matt_doyle

I dunno. I love King when he's not trying to write horror, generally, which is more frequently than people seem to think, but still pretty horrifying (see: Under the Dome.)

He's written so much and for so long that I kind of divide his works up into Early, Middle, Late, and Really Late. The periods have some overlaps, but there are general trends that are visible thanks to how prolific he is.

Early King is schlocky and often full of all manner of fail, is very horrifying and generally really shocking in original ways when it comes to that horror. Toward the end of the early King period, King was doing a lot of drugs, and did things like write entire novels he does not remember writing, such as Cujo.

Don't read Cujo.

I would classify It as the turning point between Early and Middle King. I am glad I read It but would neither read it again nor recommend it to anyone.

Middle King is characterized by a more epic scope and heroic narrative taking center stage in King's works, so that he becomes less a horror author and more a fantasy author with strong horror elements. The best parts of the Dark Tower series, and the books of his that tie in most closely with those, are Middle King. Middle King has less fail, but he's a straight middle-aged white guy. It gets in there.

Middle King ends in the middle of On Writing, when King gets hit with a van.

Late King consists of those bits of Middle King and Really Late King that were written or edited while King was on pain-killers after getting hit by a van. They are mostly retreads of Early King. Thankfully there are not many of them. The whole existence of this as a separate category is basically my hateful bias.

Really Late King is everything written since King announced that he was retiring as a novelist. Cell, Lisey's Story, Duma Key, etc. etc. Really Late King possesses the originality of Early King, the heroic narrative of Middle King, and adds to that a profound and pervasive sense of wonder at the world. The good parts of Dark Tower VII are Really Late King; unfortunately most of it is just Late King. Really Late King is the bomb, basically.