Years ago, I read Owen King’s debut short-story collection cite We’re All in This Together, and I wasn’t really impressed. Being a fan of his father’s work, I guess I expected something more. So, when the announcement came that they were co-writing a full-length novel, I wasn’t overly excited.
Of course, I needn’t have worried.
Sleeping Beauties turned out to be quite an entertaining read. The plot — “What if all women in the world fall into a deep, magical sleep (which may or may not be caused by this mysterious woman who just turned up out of nowhere), and all men are left to their own devices?” — is probably mostly fluff, as neither the answer to that what-if (spoiler: men will be asshats) nor its feminist you-go-girl attitude should surprise you. But then you get to the characters (the book starts with a three and a half page long list of ‘em), and the world building, and the subtext, and all the other non-supernatural mumbo-jumbo that makes me like King so damn much. And again, that is where this book shines.
- Book read
- Stephen King & Owen King — Sleeping Beauties
- First line
- Ree asked Jeanette if she ever watched the square of light from the window.