It

Incredible story, incredible character development, beautiful writing.

The biggest detractor from this book is how uncomfortable the escape from Its lair was to read. It makes sense in the context of the book and justifies the inclusion of some earlier passages (Beverly's father/Mrs. Kersh), but I can't help but think there was a less disturbing way to do it.

Also, a significant chunk of the Patrick Hostetter story did nothing but make me uncomfortable.

Took an absurd amount of time to read, but I found it worth the investment.