Review: Dark Visions, by Stephen King, George RR Martin & Dan Simmons

Dark Visions by Douglas E. Winter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I've had this book sitting on my shelf for some time and decided it was time to read it as I am trying to get through my TBR pile.

I am one of Stephen King's Constant Readers, so I will always buy up and read any book that has a story from him in it. And this one was no exception with two stories, Sneakers and Dedication, both of them offering something a little supernatural and very engrossing.

I had not heard of Dan Simmons before and did not know his writing, and personally his style did not work for me. I didn't feel his writing flowed well, it seems a bit jerky in its sentence layout and the way he described things, they jarred with me and I felt better words could have been picked. Out of the three writers in this book, I felt Simmons was the mediocre one, who knocked that star off making it a 4 star read and not a 5 star. Others might like his style, but it felt amateur to me. I did read all of Metastasis and it was an okay story, no odder than some of the stories King writes, but it fell down with the delivery for me, so I went straight to GRR Martin's story, Skin Trade.

I have only read The Hedge Knight of GGR Martin's, and thoroughly enjoyed it. (It is in Legends, by Robert Silverberg, collection of short stories) And I was also an avid watcher of Game of Thrones (I have yet to embark on the novels - they are sitting in my TBR pile), so I was surprised to find a story from him that was not set in the world of Kingdoms and ruling families, but something more modern, although supernatural with its Werewolf twist. It was brilliant, and dark, and captivating, and I enjoyed every second of reading it.

For King and Martin lovers, this book is a must have.

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