Task: Sentiment Analysis
Input (English): Koontz was hyped as King's sole competition for so long... . But I don't understand why after reading this book.  I saw flashes of Koontz as a contender with this story, but in the end the book limped along on half-drawn characters and stilted dialogue.  Koontz came up with a grand slam premise, and it was the strength of the premise that dragged me across the finish line.  Without that I'm not so sure I would've made it.      The characters aren't all badly drawn, but none of them really feel complete.  The dialogue is at times atrocious, at others simply frigid.  As a case in point, I have not forgotten--nor will I ever forget--the preposterousness with which one of the characters described the monster in detail AS HE'S BEING EATEN.  I almost took off my running shoes at that point.  Almost.      Koontz can write well when he puts his mind to it.  But Phantoms proves too stiff and underdeveloped to truly showcase his talent.  Pick up Intensity instead
Output (English): NEG