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)

This is The Greatest Adventure Story Ever

Looking for Adventure?...need suspense?...want to have fun?...need a vacation?..Well this is the book for you. It is long but the action and the different adventures inside one. You will find the strange and the funny so charming that you will not want to miss a thing. The beginning sets up the story and you may want to skip ahead. Don't do it this book builds you up to the task. You will need to hold on to your seat at times and remember some of the early charpters to get the full impact of some events. You will want the story not to end! It does end but... At that time get the book "Black House" to go on yet another adventure with Jack out hero.

Great

I don't know what some people are complaining about; Frank Muller is one of the best narrators I've listened to, and he doesn't let us down in this great novel.

Can't stand to listen to this narrator....

I read this book many, many years ago and really enjoyed it. I wanted to listen this time and was looking forward to enjoying it again but I just cannot stand this man's voice. I have made it to Chapter 8 but I think I'm going to have to try to return it.
I will watch out for Mr. Muller's name and not have to go through this again. Listening to him and the strange way he ends sentences with that breathy sound is more than annoying. I don't see why he ruins some great books. Ugh!! Very disappointed!!

Bad narration.

This book was ruined by the affectation of the narrator. he sounds like he's doing a bad Robert Stack impersonation while stringing out the last syllable of every worrrrrrrrd...

At a certain point, the rhythm of it got so monotonous that I hadn't even realized I'd stopped listening ages ago.

Might be a great book. I'll just have to read it instead.

Where did the time go???

This is my most favorite audiobook ever! I keep listening to it over and over and never get tired of it. The Talisman turns my 2-hour commute into a 30 min ride. When I arrive at school I wonder where an hour and half of my drive went!

frustrating

April from Pomona is 100% right on. The story was good but I could not handle the narrator. I'm pretty sure it was a bad sign when I was walking down the street with the headphones on, listening to the i-pod and all of a sudden I started yelling at the narrator to shut up. The lady doing her gardening probably thought I was crazy.

Not all of the narration was terrible but just enough to really bother me.

Great tome

Wow! What a SPOOKY voice telling this story. People kept laughing whenever I demonstrated my Audible book! Great story from King - quite "believable" right to the end and I like that in a book!

Great Story - Bad Narrator

Would you try another book from Stephen King and Peter Straub and/or Frank Muller?

I love Stephen King and Peter Straub - Mr. Muller however was not my favorite narrator.

What other book might you compare The Talisman to and why?

It is in some ways like Neil Gaiman's "American Gods" in that both include travel and alternate worlds.

Would you be willing to try another one of Frank Muller’s performances?

No. His reading was so off it was distracting. I had read the book before and loved the story, but his narration really ruined it for me.

Could you see The Talisman being made into a movie or a TV series? Who should the stars be?

Yes. I am not sure -

Really good

Really good book! These two write so well together. Can't wait to listen to the sequel.

Not one of King's best

Struggled with this one from the beginning. The story never really grabbed me but wanted to finish anyway. Great job by Frank Muller though.