I read this book, possibly in middle school, but I believe it was the earlier, abridged original release. I didn't remember it fondly... But after completing The Dark Tower series and enjoying them, I thought it was a good time to not only revisit the book but read the 'complete' version released in the 90s.

This was a very good book. Despite it's ridiculous length, it didn't feel burdensome. Perhaps I would have felt differently if I read a paper copy (as I often have difficulty with long physical books) but I just kept chugging away at this without any concern for its length. The story engaged me and mostly it didn't seem to have a ton of useless fat.

I'm not sure why I didn't like the book in the past... Perhaps the abridged version was inferior, perhaps I was just immature or not in the right place.. But I really enjoyed it this time.

After I finished the book, I watched the old 90s miniseries... It was.... not great... It started off really good, but ultimately seemed to suffocate under the weight of fitting the entire book into 6 hours. Perhaps the upcoming CBS miniseries will do a better job.