"On September 15, 1981, a boy named Jack Sawyer stood where the water and land come together, hands in the pockets of his jeans, looking out at the steady Atlantic.  He was twelve years old and tall for his age.  The sea-breeze swept back his brown hair, probably too long, from a fine, clear brow.  He stood there, filled with the confused and painful emotions he had lived with for the last three months."  Thus begins THE TALISMAN, by Stephen King and Peter Straub, in which Jack must make a transcontinental journey to California, where the Talisman, the link between parallel worlds, lies.  Only this Talisman will heal his mother from her lethal cancer. 
    These two authors combine to create both the vivid fantasy world of the Territories, and a harsh view of our own world.  The Territories are a parallel universe, not much unlike our own. However, they are medieval-like in many ways.  There are no cars, only horses and wagons.  Jack, given the special ability to "flip" between our world and the Territories, quickly adapts to this environment, and learns how to cope with the differences. 
    I thoroughly enjoyed this book.  It kept you reading until the very end, and had some really interesting characters in it, some of which you get attached to.  Although it was almost eight hundred pages long, I think it could have been much longer.  Overall, Stephen King and Peter Straub do a really good job collaborating with each other, and you can tell much thought went into the creation of this book.