I wish King could focus his stories a little more. I'm up to the point where Randall Flagg literally walks into the story. Its 200+ pages into the paperback copy I'm reading, and I feel like a third or more of what I've read so far wasn't necessary for the story to function. Hell I'm not even sure what the story is yet other than the outbreak. I couldn't tell you who the main characters will be but I'm getting an idea. And what the hell was up with that random side story about the idiot criminals and their heists?
I'm longing for the simplicity and small cast of characters like I found in Pet Cemetary. Granted The Stand is a vastly different beast and the scope is infinitely larger, but King IMO from qhat I can tell of him so far functions better on the smaller more personal scale. He seems to ramble with the grander scale.