Review: Abrupt story and piss-poor formatting
Rating: 2 out of 5
Date: 09 6, 2011
I can't believe no one else has yet commented on the formatting of this little nugget. Right now there's a huge uproar in the publishing world with the ease of self-publishing on Kindle and other e-reading devices. The biggest argument against tends to revolve around poor editing and poor formatting, with the naysayers claiming that only the Big 6 publishers could provide "quality" e-book editing and formatting, and that they serve as getekeepers of good taste.I pre-ordered this book and got my copy on the day of release. I was appalled at the terrible formatting. Is this the best quality level that a Big 6 publisher like S&S; can manage? Chapter breaks don't appear at new screen clicks, line spacing isn't sufficient at section breaks within a chapter, the dedication line even appears at the end of the story without a line break so it looks like the last line of the story...  Abysmal. Absolutely pathetic. The editing left a bit to be desired as well (and yeah, I've read of enough of King to know when he's being colloquial and when his copy editor goofed up).As for the story, many of the reviewers here have it dead on: if you love your Uncle Stevie (like I do), you'll eat this up. You'll be disturbed by the quick ending and the weak plot device around which it revolves. You'll enjoy the thrills up to that point, but after the let-down ending, you'll start more critically examining the rest and finding more and more to complain about. I enjoyed the story til the ending, but ultimately was left unsatisfied. As far as the gatekeepers of good taste argument above, people have been saying for years that King could publish his laundry list. I've defended against that line for years as a fan. Some of his work wasn't as good as other pieces, but I felt it all had merit. This story starts out well, but doesn't really go anywhere. An editor worth their salt should have told King that and made him reconsider the ending.I hate to leave a bad review for something (I rarely do) and I hate to leave a bad review for an author I like a lot, but the formatting and editing on this story bought my rating down to 2 stars. If it had been better packaged, I might have gone to 3.5 stars for story. Not his best work, but still plenty entertaining. If you are a die hard King fan, you'll read it anyway. If not, this one might not be the best starting point for you.