Listen, I haven't read this book since high school so maybe it's actually terrible, but I liked it so much I read it TWICE. Which is a big deal.

I never ever read anything more than once when I was younger because I had an excellent memory and it just seemed silly to reread anything when I could just REMEMBER IT, but I read this twice because I wanted to experience it again.

It is nothing like anything else Stephen King has written, and I consider that a plus. I generally like Stephen King, but I'm not a huge fan of how...disgusting his stories can get. There are usually a few points in any given book that are a bit darker than I'm comfortable with, which is really saying something. So it's nice to have a book that's Stephen King, but like a vacation from the usually icky feels his books leave me with. Yes, it's still dark, but it's not too dark. (Stephen King novels usually leave me with the feeling that maybe it's best not to leave the house.)

I'm also pretty sure it's the first thing I ever read that fell under the umbrella of "fantasy." Which is generally not my thing, but again, it felt like a vacation from my usual reading choices. It was different, and I liked that. I let it remain in a special place as, "The only fantasy book I like" until I read Game of Thrones.

I'll probably read it again because it's been at least 15 years since I read it and I'm curious if it holds up, but I wanted to leave this here as a placeholder review until that happens.