves some of his best tales when he sets about writing an epic - The Stand, Needful Things, IT, The Talisman... all are huge and all are in or around my top ten Kings! Under the Dome didn’t quite make it as a five star read in my eyes, but I felt the same attachment to the characters and immersion in this epic story!
.
I’ll lay it out first that the reason I deducted a star was that the amount of violence simply got a bit tiring; there wasn’t the same sense of community building as in the Stand or the artful manipulation of chaos as in Needful Things, so it got to the point where every time Junior or Thibodeau’s name was mentioned I was like WHAT NOW FFS.
.
But there were lots of things I did enjoy! The whole concept of what would happen if a town was isolated from the entire world by an inexplicable dome and suddenly recognised no law but it’s own. The effect this brings out in its inhabitants, for better or worse (mostly worse). I enjoyed the cast of characters, as usual King creates characters you’d like nothing better than to punch in the face and characters that you can’t help root for.
.
I love seeing King’s development in his later works. You must admit that a few of his books from the 70s and 80s leave a lot to be desired in terms of solid women characters, but in this novel I think they shine. Julia, Rose, Norrie, Andi, poor Sammy, Linda, Jackie, I rooted for them all and they represented most of what was good about Chester’s Mill after the dome comes down.
.
ALSO, shout out to some of the best doggo characters the world has ever seen: Horace, Audrey and Clover!