Review: The Institute

The Institute by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“𝓘𝓽 𝓬𝓪𝓶𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓲𝓶, 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓬𝓮 𝓸𝓯 𝓪 𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓽𝓲𝓸𝓷, 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓱𝓪𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓱𝓪𝓿𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓲𝓶𝓹𝓻𝓲𝓼𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓯𝓾𝓵𝓵𝔂 𝓾𝓷𝓭𝓮𝓻𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓯𝓻𝓮𝓮𝓭𝓸𝓶 𝔀𝓪𝓼.”

3 stars.

TL;DR:
Plot: Probably the weakest element; nothing new and innovative, very recycled
Characters: Classic King characters, they were great, multi-layered, and well-developed
Writing: The book was a little long, but pacing was actually really good? Writing was beautiful, as always

I was slightly disappointed by The Institute, but not because I didn't enjoy the journey. I think I just have high expectations for King and this didn't quite meet them all the way. Honestly, I think it was mainly the plot? I really did struggle with how this felt just like another addition to the long list of "children with powers" novels.

Still, I don't think you can dispute that King is a master of writing style, creating complex characters, and highlighting how some horrors come, not from creatures or powers, but from the evil that lies within regular people.


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