Checked this one out after hearing it was a major influence for Lost - and what an influence it is! Major ideas, yeah, but also a lot of little details seem to have made their way over from this book. So in that way, it was perhaps a bit disconcerting, and may have been more effective if I'd read this first.

Still a very effective book, though. Stephen King is never going to be known for his way with words, but the world he creates and the story he tells are both quite captivating. I've read a few post-apocalyptic novels in my time, and this is far from the bleakest, but I like how he deals with the realistic (nasty, icky) consequences of the virus, things that keep cropping up even towards the end of the book.

King does a pretty good job with characterisation, in general. A few characters are a little bit cardboard, which results in some scenes being a touch unrealistic (such as Lloyd's first heist in Vegas at the beginning of the novel - although saying that, that character is actually given more depth before the end.)

Some of the main characters, however, get tremendous treatment. A lot of the background stuff about Larry Underwood can seem a little unnecessary at first, but it builds to the most effective character arc in the whole novel, where every little encounter and incident that Larry had actually does seem to come together and contribute relevantly to where he ends up.

It's a long slog, and the pacing can be slightly odd. Sometimes he'll spend chapter and chapters just slowly building things up, and then suddenly change into high gear and have a few huge events happen all at once. Sometimes it works well, but not always, and despite the length, there were a couple of occasions where I wanted to spent a little more time before moving on - but then conversely, there were also times when my main thought was "okay, next!"

The climax/showdown is one notable place where this strange pacing comes into it... things seem to go a bit too quickly over there, where there was room for more tension at that point. I like where everything ultimately ended up, I just felt those last few moments were skimmed over a bit.

In fact, the real climax of the novel, for me, was really Harold's escapades in Boulder. Full of excitement and tension, and that was for me the most nerve-wracking and exciting part of the book.

The Stand was also planned, in part, as a Lord of the Rings-style epic, and we certainly get the sense of this in the later part of the book, as our heroes, without any apparent hope, march into "Mordor".

Overall, a great read, and I thoroughly enjoyed it, despite the flaws.