The Talisman

By: Stephen King, Peter Straub

Narrated by: Frank Muller

Length: 28 hrs

Publisher's summary

On a brisk autumn day, a 13-year-old boy stands on the shores of the gray Atlantic, near a silent amusement park and a fading ocean resort called the Alhambra. The past has driven Jack Sawyer here: His father is gone, his mother is dying, and the world no longer makes sense. But for Jack everything is about to change. For he has been chosen to make a journey back across America - and into another realm.

One of the most influential and heralded works of fantasy ever written, The Talisman is an extraordinary novel of loyalty, awakening, terror, and mystery. Jack Sawyer, on a desperate quest to save his mother's life, must search for a prize across an epic landscape of innocents and monsters, of incredible dangers and even more incredible truths. The prize is essential, but the journey means even more. Let the quest begin....

©2001 Simon & Schuster; 2001 Stephen King and Peter Straub

Critic reviews

Audie Award Winner, Fiction (unabridged), 2002

"A classic...rare and dazzling...a journey to rival the greatest adventure stories ever told." ( New York Daily News)

"Extraordinary...makes your hair stand on end." ( The Washington Post)

great narrator

Amazing rendition of a long but intensely gratifyi ng story. I was in tears by the end.

I've always loved this story

I have read this book at least 15 times over the course of 25 years. Have always loved it. In some spots it is slow, and in some spots it is smarmy as hell, but overall it is a story that makes you care about the characters and it is a story that will stick in your memory. Well read by the voice actor.

Super distracting narration

What did you like best about this story?

I like everything Stephen King does so I'm sure the story is good, but I can't really tell so far because I'm super distracted by the narration. Strange that it seems that there is such a divide between people who love this narrator and people who definitely don't.

What didn’t you like about Frank Muller’s performance?

It was hard to focus on the story because of the narration being so strange. It was like a cross between a generic movie trailer voice guy and Jack Nicholson reading the book. Also, the same emphasis is put on mundane descriptions as is on important plot points... very strange, it isn't monotone, but has the same result. The tempo of the reading was also distracting, like it was someone reading creepy poetry or something, hard to put a finger on exactly. It's the only book that I've encountered so far that I have been so distracted by the reading that I realize I am not fully paying attention to the story and I am instead thinking about how the narrator is reading and anticipating which words he's going to draw out with a sigh (always the last word in a sentence like other readers have said). Haven't gotten too far into the story yet, only to chapter 4, but I'm already thinking that I need to start over again because I wasn't fully paying attention to the story up to this point. I'm not sure if I'll finish this one if the entire book's narration is this way... especially seeing as it is a fairly long book (in normal Stephen King fashion). Fingers crossed that I get used to it as others have mentioned and can get through the whole thing. Obviously looking at other reviews a ton of people love this narrator (Stephen King included), but I'm definitely not one of them.

Not my cup of tea.

I selected this novel in a quest to read all things Stephen King. But I see now that I have to stick with his horror or his more realistic stories. This book was too juvenile for my taste. I probably would’ve loved it as a teenager, but as a woman close to 50, long fantasy journey stories are too much for me. I was ready to give up a few times and I’m glad I decided to listen to this on audible because I never would’ve finished it if I read it myself. If nothing else, I can check another book off his long list.

This was almost as good as the Dark Tower!!👍🏻👍

If you picked up this book thinking that you're going to get a good scare, you're probably going to be disappointed. But, if you're the type of reader who enjoys both fantasy & science fiction, along with horror, than this book will have you on the edge of your seat! I raided the performance with five stars because Franck Muller is an absolute wizard when it comes to doing different characters voices, making the story so much more interesting! He read most of the Dark Tower series, one of my other favorite fantasy novels done by Stephen King. The long and the short of this story, like most of King stories, is the Battle of good versus evil, only this time it's about a boy who goes on a journey to another world to save his mother. Don't let the fact that it's about an 11 year old boy deter you from reading this as I am39 years old today actually November 11th and I I loved this book, maybe even more than the Dark Tower series! Blasphemy you say? I don't think so, you'll have to read it yourself to find out. Anyway, I'm about to go read 2nd book in the series, The Black House! ✌🏼✌🏽✌️

wolf wolf wolf

loved the book! Right here and now! Going to read the next book right here and now!

Don't let the narrator scare you off!

I've read quite a few reviews in regards to the narrator's delivery. I read this book physically a few times when I was in high school, and it's been in my top 5 for many years. Frank Muller IS a little hard to get used to, but he delivers a phenomenal performance. The first chapter is not indicative of his total performance, give it a shot and you'll enjoy.

Fantastic

Ok so about the reader, at first he did drive me a bit nuts. He’s breathy and it seems really weird. As I listened though I got more accustomed to his style and the voices he does for the different characters are just phenomenal. For that reason I gave him five stars.

Absolutely Stunning

a fantastic story full of mystery, fear, wonder, and love. it really was everything you could ask for in a book and the performance by Frank Muller is second to none.

Jack Sawyer and Flipping (out)!!

I thought I had read all the Dark Tower books, was found that I had not! This story was riveting and filled with wonder and suspense! Jack Sawyer was a very realistic character and very endearing as was Wolf! I will miss them. I always end up driving the end of any Stephen King books because his characters are very three-dimensional and I miss them when the book is over. This was no different.