Book · 1978
The Stand
by Stephen King
A superflu wipes out ninety-nine percent of the country, and the survivors on foot have to pick a side before Vegas or Boulder claims them.
What does Reddit think of The Stand?
Half the top quotes here are just the title, typed and moved on from (↑264, ↑231, ↑168), the kind of citation that racks up karma without making an argument. When people do elaborate, the pattern is consistent: length as an obstacle, then vindication. 'It's a long journey but worth it' (↑264) is basically the thesis statement for how r/suggestmeabook treats this book. The pandemic gave it a second life in the data, both explicitly, 'During these coronavirus times' (↑260) as the entire recommendation, and implicitly, a warning that it will 'freak you out in a different way, especially given our current events' (↑167). The word-count tangent (↑995) is really about the longest books in SFF generally and only cites The Stand's length in passing among several other doorstoppers. What's missing is anyone arguing against the length, or against anything. This sample is recommendation, not review.
Community feedback & reader fit
Themes
- · Length as the central obstacle, cleared by consensus
- · COVID-era resurgence, cited explicitly as pandemic reading
- · Bare title-drops outnumber actual arguments
- · Survivors trekking cross-country on foot as the core hook
Common praise
- + Called 'a long journey but worth it,' the length treated as earned rather than bloated (↑264).
- + Recommended specifically for pandemic-era readers, twice, once by name-checking coronavirus directly (↑260).
- + One reply says it'll 'freak you out in a different way' given real-world events, not just as period horror (↑167).
Common criticism
- − A lot of the highest-upvoted replies are just the title with no elaboration (↑231, ↑168), which pads the mention count without making a case.
- − Nobody in the sample argues with the length, which is either total agreement or nobody bothering to disagree.
- − The word-count discussion treats it as one data point in a doorstopper ranking, not as a book anyone's actually discussing on its own merits (↑995).
Who it's for
Bring patience. Every substantive comment in this sample treats the length as the entry price, 'a long journey but worth it' is about as close to a warning label as the data gets (↑264). Pandemic-adjacent fiction the specific itch? This gets recommended by name, coronavirus and all (↑260). Prefer cross-country trek stories to the holed-up-in-one-building kind of outbreak fiction? The premise here is survivors traveling on foot (↑192). Just need a title to paste into a thread? Half this sample already did that for you, no elaboration included.
Mentions over time
Top subreddits
Which Reddit comments matter for The Stand?
The most relevant excerpts across the subreddits where this book is mentioned — opinionated, argued takes first, then top-upvoted mentions. Click through to read the full thread.
“I spent ages researching this a few years ago and came up with the following: 1. *Varney the Vampire* (1845) by James Malcolm Rymer & Thomas Prest: 667,000 words 2. *Atlas Shrugged* (1954) by Ayn Rand: 645,000 (you may argue about whether it's SFF or not, but it's listed in *The Encyclopedia of Sci…
“I would recommend "The Stand" of Stephen King and "the pillars of the earth" of Ken Follet. Hope I could help!
“I started the stand right at the start of Covid 😭
“The Stand by Stephen King. It’s a long journey but worth it.
“During these coronavirus times? The Stand by Stephen King.
“The Stand by Stephen King
“The Stand, by Stephen King, is the story of the survivors of an apocalyptic plague that travel by whatever possible means throughout the US, mostly on foot.
“The Stand is probably up there for the suddenness of it after like 1000 pages of build up. That’s classic King though.
“The stand by Stephen King
“The Stand by Stephen King will freak you out in a different way -- especially given our current events.
“It’s longer than you think, Dad! It’s longer than you think! - Stephen King, The Jaunt Also, there is a chapter in The Stand where a couple of characters go through the Lincoln tunnel that is the most scared I’ve been while reading a book.
“75 - The Echo Wife, by Sarah Gailey 74 - The Calculating Stars, by Mary Robinette Kowal 73 - Redshirts, by John Scalzi 72 - Beautyland, by Marie-Helene Bertino 71 - The Ten Percent Thief, by Lavanya Lakshminarayan 70 - Midnight Robber, by Nalo Hopkinson 69 - Snow Crash, by Neal Stephenson 68 …
“How has no one mentioned The Stand yet?! The Stand by Stephen king 💀
“The Stand by Stephen King is about a deadly virus that eliminates 99% of the population. It’s a fantastic read.
“Shocked nobody has mentioned The Stand by Stephen King. The first ~third of the book is the slow devolution into apocalypse. And still a good ~400 pages
Convinced? Pick up The Stand
Readers also mention
Books that share discussion threads with The Stand — counted from the comments, not curated.
The Stand — frequently asked
Is The Stand by Stephen King worth reading despite its length?+
Yes, per the sample, with reservations built in. 'It's a long journey but worth it' (↑264) is close to a verbatim consensus here; nobody in the displayed excerpts argues the length isn't earned. Go in expecting a commitment, not a quick read.
Is The Stand a good pandemic-era read?+
Reddit thinks so, explicitly. One reply recommends it by naming the moment directly, 'during these coronavirus times' (↑260), and another says it'll 'freak you out in a different way' given real-world events (↑167). Both treat the parallel as the selling point, not a coincidence to downplay.
How long is The Stand compared to other doorstopper novels?+
Long enough to come up in a dedicated word-count ranking, though only in passing. That thread's real subject is longest SFF novels generally, citing Varney the Vampire and Atlas Shrugged ahead of it (↑995). The Stand gets named as one entry in a much longer list, not singled out as uniquely enormous.
What genre is The Stand: horror, fantasy, or science fiction?+
All three, based on where it turns up. r/horrorlit, r/Fantasy, and r/printSF each carry it alongside its larger presence in the general-recommendation subs. No displayed excerpt argues it belongs to one genre over the others; the plague-and-cross-country-trek premise apparently reads as home turf to several communities at once (↑192).