Talisman by Stephen King and Peter Straub

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An Overview

The Talisman is an interesting and river ting blend of fantasy and horror about a young man and his journey to another world (parallel realities) to obtain an artifact for his dying mother.

Main Body

I made the mistake of listening to Talisman at bedtime. I ought to know better by now! Stephen King’s writing is always so vivid; I’m guaranteed to have some nightmares. Nevertheless, I can’t resist a good Stephen King audiobook. The Talisman was co-authored in 1984 with Peter Straub, an author whose writing spans a delightfully eclectic range from horror to poetry.

Jack Sawyer, a 12-year-old, has to go on a journey across the country to save his terminally ill mother by finding an object called The Talisman. As Jack travels, his boyish earnest nature gains him many friends who stand by him loyally in his moments of need. Some of these friends have duplicates of themselves in his universe, such as Queen Laura DeLoessian, who is his mother’s “twinner” and also dying.

Others are like him, unique to only one universe.

Another special friend of Jack’s is called Wolf. Unlike the werewolves of our traditions, the werewolves from The Territories are bodyguards with the ability to voluntarily shape change. After being inadvertently drawn to our universe, Wolf chose to protect Jack and travel with him. Jack relies on help from the Queen to learn to travel to her universe.

She calls this universe The Territories. Using his ability to switch back and forth between universes, he attempts to get to California as quickly as possible. Space and time flow differently in The Territories, making it possible to cross many miles in a short amount of his universe’s time, but nothing is ever simple when Stephen King is writing. Jack and his friends travel back and forth between the two universes.

As they fight for their lives, they learn more about his father’s murder. Jack’s Uncle Morgan wants Jack’s mother and the Queen to die. Once he accomplishes that, he intends to take over The Territories for his own evil purposes. He and his friends battle the forces of Evil and triumph in the end, of course.

Five stars… but don’t listen to it at bedtime!

The Narration

Frank Muller’s narration as always is a triumph.