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“Maybe there aren't any such things as good friends or bad friends - maybe there are just friends, people who stand by you when you're hurt and who help you feel not so lonely.��

1200 pages are long. Or more like: looooong. So long that I expected more from it. Especially because Stephen King wrote it. I believe that this book would have been a lot better if you had cut out 200 pages or more. Let me tell you why:
The story set up is what basically makes this novel so long. The real deal only happens on the last 200 pages. So you are basically sitting, reading, waiting for it to start and it won't happen until you've read 1000 pages. After a while, you'll have figured out the scheme of this book. 7 kids fighting It, seven main characters of greater and lesser importance and a few side characters with a story of their own. Nearly every part of this book - there are five - follows the same pattern. Someone experienced some horror event related to It and tells their story. Bill goes first, followed by Richie, followed by Ben, Eddie, Bev, Mark, Stan and whoever else is part of this big story. This applies to almost every part of the book and I caught myself thinking "Please, not another one. I got it."
It also doesn't do any good for the suspense. Try to build it up over 1000 pages so it reaches its peak in the big finale. It won't work, because the plot is torn apart again and again. The only time it got me hooked, the only time I got goosebumps and had to put on some music so I wouldn't get too caught up in the book was during the first 200 pages. I repeat: The first 200 pages - in a horror book that lasts 1000 pages more. After a while, the events kept repeating themselves and couldn't surprise or captivate me any longer.

The characters were great and I loved these kids. Henry, however, really got on my nerves. He is the typical bully, the mean big guy. I thought he would be a minor side character but gosh, we couldn't get rid of him and this tired me out, too.
I also really liked Audra and adding her to the events in Derry made sense, but adding Tom did not. He was a loose end, and I felt like his story didn't go anywhere. What was the point? (view spoiler)[ I expected that Beverly would have to face him again, that's the sole reason he even came after Bev in the first place! It seemed to have a plan for him as well, but nope, he was killed off and that's that. Not that I'm not grateful that he's dead, don't get me wrong, but his story seemed so pointless after all that happened. (hide spoiler)]

What really weirded me out was what Beverly and her boys did after they fought It for the first time. On one hand, I get what Stephen King was trying to do, on the other I don't think it was essential to the story, or at least not in that way. It was gross, it was inappropriate and it didn't tie into it all. There was no earlier reference to what was going to happen. Additionally, it's unrealistic and doesn't even prove a point. That is where, in my opinion, King really got something wrong.

Now I'm not saying this book was boring. I don't think it was. It was intriguing and I especially enjoyed the Interludes, but even the last Interlude was simply less captivating than the others. Again: the same old pattern.
I'm glad I read this and proud of myself that I finished it. I'm really looking forward to the movie adaption and I feel like - unpopular opinion alert - it could be better than the book. I'll probably be more emotional and involved when I see it on screen. That is if they stay close to the book and don't fuck it up.