I found this listing kind of fascinating. I don’t necessarily agree with all of the rankings, but by and large, I think they got it right.
Spoiler space
“The Stand” takes the Number One spot! I have a hard time arguing with that, since I think I’ve read the book five times now. 
What do you think? Agree, disagree, think all the criticisms are full of poo?
I’m not really a fan, though I’ve read plenty of his (mostly early) stuff, but I just wanted to check the list to see where they placed Under the Dome, since I started it and had to give up because the writing was so abysmal (especially his idea of “young peoples” dialogue). I was really shocked to see it rated so highly.
Well, his best book - of the first 20 or so - is The Shining, so there’s that.
The Stand is fun ride that fumbles the ending.
Inevitably, YMMV. I hated the highly-ranked Dark Tower I, but enjoyed some of the low-ranked ones I’d read, like The Regulators and Needful Things.
Sorry CW I like the topic but have no interest in scrolling across a slideshow which slowly reveals the books and the rankings. I detest these things - what ever happened to plain old lists?
My small protest at the world.
That was my first impression too, but it’s actually not that bad: the “slides” have text, with multiple books described in (almost) every slide, and they load quickly, so that it’s actually better than a list where you have to keep clicking to load the next page.
Or you could just have it all on one page…
Thanks, I wouldn’t have clicked on the slideshow if you hadn’t said this, and I agree it’s a good format.
As for the list, I think it’s really hard to get anything close to what you might think yourself with a list like this, but this really does a decent job. I might quibble with a couple of books like Under the Dome, but on the whole this is representative of how I think about his canon, and there are actually a couple of books I missed reading and will go find now.
Having only clicked through the first 3 slides, I will say that I don’t believe Black House or Song Of Susannah belong anywhere near the bottom of the list, particularly Black House.
Salem’s Lot should be a contender for number one. It’s by far the best and scariest vampire book ever written.
I don’t get the hate for Cell and Insomnia. They are in my top five of Kings stuff. And I didn’t love IT as much as everyone else either. The Bachman Books are split here, but weirdly there’s no Road Work. In any case, I disagree with a lot of it, except for The Stand. It’s that good.
Needful Things and* The Green Mile should be higher up. It* is way too high.
I agree. Then again, I think King fumbled the ending a lot in the first half of his career. Closing a story elegantly was the last thing he really got a good handle on.
I would have ranked Eyes of the Dragon near the top. I love that book!
The Dark Half would be near the bottom for me. I didn’t like it at all, felt like King was being lazy.
I kind of liked the Tommyknockers and don’t get most of the hate for it. It came out shortly after I’d been introduced to Steve via Skeleton Crew and Night Shift, and I liked this crazy story about a drunkard losing his mind and his best friend being turned into an alien. I am aware that most people hate it but it’s special to me because it was one of my first King novels. I haven’t read it since but it’s pretty vivid.
I’m with you here. Even having read 15-20 other King books, and knowing his tendency to sprawl and meander, I ended up not finishing It, and I’m the type of guy who never leaves books unfinished. After having seen it rated so highly (including at least one King bibliography I’ve seen that rated it #1 among his novels), I was really disappointed.
Understandable; my comment on this is that I read through every paragraph of summary for each book when it was way past my bedtime - it captivated me, and I hope it would captivate other people, too.
I loved “It”, but I’d have to take marks off for the ending - as others have said, he fumbled a lot of endings, but that one was probably his worst, in my opinion.
I think Stephen King has said that “Tommyknockers” was written in a drug and alcohol haze, and with that context, it’s an interesting look into the messed-up mind of someone in that condition.
I really enjoyed The Talisman, so I am glad it was ranked well. I wasn’t as in love with The Stand, but I understand the love. On Writing, was an excellent guide.
I was surprised to see *Lisey’s Story *and *Under the Dome *so high (though the book was much better than the crappy miniseries) and *Needful Things *so low. *Lisey’s Story *was one of the few King books that I struggled to finish because it was boring and the made-up words (“smucking,” anyone?) were waaaay overused.
I mostly agree with the rankings, with a few other quibbles.
IT (except the ending, of course) is my favorite King book. And that list made me want to dig out On Writing and read it again.
If you take Dark Tower as a whole, it’s his greatest work. His great works, to me, are:
I have not read IT and there are many of his other novels I have not read, but those three kind of represent what he has given to literature, at least to me.
I agree - reviewing each book of a seven book series individually seems kind of a pointless exercise. Taken as a whole, they really are outstanding.