Bear with me, this is (mostly) on-topic:
I gave my 24 year old son access to my Audible account so he can listen to the books in my library while he's working. He has ADD so he was never a big reader of paper books (I was until the last few years when medical issues and medication side effects have made it more difficult to focus on the printed page) so it has been truly wonderful watching him discover a love of books. He finished Swan Song a few weeks ago but hadn't read (or heard) The Stand yet. He LOVED Swan Song and I said something to the effect of how The Stand was really going to blow his socks off. Well, he just finished The Stand and guess what? He prefers Swan Song! Yeah, yeah, it's a good book but... Anyway, I resisted the urge to disown him right then and there and I heard him out. What it boils down to is that he liked how McCammon focused on the dark imagery so he felt more immersed in the post-apocalyptic world. He thought King focused too heavily on the relationships and didn't illustrate the setting as well. After hearing his critique, I totally get where he's coming from and why he preferred Swan Song. I still think he's wrong, naturally, because the relationships in King's books are why I keep coming back but I love that he enjoyed them both and was able to articulate his preference so well. This is something he was never able to do with paper books. Anyway, he's moved on to The Dark Tower series now and I'm just DYING to hear his reviews on the way through.