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"Epilogue: Bill Denbrough Beats the Devil (2)" gives us some of King's best writing. All the stuff in italics is, simply put, elegant and literary.

Literary:
2. (of language) associated with literary works or other formal writing; having a marked style intended to create a particular emotional effect.

And that effect is complete emotional destruction.

Was this King's first happy ending?

"Derry: The Last Interlude" never fails to send me bawling with a single line: Mike, on the phone with Ritchie, asks his friend, "What's Stan's last name." Mike is forgetting this time, so it must be over. Right?

*side-eyes THE OUTSIDER and IF IT BLEEDS and LATER*

Yeah, sure it's over...

"Out"

With It dead, the Losers, young and old, make their way out of the sewers to find the town of Derry collapsing and crumbling around them. Audra is alive but catatonic, and Eddie, sadly, has been left behind.

"The Ritual of Chüd" works because the Losers believe it will work thus the orgy works because Beverly believes it's the only way to bring people close together because that's what her father told her.

King could've done literally ANY THING ELSE but he chose to have six eleven year old boys run a train on the only female member. If you don't like it because of that, I'm not trying to change your mind.

"Under the City" brings everything full circle. We get Its POV for the first time, along with word from around town, visiting numerous people mentioned at the beginning of the book, and some from the interludes, as a storm comes out of nowhere to once more threaten Derry with the possibility of flood waters, and the clock tower refuses to chime the hour. Something is coming...or ending.

"The Circle Closes" is a chapter that exists solely to move a group of characters from Point A to Point B. Nothing much to see here aside from plot momentum.

"In the Watches of the Night" goes by quick for a 90-page chapter. Henry Bowers comes into sharp focus as he stalks and nearly murders Mike Hanlon, before moving off to the Derry Town house, weakened by his own life-threatening wounds, courtesy of Mike. Eddie doesn't collapse under pressure, and the nds Bowers reign of terror.

Then Bill cheats on Audra with Bev, and I hate them for it. Team Ben all the way.

"Derry: The Fourth Interlude" is incredibly creepy to me: the axe murder in progress while the men at the bar keep drinking and socializing, the headless man continuing to crawl away, the dismembered hand holding a beer, flashes of brutality and banality in equal measure. All of it raises the hair on my nape.

"The Bullseye" brings us to the first battle, the first time the Losers meet It face to face all at one time on Its own turf. I really wish this had been the end of the kids' chapters, but no, we still have THAT SCENE left to go. I hate that it exists, but I refuse to let 2 pages of unneeded filth ruin the other 1,151.

"Another One of the Missing: The Death of Patrick Hocksteter" is a top-five chapter for me. King brings the use of a fridge full circle, mirroring the earlier use of the one in the library with the one at the dump.

Patrick sees It as a humanoid figure without definition because the boy is a fearless sociopathic psychopath who thinks he's the only thing that's "real". Stunning writing in this chapter.