Review: The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories

The Bazaar of Bad Dreams: Stories by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Overall this was an okay collection. Like many of these, there were some good and some bad.
I was expecting a few more big hitters, but I think that's just because it's Stephen King and you always expect something really special from him.
Overall a decent read, but there are a few stories that could've been left out.

"The introduction to this audio, read by Stephen King, is a prime example of why authors should get narrators to do the full audio for them. This sounds like a ten year old reading his homework out loud in class"

"skipped this first story because I've already read it. It's a good story though, original review is here I liked this one!
King does like his monster cars doesn't he!
This was only a shorty, but it was creepy and fun. I wouldn't say it's scary. You could probably read this to kids aged 10 and up as a scary story. But it is a good story.
I enjoyed it."

"Perfect Harmony - A bit unsure on that story. It was quite sad, but as a stand alone story didn't really do much. I saw the ending coming from a mile off. I think that was supposed to be the little shock at the end, but it didn't really work."

"Batman & Robin have an altercation. I really enjoyed this one. Took a very unexpected turn towards the end. It was both saddening and heart warming throughout. It actually reminded me a lot of a similar story I've written myself, but the end really caught me by surprise."

"Dune - I didn't really like this one. It was quite slow and dull. And I saw where it was going long before it actually got there."

"Bad Little Kid - This story was quite a bit longer than the others. It was really quite good. Again, you could call the end pretty early on, but the journey there was still enjoyable. I think this would make quite a good episode on a Twilight Show sort of series."

"A death - I've read this short before when it was in NYT so I've skipped the audio. original review was..
This was a very short story. It's available to read for free at "The New Yorker" online.
I don't really want to give anything away. It's difficult to say much apart from it's a good story.
Not one of Kings best, but that would be impossible with such a short tale. My only quarm with this is that I guessed the"

"The Bone Church - Don't really know what to say about that. I think it was supposed to come across as a drunken rambling.....but that's all it did. The story wasn't very good, it literally just sounded like a drunk mouthing off."

"Morality - this is another i'd already read so skipped, but it's a good story original review was..
This Shorty was pretty good. It's only about 40 pages but that's all it needs to be. This was just a bonus story in my blockade billy book so I thought id give it a go.
It's very different to other king stories, but just as good! If you have a spare half hour then check it out"

"Afterlife - This story was quite interesting. A little bit depressing as well, but a cool theory of what could be."

"UR - I was surprised by this story. When it started it felt like really bad and blatant advertising for kindle. But as it went on it got a bit more interesting. It did take about 50% of the story to get to that point though. Once it got going it was really good. I was kind of expecting a killer twist at the end, but I suppose it's good to guess them wrong sometimes."

"Herman Wouk is still alive - hmmm I think this story may have been better if the introduction hadn't pretty much told me exactly what was going to happen.
One thing I loved in this story though. This quote -
"The body weakens, but the words never do" that's beautiful."

"under the weather- yeah not much to say. didn't like it"

"Blockade Billy -Firstly, I'm not a baseball fan. Far from it, in fact I think it's one of the most boring sports there is. Luckily you don't have to be a baseball fan to enjoy this story. It's a very quick read, I did the lot in less than two hours. I thoroughly enjoyed it and it still has that little kiss of horror in there to keep king fans sweet.
Well worth the read!"

"Mr Yummy - Wasn't really into that one. Basically an old dying man with heads keeps seeing death in the form of a man he used to long for. Just depressing really."

"Tommy - Nope, sorry. Just an old little hippy rant. Wasn't even a story, or a poem as it says."

"Drunken Fireworks - I'm going to have to come back to this one in the paperback. I cannot listen to the audio for that short anymore. Then narrators voice is grinding. It's horrible."

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