The Regulators V Desperation (A JOINT SPOILER BOOK REVIEW!)

Desperation vs. The Regulators: A Stephen King & Richard Bachman Showdown!
Dive into the twisted worlds created by the master of horror, Stephen King, as I discuss two books released on the same day in 1996 'Desperation' by Stephen King and 'The Regulators', penned under his pseudonym, Richard Bachman.
I LOVED one of them and...well, let's just say the other didn't resonate with me quite as much. But which is which? Tune in to find out! 🔍🤔
📌 Timestamps:
00:00 - Intro
00:14 - The Story Behind These Books
02:59 - Desperation by Stephen King Review
12:26 - The Regulators by Richard Bachman Revew
18:32 - Ratings
Don't forget to LIKE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE for more book reviews and discussions! 💬👍
#StephenKing #RichardBachman #BookReview #TheRegulators

[@danblack5402]

These were the first two Stephen King books I ever read, and I absolutely loved both of them. I must be an anomaly or something, because it seems like most of booktube didn’t like one or both of these books. I can’t claim to agree. They were both wonderful works to me. Also, I think they had the same names and were so different because they were on different beams of the Dark Tower.

[@Themaninblack19]

Nah , you are not an anomaly. These were my 30th and 31st Stephen King books and i loved them both . Some people have different opinions ( wrong opinions 🤣) both books are great

[@blankenstein1649]

i also loved both books and, despite the common sentiment, enjoyed regulators more than desperation. regulators seemed like the more horrifying, mind fuck of a situation to find yourself in.

[@wrv341]

I read them back to back and loved both of them equally. After now rereading most of Stephen King's library three or four times, these still are some of the best imo.

[@bernabefernandeztouceda7315]

How can you like the regulators?? 🤔

[@justinpolarek7796]

I loved this review and completely agree! Desperation was phenomenal instant top 3 for me! Regulators on the other hand was a dumpster fire, that being said the regulators had a scene that moved me immensely. The letter from the China pit foreman where he explains what actually happened to Seth actually made me tear up. My youngest brother has Down Syndrome and is the brightest ray of light in my family and we all love him unconditionally, and he is also non-verbal so when they described how Seth came to life when passing the china pit and the whole family was incredibly happy and even the foreman joined on their happiness, it made me feel incredibly warm because that is exactly how my family would have reacted and for that scene I thank Stephen King, it doesn’t make up for the rest of the novel, but I guarantee that scene will stick with me for the rest of my life! I just started Everything’s Eventual, but I’m reading all the short stories not just the Dark Tower related ones, so I’m excited to see your next review!

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Thank you so much for sharing such a personal and heartfelt connection to "The Regulators." It's moving to hear how a particular scene resonated so deeply with you due to your own experiences with your younger brother. Sometimes, amidst the broader narrative, there are these small yet powerful moments that can touch our hearts in unexpected ways. I look forward to hearing your thoughts on the next review and wish you happy reading!

[@sammyswol9468]

I just got done with these, desperation was incredible, easy to follow, loved Tak as the villain, David carver was an awesome main character. Regulators was a cool concept like you said but the story was chaotic and kind of hard to follow, ending was weird. Characters were all over the place. Still not sure what the connection is to the DT series, although I have 2 books left.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

I'm still trying to figure out many of the connections that I've read on the journey to The Dark Tower. I think we mostly agree about these two books.

[@gozinne1387]

I loved Desperation best, characters were better fleshed. But read regulators twice, because the killings are more brutal and sharp. Tak!

[@TheCourtsOfLove]

Was the exact opposite for me, Loved The Regulators, hated Desperation, I think the first-one you read gives more of a chance of you hating the other due to the parallel universe switch. Desperation just dragged dragged dragged to much in my opinion, I liked the beginning because it felt like it could be interesting but spending a ton of pages in a cell...and then in a theatre, it just dragged whereas I was able to flash right through Regulators because of how mental and crazy it was which for me was wayyy more entertaining, seeing a street reality warped by an evil entity rather than an entity possessing a cop to cause havoc. IMO, the creativity of the Regulators mixed with strong horror in this child's mind just sold it for me.

[@MuertaNox]

There's a whole academic paper waiting to be written about Steven King's relationship with Christianity and God in his books. It IS that deep, and goes back to Carrie White's Mother as an example of how bad extremism can get, then immediately follows her up with a preacher who tries his best but isn't quite good enough in the following novel. It is so easy to be evil in his books, and to be truly good in a way that's effective takes hard work and sacrifice. You left off my favorite part of the quote you opened with, by the way. "God is so cruel that sometimes... he makes you live."

[@codycrossman]

Hear me out: The Regulators is a beauty of a King story because of how it FELT. I grew up reading comics and started reading King at age 8. (Christine was the first.) The Regulators was such a ride in it feeling like the parallel comic book universe beside the grim, horror, Desperation universe. If you put yourself in that mindset perhaps it'd change the perspective? 😊 I underatand your take, by the way. Looking forward to diving into your channel.

[@OldJabbaJaws]

Love your channel. Just wanna say it's possible to do a solid book review without included your own personal fan fiction of it 🎉

[@ianrobertson7312]

I am sure someone else will point it out but within Everything's Eventual, you really only need to read 'The Little Sisters of Eluria' and 'Everything's Eventual'. I like the idea of doing the graphic novel version of Little Sisters after reading the novella for a visual representation of the story.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Yeah I've barely read ANY graphic novels or comics so I'm excited to dive into this one coming up. For whatever reason, graphic novels and comics seem MUCH more popular in the US than in the UK. I didn't know anyone growing up who read comics. I think we were all missing out. Thanks for the heads up on Everything's Eventual.. I'll probably still read all of the short stories now that I've said I would but I'll be keeping a special eye out for the integral ones.

[@ianrobertson7312]

@@PaperbackJourneys Great Idea, while it it's isn't my favorite short story collection from Stephen King, it still has some really good stories. I especially enjoyed 1408, The Man in The Black Suit, The Road Virus Heads North, and That Feeling... Thinking about it, as I assume it will also be on your reading list, when it comes to Hearts in Atlantis, you technically only need to read 'Low Men in Yellow Coats', if you are following the Path of the Beam. That said, the other stories in the collection were also really good, so I would read the whole book as well. I have been working on the Dark Tower journey for like 5 years but have finally been consistent with it so I am following along with you.

[@michaelp772]

George Stark rides again!

[@sixty9lives]

Another great review! I agree Desperation was better than The Regulators but really, I couldn't wait for both to be over., it was a chore to get through them. The only story you need to read from Everything's Eventual is the title story, but I liked all of the stories in it so enjoy. It is mandatory to the Dark Tower extended reading list as is The Little Sisters of Eluria. I would recommend Everything Eventual later in the reading order but looking forward to your next review. Hopefully by then you will be up to 1000 subscribers because you deserve it.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Hey mate! That's very nice of you thank you. Yeah I liked Desperation a little more in the opening and there was a while in the middle where I felt like it was dragging just a little but overall it was fun for me. The regulators... no! no! no! I couldn't stand it. I've got Everything's Eventual review coming out today.I read all of it and in today's video I'm going to actually rank the stories from worst to best based on my enjoyment. Thanks again for commenting. FINALLY MADE IT to 1,000 SUBS! I'll release a video about that soon too.

[@wesleydraves1281]

I honestly prefer the overall zany-ness and suspense of the regulators over Desperation I’m a fan of the usage of things like Newspaper articles, journal entries, drawings, and letters to give plot points without having to give context, like how Seth was possessed by Tak Edit: The Can-Tah’s in Desperation play an important role later on in the dark tower

[@calebshoemaker]

Orson Scott Card had an interesting take on Stephen King's Calvinism being part of why his books end the way they do. Ultimately, there's only so much you can do to impact the ending, because you can't do anything to change God's plan. And so everything just blows up or (see The Stand) the hand of God literally intervenes. I still enjoy the books, it's just interesting

[@mmmoynihan]

Always enjoy these reviews. Wow, you really didn’t like The Regulators did you? Can’t say I blame you, it’s kind of a low point and as far as connections with the Tower go, it doesn’t have a lot. Desperation is slightly more connected and The Regulators is more of a campanion piece to it. A twinner. Really glad you liked Desperation as much as you did. To me it was much more middle of the road. ‘The trapped by the unhinged’ setting is a pretty classic King trope and he did it so much better in books like The Shining, Misery and Cujo. Interesting follow up to the Bachman pen name and different style: when he was outed as Bachman he wrote ‘The Dark Half’ about an author who tried to kill off his own pseudonym. It’s not a classic but it’s a lot of fun. A lot more fun than The Regulators anyway. Oh and you don’t need to read all the short stories just Everything’s Eventual.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Yeah I had a bit of a rant in this one ay? lol I just didn't connect with The Regulators. That's such a fun concept of trying to kill of his pseudonym while being a pseudonym. I wonder if King WANTED to get caught so that he got credit for the writing he did under Bachman. Oh yeah a couple of people have said that now that I don't need to read all of the stories. I probably WILL read them just because I said I would and so if someone else reads them I don't want to let them down. Thanks as always for your insightful comments mate.

[@mmmoynihan]

@@PaperbackJourneys I reckon he did want to get caught eventually, but I think he got caught earlier than he wanted. I think he planned to put out a few more books under Bachman (I heard at one point that Misery was originally intended as one of Bachman’s) and see how successful his books would be without the name Stephen King on the cover. Here’s a fun Bachman Easter egg a little later on in the Tower series to look out for. I won’t spoil it.

[@SuzyGumdrop]

I loved Desperation, I liked The Regulators too but not as much as Desperation. Desperation was so much fun to read.

[@bernabefernandeztouceda7315]

Second half boring and Regulators unreadable

[@skunke2290]

Desperation was a really fun time. I enjoyed almost everything about it, except how faith became more of a running gag than a theme. That was at least how I felt. But one funny thing about Desperation (for me at least) was that it was a better version of It. Better pacing and without the weird scenes. The Regulators wasn’t good by any means. But to me, it wasn’t bad either. I thought it was mid at best. Probably cuz I absolutely love the cover. It’s my least favorite Bachman book so far though. Great video as always and I’m looking forward to seeing what you think about Everything’s Eventual!

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Oh WOW Desperation being better than It is a hot take! I love it! I can't say that I agree that it's better. It is probably in my top 3 Kind books I've read so far (even with the weird creepy ending which could have been better.) but I see where you're coming from. You know what I didn't realise about the cover of The Regulators? Is that if you get the right version, it perfectly lines up with Desperation's cover to make a complete picture. I wish I had the right copy of Desperation to line them up.

[@mattpaul5441]

Regulators was great....tak!

[@blankenstein1649]

it seems like almost everyone who read both seems to like desperation a lot more, but i'm in the minority that preferred the regulators. both books are fantastic (imo), but i felt like regulators was the more frightening, mind-breaking scenario. sure, the scenario of desperation is awful as well, but the dangers are all physical, real things that you could conceivably escape. in the regulators, the entire neighborhood gets transported to a plane of existence where impossible creatures and things exist and from which there is no real escape.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

Yeah definitely the scenario is a scary one that I'd want to avoid lol. That feeling of not being able to escape is scary but I don't know. I just didn't enjoy myself while reading it. I'm glad you liked it though. Thanks so much for commenting.

[@kimberleysnagg4215]

Desperation was great, but there's just something about a whole neighborhood being terrorized by the warped and weaponized imagination of a possessed autistic child... There was a memorable scene where the kid had to do an internal battle with the demon TAK to stop it from SAing his beloved aunt who had been held prisoner for weeks in their home when the manifestation began---just chilling, IMO.

[@SilverFurniture23]

I loved The Regulators. It's bizarre and ridiculous and entertaining.

[@PaperbackJourneys]

HAHA! We agree it's mental at least. But I'm glad you liked it. I think it's one of those books you either love or you hate. Thanks for commenting.

[@8698gil]

I liked both books but I preferred The Regulators. Desperation was a little too preachy for my taste. I'm not a religious person.

[@dannyjorde2677]

Am I missing something if I read Desparation but not The Regulators?

[@bernabefernandeztouceda7315]

Not at all

[@MrJaycrow30]

I actually liked the Regulators more than Desperation. I wonder if it depends which you read first?

[@PaperbackJourneys]

You might be right. I read Desperation first and maybe if I read them the other way around it would have been a different story.

[@TheCourtsOfLove]

It's a really common trait among people like a phenomenon, I don't know why but I read The Regulators first and then hated Desperation, so far most of the videos I've seen have been the same (Some read Regulators first, hated Desperation whereas others read Desperation first and then hated the Regulators).@@PaperbackJourneys

[@Themaninblack19]

I loved both these books , Desperation could have been shorter imo

[@PaperbackJourneys]

I think that's true of a lot of Stephen king books haha. So many could easily be cut down by a quarter. The bloke loves his words though. Thanks so much for commenting.

[@Themaninblack19]

@@PaperbackJourneys yes , even his " Shorter" popular books , i mean. Pet Semetary has a whole chapter on how he jumps a fence at the Cemetery to go get his son... We dont need that but i am convinced he doesnt have an editor anymore 😂 hasnt had one in decades

[@Sammyandbobsdad]

Did King say he was a Christian or that he believes in god? Two very different things. You can believe in god and the teachings of Jesus but not be Christian because you can also see truth in other religions, or no religion at all.