I am a Joe Hill fan from way back. I have loved all of his novels and still look forward to a new Locke and Key. This is something else. NOS4A2 is an epic on a much larger scale. Despite it's gargantuan size, I never felt the story dragged or slowed down. I managed to polish it off in about three days, and what a ride it was. Vic is a hero of the everyman and Manx is a truly scary villain. What really blew my mind in this book were how strong the secondary characters were. I loved Lou and have a new hero in Maggie (a sister librarian). A part of me was frightened less by the Wraith and Manx and MORE by Bing who seemed a realistic, scary as hell killer. Overall, not a bad book to start my year off with. I was surprised at the amount of Stephen King references in this book (I always felt that Hill kept his relationship out of his works, and rightfully so as he has his own awesome voice). But we have a car that moves on its own, a reference to Pennywise Circus, and several other nods that I may just be connecting in my own head (the long walk? on the inscape map?)
The idea of inscapes, and the tools to reach them is a truly great one. I, for one, would LOVE more stories about folks with this gift. I love the idea that the user pays the price for using the tool (poor Maggie).
I hope this becomes a hot summer read (it is chiller enough to keep us all cool in a heatwave).