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Sleeping Beauties cover art

Sleeping Beauties

By: Stephen King, Owen King
Narrated by: Marin Ireland
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Summary

Featuring a conversation with the authors!

In a spectacular father/son collaboration like no other, Stephen King and Owen King tell the highest of high-stakes stories: what might happen if women disappeared from the world of men?

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep: they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent, and while they sleep they go to another place....

The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied? Or is she a demon who must be slain?

Set in a small Appalachian town whose primary employer is a women's prison, Sleeping Beauties is a wildly provocative, gloriously absorbing father/son collaboration between Stephen King and Owen King.

©2017 Owen King and Stephen King (P)2017 Simon & Schuster Audio

What listeners say about Sleeping Beauties

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When a Pair of Kings is a Winning Hand!

Ever since I read The Stand I've wanted Stephen King to deliver those kind of epic scale, huge cast adventures. He's done it a few times since, most recently with Under the Dome and now he and his son Owen have delivered another one with Sleeping Beauties.

It's not quite the same of course. It does deliver all the pillars of King's writing such as the creepy side, the very relatively ordinary people and how their twisted depths suffuse the story. It does also include scenes that will make you wince as well as considerable violence and gore.

However, it has a slightly more literary feel and some tender and touching moments. The scene where one of the women finally loses her battle against sleep is particularly touching. That basic premise of that mysterious illness that causes women to fall asleep and go "somewhere else" signals an exploration of what femininity and masculinity really mean. Could either work without the other? The Kings deliver their verdict.

The narration for a book this length is always going to be extremely important. You could, if you want to pick faults with Marin Ireland's performance. Sometimes her adult characters sounded a bit too like children to me especially when under stress. There were also occasions when male voices seemed to almost change gender. However, the Kings set her an immense test with everything from male Judges and doctors to rough, hard-bitten prison in-mates plus children and of all things rats and a fox! I'd challenge any narrator to do a much better job of that lot. The conversation between the two Kings was interesting including a fascinating insight into King the elder's love of Audiobooks and the surprising lengths he went to with his sons to listen to them! I would have liked a bit more than we got but what there was I enjoyed.

So, Sleeping Beauties may not quite be The Stand but it certainly does stand comparison to it. I wasn't quite convinced about some of the gender politics it contains but as a story it's a genuine beauty.

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42 people found this helpful

  • Overall
    5 out of 5 stars

Marin Ireland does a wonderful reading

I own the book and like to listen to the audio in between, sometimes with.
Marin's reading on this is excellent.
Completely engrossing experience.
The story is a masterpiece. Would you expect any less?
Hopefully this opens up more doors to the talent that is Owen King.
Do yourself a favour and go buy this epic tale.

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31 people found this helpful

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Worst ever Stephen King book

Ridiculous story ridiculous narrative voices very disappointed with this audio book been a Stephen King fan for 30 years nothing like the good stuff from the early days

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SJW rubbish

I listened all the way through this feminist polemic against, well, mankind! Men, in Messrs King's view, are rapists, wife beaters, violent war mongering bigots and literally the font of all evil. If left to women the world could be rebuilt into a peaceful, beautiful, harmonious wonderland. WOW!!!! I am a woman, I know and like plenty of my sex but to "gift" us with this ridiculously skewed version of mother-earth godhood is unrealistic and unhelpful. Men beat and abuse children..........hummmm...........i would ask the Kings how many people they've met who were screwed up by their mothers. Women's violence can look different to men's violence. Emotional cruelty is violent but you cant go to A&E to get it fixed. Men can be horrible in all the above stated ways and more............but so can women be. I have thought about this and even discounting the wonderful men in my life, I would hate to live in a world without men. Such a world would have a lot less humour. In summation this book is a thinly veiled political rant pretending to be a story. Am I the only one who is getting sick of being told what to think by celebrities. We pay you to entertain us Mr. King not to indoctrinate us with your childish asinine politics. You probably wont be surprised to hear I'll be sending this back.

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    2 out of 5 stars
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    4 out of 5 stars

Average

Characters not well developed and there were some big plot holes. I wouldn't reread. Doubt Stephen King wrote any of this. It doesn't 'sound' like him.

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This will send you to sleep!

I have read every book Stephen King has ever written (and re-read a lot of them too), so it's fair to say I am a big fan and very familiar with his material and over the dozens of his novels I've read, there's only ever been 3 I haven't liked at all - Gerald's Game (painfully dull), Black House (way too weird) and this, Sleeping Beauties.

Why didn't I enjoy it? Well for a start it is ridiculously dragged out. This could have been cut down by about 400 pages and I think it would have made a half decent story. There's just too many characters too, so many in fact that at times I found it hard to remember who they're actually talking about! And for each one it went into great depth about some uninteresting stages of their lives for what seemed like forever. And worst of all, this book doesn't really go anywhere. The ending is one of the most anti-climatic ones I can remember leaves a lot unexplained.

One good point is for this audiobook, the performance from Marin Ireland is great - she gives each character their own voice (literally) and personality, so this brightened up an otherwise slog of a book.

Unfortunately this is one that I'm going to forget about and hope this is just a lazy partnership between Stephen and his son Owen as I've found his books to be some of his best since his first ones over the past few years.

Even to fans of King, I would recommend avoiding this one and saving 25 hours of your time!

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Sadly I found it dull!

I can't believe I'm writing this. I've loved Stephen King for more than 30 years. It feels like my birthday whenever a new book comes out.

But... this dragged for me. I had to start it again so many times because my mind wandered. I didn't care about the characters. I did want to know how it ended but when I knew I just didn't care.

It was an interesting idea and as a short story would've been amazing. But as a longer novel - dull as ditchwater. Sorry Stephen.

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brillient just brillient

story amazing, shocking and thrilling a little sad was hoping the ending a little happier but i feel the same after every King book, Marim Ireland was a fantastic reader so easy to listen to what a choice this is now a favourite really enjoyed this one

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the master

the master storyteller and one of his apprentices produces the magic yet again
another King triumph!!

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I must not sleep

I really enjoyed this audiobook. I have read stephen king for a number of years, and also his son Joe hill but this is my first experience of owen king. I think they wrote together seamlessly and judging by the conversation between them at the end of the book they enjoyed the experience. The story is intriguing and definitely deals with the difference between men and women and how each would deal with a situation. Oh yes and drugs the law and relationships..It is a long story which I love but have to relax into as I always want to rush into the story. It felt vintage stephen king to me and didn't just run out of steam. The narrator is really really good i liked her a lot.
I feel that I will listen again and will undoubtedly find things i missed first time as there is a large cast of characters to get to know.

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