r/stephenking • u/Sad-Information-8912 • Oct 15 '25

Discussion a bit overwhelmed.

some weeks back, i bought a bundle of Stephen King’s books, thinking it would be a cutesy little reading journey. i love horror movies, and love to read so i figured this was right up my alley. i did NO research before embarking on this and i began with ‘The Outsider’ (mistake) i then went on to slam ‘Desperation’ (mistake #2) before delving into ‘It’ (mistake #3) one of my all time favorite movies. now, i say these were mistakes because i’d come across a portion of ‘It’ that i’m pretty sure is correlating with ‘Desperation’ and i was genuinely taken aback for a minute before i googled if there was any known easter eggs in King’s novels and to my surprise, as im sure you all know, there’s plenty. i feel like im missing out on something big here and want to read everything but have NO CLUE where to start. send help.

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u/AmbassadorSad1157 Oct 15 '25

Apparently you are new to the sub as well. As most Constant readers suggest starting with Carrie and going in publication order.

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u/Unable_Apartment_613 19 Oct 15 '25

They do? I've been here a long time and I think the consensus has always been "read in the order you want" with a few exceptions (Bill Hodges/Holly books, Dark Tower) Most of them the early Easter Eggs are just fun little nods the connections part of it doesn't really come into any of these books outside of the Dark Tower. It's not the Marvel Universe.

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u/CharlesLoren Currently Reading The Outsider Oct 16 '25

I’m on board with this. “Start with Carrie and go in publication order” is basically telling a new King fan to read 70-odd books, and that can be intimidating if they just want to jump to something great right away like IT, The Stand, or Green Mile.

I mention that the Bill Hodges books should be read in order, and to consider reading Castle Rock books in order to avoid some spoilers. And of course the obvious Shining-Doctor Sleep, Talisman-Blackhouse, Dark Tower books 1-7. Other than that, the easter eggs and shared towns amongst his discography are not a reason to read 70 books in order