#52 in Horror
It
- 1,168
- Pages
- about 21 h
- Reading time
- NYT bestseller · 18 weeks on the list, peaked at #2
- August Derleth Award
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Our view
Much more than a monster story: across 1,168 pages King follows seven children and the adults they become. Each carries a private burden, from a violent home to prejudice, and the creature feeds on such fears. The dread is real, but the friendship and the small-town childhood are what stay. The novel demands time and patience with a very large cast; readers who give it both are well rewarded.
Worth knowing Stephen King’s 1986 novel runs to more than 1,100 pages and interleaves two timelines in Derry, Maine: the Losers’ Club as children in 1958 and as adults in 1985. A sexual scene among the children near the end has been criticised for decades. Tim Curry played Pennywise in the 1990 miniseries; the films of 2017 and 2019 split the two timelines, and HBO’s Welcome to Derry (2025) is a prequel.
The view of the BookRank editors, written from readers’ ratings and comments. It does not affect the score or the book’s place in a ranking.
About the book
It is a 1986 horror novel by American author Stephen King. This is his 22nd book and his 17th novel written under his own name. The story follows seven children as they are terrorized by an evil entity called It, which exploits the fears of its victims to disguise itself while hunting its prey. It is a monstrous, shapeshifting predator that primarily appears in the form of Pennywise the Dancing Clown to attract its preferred prey of young children.
Where the score comes from
The sources average 8.3 across 2,390 ratings. With that many, the reader vote carries 94% of the weight and the score stays at 8.2 — the Horror average of 7.5 barely moves it.
| Source | Average | Ratings | Weight |
|---|---|---|---|
| Open Library | 8.2 | 492 | 21% |
| Google Books | 9.0 | 28 | 1% |
| Hardcover | 8.3 | 1.9K | 78% |
Frequently asked
How long is It?
It has 1,168 pages — longer than 99% of the ranked books in Horror.
In this book
Themes this book shares with others — each leads to the best books on it.
If you liked this
Same shelf — Horror — with scores between 8.1 and 8.3, closest to this book.
