I finished the "long" version of the book a few weeks ago. Having never read Stephen King, I'm not impressed all that much. The story and lead up were excellent, but how things and characters were ended was sort of dumb. It was link he couldn't think of what to do with them.
Over all the book was good, but I can see why people do or don't like his stuff. I still want to read the dark tower series eventually. Heard good things about those.