because this is a book of short stories, this is a bit of a mixed bag. on average, i suppose, somewhere around 2.5-3 stars. i didn't like all of what was in here, although i also didn't actively dislike any of the stories. there were two vampire stories and one zombie story - neither topic interests me at all and i was disappointed when that ended up being the subject matter, but like all of stephen king's stories, it's actually less about that subject matter and more about the feelings and the characters, so even those stories weren't bad. just not my favorites. speaking of favorites, there are a couple of really stand out stories in this volume, that are truly superb. and i really liked how virtually every single story in here references reading and specific authors. i love how often he does that in general, and it was really obvious when seen in this format.
