 Hello everybody, E here. Welcome back to another book review. Today we are in front of the Stephen King bookshelves. So it's a Stephen King themed video. This is a spoiler free review of Salem's Lot by Stephen King. Sorry about the hat. It was way too dark so I decided to go ahead and cut the video and change it out. But yeah we're talking about Salem's Lot today. This is, in my opinion, again no spoilers. Spoiler free zone. I will be uploading a spoiler discussion for this book all the way next week. I read this one with my good friend Isaac, if you guys know him from chat, as Sylvainus. Something like that. Me and him read it over the course of a couple of weeks. I had a lot of fun. He seemed to enjoy it also. But this is, in my opinion, the best vampire novel ever written. A close second of that would be Let the Right One In. This book is not great because of vampires. This book is great because of the characters and the story and the implications. For me the implications at the end of the book. It's the first time I ever read anything. And yes there's allusions to Dracula. There's allusions to I Am Legend. But it's the first time that I ever read a vampire story where the scope was so big. I'm trying not to give spoilers. But of course the book happens in Jerusalem's Lot, which is known locally as Salem's Lot. Jerusalem was the name of a pig. And you actually get more of that information in either, I think it's the story, Jerusalem's Lot in Night Shift, or it might be One for the Road. I can't remember which one. But both of those stories have to do with the same town. So you got three different things that pop up here. And also it ties in one of the characters in this one. Father Callahan shows up in the Dark Tower as well. That's in the description. So I don't consider that a spoiler. This book has one of the greatest endings of all of Stephen King's books. I think it also has one of the most awkward sex scenes he's ever written. In fact when people mention how bad Stephen King is at sex scenes they usually point at this book and I have to agree with them. One of the things that I really love about this book has nothing to do with the book. The old Toby Hooper television miniseries is fantastic in my eyes. I think there's two things that I thought they got right. And that was the character of Mike, I believe, whoever the guy that the grave digger. That character is terrific and is one of my favorite characters in the book. Another thing I appreciated was the relationship between Ben and Mark. That relationship there, that father and son kind of dynamic. I really enjoyed that. But Susan is a problem for me. I'm not going to lie, Susan has always been a problem for me. I've never liked the character. I don't like the love story. I do however like her story arc, how she ends up. That side I really enjoyed that aspect of it because I didn't like the characters. But everybody else, the doctor, everybody else is great as well. Especially, was it Mark's? I always get them confused. Is Mark the author or is Ben Mears and then Mark something or other? Ben Mears is the author, I believe. Mark is the kid. The Glitch Brothers, the Glick, that's all folks. For fuck's sake man, come on, get your words out. The Glick Brothers and Mark Petrie. Sorry, I forgot his name there for a second. Mark Petrie, I loved that whole aspect of it. They come around to create one of the scariest scenes in all of cinematic history, I think is in my opinion anyways, in Salem's lot, the miniseries. But even in the book, now this is one of those rare occasions where I saw the movie or the miniseries. I saw that before I actually read the book. I think I want to say probably not, it's probably a Mandela effect. I probably don't actually remember this. But I want to say that I actually watched it live on television when it first came out. Now, if that's not possible, I apologize because I was born in 1980. I'm not sure when the Hooper film miniseries came out. But I seem to remember watching it and being just utterly terrified. And even to this day, I went back and I watched it with my kids recently. And it holds up, man. It really does hold up, especially for me. Now, there are scenes that are terrible, terrible looking in the movie. But for the most part, the film, the miniseries is fantastic. Now, the book, there's some major changes and whatnot, especially to the way that the main vampire looks. And I say the main vampire because I can never remember which one's Straker and which one's Barlow. I want to say Straker is the antiques dealer and Barlow is the vampire, but I can't remember. There's so much in this book that has to deal with Dracula lore that it really doesn't do anything for me. But it's funny because I actually got an argument a couple years back. I've never read Dracula, never even been able to sit through like the movies that are closest to the book. I actually got an argument. I was like, just because it's got vampires does not mean that Stephen King was doing a tribute to Dracula. Well, he was. I mean, I have since listened to the audiobook. I think it's Alan coming or is it Tim Curry? I can't remember who does it. But the audiobook for Dracula is fantastic. And I actually got a chance when I finished that, I read Saint-Om's Lot right after it. And I saw this similarity. So if the person that I had the discussion with all those years ago, if you're watching this, I apologize. I'm sorry. Anyways, but I never realized how many points, it's like ticking off a checklist deal that King does, going through how Barlow, I'm pretty sure Barlow gets there, having the Renfield character, having the Mina character, having the Jonathan Harkin. I can't remember. The Jonathan character. All these characters mirror characters from Dracula. And it's not really a parody or satire or whatever. But it also doesn't feel like a ripoff. If you look at Paul Tremblay's head full of ghosts paired with the Exorcist, I mean, he's just ticking off boxes also. But that felt a little too close to home. With what King did, creating this whole town and all of the little side characters and all the stuff that's going on with that, I think that made it the better of the two experiences. I think he elevated Dracula. I think he did one better than Stoker. That's my opinion. I feel like this is the best vampire novel ever written. Now, I'm sure there'll be plenty of people who disagree. I know there's loads of people who enjoy Let the Right One In more than they like this one, or any number. I am legend. People bring that one up all the time. I wasn't a fan of it. But I really, really love this book. And it's in my top 10 Stephen King novels. But overall, I think that the experience is a vastly superior one, like I said, to any other vampire novel. But it does have its issues. You're going to run into the very forced and very awkward sex scenes. You might not like Susan. I know I didn't. There's some other characters. There's some very cliche moments and scenes that you find a lot throughout the Stephen King universe, especially in the small town main setting. You have all these issues, but I do feel that the good outweighs the bad to the umpteenth level. I feel like there's so much great stuff in this book that it has surpassed Dracula, in my opinion, anyways. But have you read St. Louis's Lot? Did you like it? Did you not like it? Let me know down there in the comments below. But until next time, I have been E, you have been U. This has been another Stephen King book review. I'll talk to you guys later. Bye-bye!