The Talisman
The Jack Sawyer trilogy, Book 1
Stephen King and Peter Straub
Ballantine Books
Fiction, Fantasy/Horror
***+ (Okay/Good)
DESCRIPTION: Twelve-year-old Jack Sawyer knows his mother is dying, but doesn't know what to do about it, or about anything else that's gone so terribly wrong with his life since the death of his father years ago. What he does know is that his mom has drug them across the country to avoid the predation of family "friend" Marcus Sloat, his father's former business partner, but Sloat somehow keeps tracking them down. Jack feels lost and alone and utterly helpless... until a stranger tells him there's a way to fix everything, a quest that will take him across America and another parallel world known as the Territories, through dangers human and otherwise - a quest to retrieve a mysterious magical artifact known as the Talisman. But Jack isn't the only one on a quest, nor is he the only one who can travel to the Territories and back; Morgan Sloat and his foul minions are on his heels almost from the moment the boy takes his first tentative steps westward. And if Morgan gets his hands on the Talisman, whole worlds may fall.
REVIEW: I admit I mostly tried this one to get ahead of a rumored Netflix adaptation. Though billed as its own story (or trilogy, now), it is tangentially associated with King's Dark Tower series, which never tempted me past the first book. Maybe that was part of what I found subtly unsatisfactory here, though there is quite a bit to enjoy.
Jack was born knowing of the Territories, which he called the Daydream lands (after the vivid "daydream" visits he'd take there), but - in the way of many children who grow up, especially too fast - he lost track of that part of himself until forced to remember. The Territories themselves are an interesting portal world, smaller than Earth but full of magic and marvels and terrors that form a sort of surreal mirror of our world, with several mysteries that Jack only catches glimpses of in passing. They are something Earth forgot about itself, something both wonderful and terrible, condensed into a purer, more potent form. His enemies in both worlds are cruel and monstrous, especially the ones that purport to be human, often twisting kindness and perceived benevolence into horrors and pain and outright torture. Morgan Sloat, who has a Territories "Twinner" (alternate self) every bit as horrid as himself, is aided and abetted by an insane zealot at least as terrifying as Morgan, though Morgan's son Richard - long a friend of Jack's when the families were closer - turns into an ally. More than once, Jack stumbles, but he manages to climb to his feet and keep going, slowly growing into his role as a hero as the journey strips away the last vestiges of his innocence. The whole takes on an epic quality, if one soaked in blood and pain and horror.
Where the book narrowly lost a half-star was in the sense that it was dragging its feet almost from the start. Jack must be pushed, repeatedly, into taking his first steps on the quest, even after seeing proof of the Territories and the potential truth of the stranger's claims more than once. Once on the road, he often slows to a standstill, mired in his own head or in some horrible situation (or both) that sometimes plays out long past effectiveness, as though the narrative just wanted to wallow in the depravity of some of his situations. More than once, Morgan's page time is just so much mustache-twirling and hand-rubbing at his own evil schemes without actually advancing the plot much. (And if, once again, a Black man exists mostly to enable a white boy hero, even to the point of self-sacrifice... well, it seemed to be a Thing that hopefully can be relegated to older books like this one.) All this caused just enough irritation to hold the book down from a solid Good rating. As to whether I'll pursue the second installment... I doubt it, as it seems like it ties more closely into King's greater Dark Tower series, and I just have no real interest in that right now. (I may change my mind later, but for now the to-be-read pile's plenty full.)
On an unrelated note, this paperback marked the end of the line for the best, most reliable, hardest to lose bookmark I've ever owned. After five years of faithful service and innumerable stories, it finally succumbed to a fatal tear. Rest in peace, Woodland Park Zoo map from Summer 2017. We went on many adventures together, you and I.
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