stephen king c/d?

That Perlstein essay linked above is really good.

There is some good action scenes in both Drawing of the Three and the whole Lud part of the Wastelands.

Just finished Holly, can't say I'd recommend it too highly. And apparently there's more of her on the way!

Kirkus Reviews assessed the novel as catering mostly to loyal fans of King, but also criticized the novel's pacing, King's language and his "creaky" cultural references.

C'mon now, asking King to give up boomer cultural references is like asking him to give up air.

yeah that seems kinda rude

The cultural references didn't bother me, and some of the Holly character stuff is handled pretty well, if not to justify King's ongoing fascination with her. But the never-ending Covid/lockdown/MAGA stuff was so tedious, and comes across quite clearly as King venting his spleen over the covidiots and anti-vaxxers he comes across on social media (and maybe IRL too). I mean, did people really bring up the specific vaccine they got as a conversation starter like that?

The villains were probably the most interesting thing in the story but I felt their potential was squandered. And I have NO idea what he was going for with those poetry/book deal subplots...

People really did bring up the particular vaccines they got like that.

Fair enough, it just wasn't my experience! Holly's reactions did sometimes feel realistic, given her hypochondria, it just wasn't fun when it was happening every single paragraph