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How to rate.... I wouldn't call this book Horror. I'd call it Fiction with elements of fantasy and horror.
The book starts with adults, with memories of their childhood told through flashbacks. This made it easier to connect the adult to the children. That is a part I struggled with during the 1990s movie/mini series.
I loved the variety of characters and how they dealt with different issues. Beverley has an abusive father, Eddie has an overbearing mother, Bill deals with the guilt of his dead brother, Ben deals with obesity, Mike deals with racism, and Stanley deals with hatred towards Jews. Even the secondary and third characters have such complex backgrounds. I love how Mr. King mentions a character in the beginning, then ties back his character later on in the story. It may be a minor appearance, but essential to create the “small town” feel.
The horror is more gore and unknown. Yes, IT is scary, but the town bully, and Bev's father are much more frightening than the monster. They are monsters based in reality. Much more frightening.
IT, the novel, does a fantastic job recreating childhood emotions and desires. The desire to have fun. The fear or doing something wrong. Having people expect you to act one way or another. Now the controversial topic about Beverley. Mr. King has even expressed regret over this scene. The entire book emphasizes how she's just out to have fun with friends for the summer. Then her effort to save them from the monster, she crossed the line from child to adult. I knew it was coming, but didn't expect how it happened. One after the other? I found that a bit repulsive.
tldr; not as scary as I thought. More a reflection of childhood and standing up to your childhood monsters/demons.
This is a hard review to write. I had so many people telling me this was my perfect book. A boy who loves his dog, and tries to save her by going to a magical world with the ability to turn back time.
Unfortunately this did not live up to the hype and became a chore to read. My biggest issue is the length. There is a lot in this story that could have been cut or paired down. It is full of obscure references that didn't need to be there. It was fun at first, but quickly grew tiresome. It felt like King has this collection of favorite shows/movies/heroes/etc and wants to make sure they aren't forgotten so he ends up including everything possible in this book. Just as I got into a section of the story, these references would pull me back out. Then I'd have to fight to get myself back into the story.
A few times I started to skim the pages, ready to be done with this book. In fact, it took be almost two months or fairly consistent reading to finally complete this story.
The unfortunate thing is that the summary of the story was perfect. It's the execution that became the problem.
I could not put this book down. I loved the blend of historical and norse mythology. It took about 50 pages to get into (mainly due to the number of different characters). Still, I enjoyed the story and loved the characters of Dvalin, Freya, Fulla and Sky. I do wish there was more about Odin, and Loki, but think the book was the perfect length as is.
3.5 stars
This was a good retelling of a lesser known fairy tale. Set in Elizabethan England, the language can be difficult to follow. The story itself is interesting and has some good core pieces. I enjoyed the fact that the sisters built a relationship with the princes. It wasn't the insta-love that so many modern tales rely on. Still, I felt there could have been more character development. There weren't many characters, but there were enough for them to blend into one mushy indistinguishable pile. Characters came and went, and I never grew attached to any of them. Even the main characters that dominated the majority of the pages were lacking.
Overall it was still an enjoyable read and solid story. It's a good read, but takes some work to follow.
