This book was spectacular. I can't believe how much King was able to accomplish here. This is riveting, disturbing, thought provoking, insightful, brilliant writing. I was impressed by how sophisticated this book was. It works not only as a harrowing chronicle of the physical and mental degradation of the teen boys undergoing the Long Walk but also as a fantastic anti-war (specifically anti-Vietnam) parable. It is also a prescient critique of reality TV culture. The characters are so rich as individuals and King does a great job sketching their complicated relationships with each other over the course of their ordeal. I thought King did a great job exploring how extreme adversity can bring out so many different aspects of a man's personality: bravado, anger, self destructiveness, pity, empathy, humor as coping mechanism, altruism, selfishness, the will to die and the will to live, numbness and extreme emotional volatility. 
 There is nothing I didn't love about this book. It was an incredibly skillful, gutting piece of writing from beginning to end. I cannot recommend it highly enough.