The Talisman (1984 novel)
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| Author | Stephen King, Peter Straub |
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| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Fantasy, Horror novel |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Released | 1984 |
| Media type | Print (Hardback & Paperback) |
| Pages | 672 pp |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-670-69199-2 |
| Followed by | Black House |
The Talisman is a 1984 fantasy novel by Stephen King and Peter Straub. The plot is not a reworking of the earlier Walter Scott book also titled The Talisman, although there is one oblique reference to "a Sir Walter Scott novel".
[edit] Plot summary
This book charts the adventure of a twelve year old boy named Jack Sawyer. The young hero sets out from the East Coast of the USA in a bid to save his mother, who is dying from cancer, by finding an artifact called 'The Talisman'.
The premise of the novel involves the existence of a parallel world to Earth, called 'The Territories' (a strange fantasy world with ties to King's The Dark Tower). Individuals in the Territories have "twinners," or parallel individuals, in our world. Twinners' births, deaths, and (it is intimated) other major life events are usually paralleled, but in rare instances (such as Jack Sawyer's), a person may die in one world but not the other, making them a "single" and giving them the ability to switch back and forth between the two worlds if taught how. Jack is taught how to 'flip' by a mysterious figure known as Parker, who may be a gunslinger in the Territories.
Werewolves, known simply as Wolfs, inhabit the Territories but these are not the wild killers of tradition. They serve as royal herdsman or bodyguards and can sometimes under stress change to wolf form voluntarily. A sixteen-year-old Wolf, simply named Wolf, is accidentally pulled into America by Jack Sawyer and adopts Jack as his herd, serving as his companion. Wolf is extremely likeable, kind, loyal and friendly, much like a dog, though his wolf nature shows through on occasion.
By splitting the story between the Territories and the familiar United States, or 'American Territories' as Jack comes to call them, King and Straub are able to constantly throw Jack from the frying pan to the fire, as he escapes from one life-threatening situation to another. Accompanied by Wolf and Jack's friend Richard, Jack must retrieve the Talisman before it falls into the hands of evil schemer Morgan Sloat, Jack's father's partner and murderer.
King and Straub followed up in 2001 with a sequel, Black House, that picks up with Jack as a retired Los Angeles homicide detective trying to solve a series of murders in the small town of French Landing, Wisconsin.
The television network TNT recently announced it would be adapting The Talisman into a six-part mini-series.
[edit] See also
[edit] External links
- The Talisman at the Internet Movie Database
- Database containing descriptive bibliography, publishing history, reviews, and literary criticism of King and Straub's The Talisman
The Gunslinger · The Drawing of the Three · The Waste Lands · Wizard and Glass · Wolves of the Calla · Song of Susannah · The Dark Tower
Prequels: "The Little Sisters of Eluria" · The Gunslinger Born
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