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[Prospero]

hmm i got the viking hardcovers of 1-4, and i'd highly recommend them for your collection. but "wolves of the calla" and "song of susannah" are both grant hardcovers. viking did not have the copyrights or something? rather how come king switched publishers?

Grant printed the original hardcover run of the entire Dark Tower series, but the Grant editions of 1-4 are very rare (I've never laid eyes on them personally). Some of the Grant editions have more color plates than the Plume trade paperbacks (IIRC, the Grant DT2 has 18 plates, and the Plume DT2 has 12), though I think the Viking hardcovers restore the missing artwork.

There are lots of super-rare versions of King books floating around--Amazon sells a pop-up version of The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon for $500. e.g.

 

[Azala]

Girl who loved Tom Gordon? Only one of the biggest let down books he ever wrote. I read it once and will probably never touch it again. If I was going to shell out large sums of money for a King book it would be something better like anything Dark Tower, Insomnia, It, Talisman and so forth. Part of me still doesn't understand why of all the manuscripts he has written but not published he had to choose that one instead! Waste of two days of my life.

SyNapSe - I quite honestly don't know. It doesn't ring a bell. I know King worked side by side with the author of the Concordance to point him in the right direction of what might be important. It was said about it that reading it would help solve some of the mysteries and even possibly spoil some of the remaining books. But I've read most of it and found it dry and reference page heavy and didn't really enjoy it as anything other than a refresher when reading the books and wondering where exactly x popped up or why Shardik was an important name and so forth... Your best bet would be the Bev Vincent book coming out. He and King worked very closely while he was finishing the series and discussed possible endings and story directions. From what I understand from those that have read DT7 and Bev's book months ago Bev's book was going to be a big deal and help explain some of the easily missed aspects to us. Which is good for me because I can't get quite as in depth as those on theDarkTower.net, who's theories and observational skills continue to both astound me and worry about their lack of personal life. *wink*

The sad thing is I've had DT7 in my possession for 5 hours now and I have yet to crack it. I think I'm unstable... something is definitely wrong with me.

 

[Prospero]

Which is good for me because I can't get quite as in depth as those on theDarkTower.net, who's theories and observational skills continue to both astound me and worry about their lack of personal life. *wink*

The Dark Tower books are a series that lend themselves to overanalysis, a lot like the Matrix movies (except that the DT books are actually consistently enjoyable). There are lots of cryptic statements and arcane symbology, but I get the feeling that King isn't trying to make some self-important statement about humanity, so much as just having fun and creating a surreal alternate world in which (like Roland) we don't and can't understand everything. The cults that spring up around books like the Dark Tower series tend to assume that their authors had the whole thing planned out from the beginning (even though it's pretty clear that King has been improvising the series since Day One--the reason that there was such a long delay between The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass was because he thought he'd written himself into a corner after a pretty amazing cliffhanger).

So, yeah, I've never worried about reading too deeply into these books--with the possible exception of Desperation and The Regulators, the symbolic meanings of what King writes have always been on the surface throughout most of his career. That doesn't make them less enjoyable, but Dark Tower isn't Ulysses, or anything like that.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

So has anyone finished it yet? I'm probably 98% done and it's rough reading right now. So somber...

Ends up that I got the first Concordance. Really an amazing read as it provides some background stuff and side info that isn't really noticeable. I wouldn't say but it, but if you see it used or in a library it's a decent read. Lots of stuff in there that I had either forgotten or didn't think about in that way.

 

[Azala]

I'm almost to page 600 now. I've been pacing myself and allowing a friend to catch up so we can discuss as we go. It is getting rather somber, and there's been a few parts that have made me upset, either angry or livid, or disappointed, or just upset (in a good way). I'm not sure I like some of the things he is doing to the story. But I'm trying to withhold judgment until I'm all done. Trying... hard...

 

[maharg]

I finished it last weekend, I'm sort of waiting for other people to catch up.

 

[LinesInTheSand]

Yeah, I finished it a week ago. Decided it's my favorite and nearly perfect.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

well I finished it about 3 hours ago. A very interesting ending.

Spoiler

So does anyone else think that this time, since he actually has the horn, he won't repeat the story?

I have tons of other questions, but I am still thinking about the story right now. I think I'll get the other Concordance and see what it has to say.

 

[nitewulf]

my fucking copy didnt arrive from overstock yet, grrrr.
so those who have finished it, was it dissapointing in any way?

 

[maharg]

well I finished it about 3 hours ago. A very interesting ending.

Spoiler

So does anyone else think that this time, since he actually has the horn, he won't repeat the story?

I have tons of other questions, but I am still thinking about the story right now. I think I'll get the other Concordance and see what it has to say.

I think that's the idea. Though it's hard to see

Spoiler

how it would help him achieve anything he didn't already.

I found one thing about the ending disappointing.

Spoiler

I think Susannah escaping death so easily was a copout, and her meeting altverse versions of Eddie and Jake through the door that conveniently saved her was as well. If the whole thing reset buttons anyways, what difference does it make? Just seemed like a deliberate attempt to make the ending softer. After all the hamming up of the idea that he 'doesn't write it,' I felt it seemed like this was one thing he DID write.

. Other than that, I think I really liked the ending. Take that bit out and I'd have been perfectly happy with it.

Spoiler

And thank god it wasn't King at the top of the tower.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

I think that's the idea. Though it's hard to see

Spoiler

how it would help him achieve anything he didn't already.

I found one thing about the ending disappointing.

Spoiler

I think Susannah escaping death so easily was a copout, and her meeting altverse versions of Eddie and Jake through the door that conveniently saved her was as well. If the whole thing reset buttons anyways, what difference does it make? Just seemed like a deliberate attempt to make the ending softer. After all the hamming up of the idea that he 'doesn't write it,' I felt it seemed like this was one thing he DID write.

. Other than that, I think I really liked the ending. Take that bit out and I'd have been perfectly happy with it.

Spoiler

And thank god it wasn't King at the top of the tower.

about the helping him:

Spoiler

pure speculation of course, but what if each time he got to the tower he remembered a little something? It seems that way, from the interior dialoge after he was transported back. though, how in the world did the horn end up there? He was not transported to anywhere other than that place, so how did he end up with the horn?

lots of ideas, just none formed enough to type out and have them make sense.

Spoiler

the tower picks new ka-buddies each time through, maybe?

Remember, Roland is the only one with Deja-vu throughout the story. (as hinted at in the revised Gunslinger.)

and yeah, I'm glad he wasn't at the top. Though, for a long time I thought it would be

Spoiler

The Crimson King, who would in turn be Roland's doppelganger.

The chap business was annoying.

Spoiler

all that through the book and he {practically} dies from eating rotten meat? wtf?

I'm sure that the official Stephen King board is going crazy over this ending. edit - hmm, it seems to be missing completely.

 

[LinesInTheSand]

Spoiler

the tower picks new ka-buddies each time through, maybe?

Remember, Roland is the only one with Deja-vu throughout the story. (as hinted at in the revised Gunslinger.)

and yeah, I'm glad he wasn't at the top. Though, for a long time I thought it would be

Spoiler

The Crimson King, who would in turn be Roland's doppelganger.

The chap business was annoying.

Spoiler

all that through the book and he {practically} dies from eating rotten meat? wtf?

I'm sure that the official Stephen King board is going crazy over this ending.

Spoiler

Another thing when you think about it is Roland constantly attributes everything to "ka" throughout the books but in reality he may have subconsciously been triggering memories of past loops and that's how he was always confident that things would work out. I also noticed in Walter's conversation at the end of The Gunslinger that he clues that he knows about Roland's plight. Not sure if this was just in the revised as I can't find my old unrevised anymore.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Spoiler

Another thing when you think about it is Roland constantly attributes everything to "ka" throughout the books but in reality he may have subconsciously been triggering memories of past loops and that's how he was always confident that things would work out. I also noticed in Walter's conversation at the end of The Gunslinger that he clues that he knows about Roland's plight. Not sure if this was just in the revised as I can't find my old unrevised anymore.

good point. maybe it is subconscious.

Spoiler

yeah, it's just in the revised edition. funny thing: if Walter knows about this, how does he not see that he will get eaten by Mordred? Plus, how is Walter immortal if he can be killed, and also if he was born of normal parentage?

 

[LinesInTheSand]

good point. maybe it is subconscious.

Spoiler

yeah, it's just in the revised edition. funny thing: if Walter knows about this, how does he not see that he will get eaten by Mordred? Plus, how is Walter immortal if he can be killed, and also if he was born of normal parentage?

Spoiler

*Shrug* I'd actually like to see King write a series just following Flagg around on his various journeys. That would be fucking cool seeing the various activies from his perspective (The Stand 1 1/2: Randall Flagg's Journey ). I assume thought that while Walter could (Seemingly) live forever he was still subject to death. Also, I assume that Walter was able to grab it from Roland's mind when they are having their palavar and not that he know of it beforehand.

 

[Azala]

I finished it. In my desire to run to thedarktower.net and discuss it, the damn page appears to be down??? What? Please tell me this is a temporary thing.

In the meantime I'm dying to talk about it, but don't know how to do the black cover up. Anyone?

 

[maharg]

[/spoiler] to close,

Spoiler

to start. (note the reversal)

 

[Azala]

Spoiler

funny thing: if Walter knows about this, how does he not see that he will get eaten by Mordred? Plus, how is Walter immortal if he can be killed, and also if he was born of normal parentage?

Ok here is my theory on why

Spoiler

because whatever happened to start the loop starts before the desert, so Walter may have been in on it, or privy to it (as I'm sure the CK knew about the turn of events). But just because he's aware that it started and is going on, doesn't mean he knows how it ends, especially since the turning point that could change the ending is AFTER his original knowledge of the event.

And thank you Maharg.

 

[LinesInTheSand]

Ok here is my theory on why

Spoiler

because whatever happened to start the loop starts before the desert, so Walter may have been in on it, or privy to it (as I'm sure the CK knew about the turn of events). But just because he's aware that it started and is going on, doesn't mean he knows how it ends, especially since the turning point that could change the ending is AFTER his original knowledge of the event.

And thank you Maharg.

Spoiler

I don't think the loop has anything to do with Walter/CK seeing as it's Gan who is forcing Roland on his quest of retribution. CK is just as desperate to see whats at the top of the tower as Roland. Anyways, I assume the only way Roland can truly break the loop is that he has to see all that he has sacrificed and the fact that it is no longer neccessary to enter the Tower when he approaches it and cry off before entering. I'm assuming the horn plays some part in that - either just as a reminder or blowing it outside the tower will maybe call up the spirits of all who have died?

 

[maharg]

Spoiler

I don't think the loop has anything to do with Walter/CK seeing as it's Gan who is forcing Roland on his quest of retribution. CK is just as desperate to see whats at the top of the tower as Roland. Anyways, I assume the only way Roland can truly break the loop is that he has to see all that he has sacrificed and the fact that it is no longer neccessary to enter the Tower when he approaches it and cry off before entering. I'm assuming the horn plays some part in that - either just as a reminder or blowing it outside the tower will maybe call up the spirits of all who have died?

Hm. This is an interesting way of looking at it. I think I like it.

Spoiler

If he gives up, and maybe goes through the door with Susannah... Could very well be.

 

[Prospero]

I'm no longer reading this thread for fear of spoilers, but I just wanted to drop in to say that I received the Viking hardcovers of DT2, 3, and 4 today. In case you didn't know it, the Viking hardcover of DT2 has completely different artwork than the old Plume paperback. It's the same artist (Phil Hale), and all of the depicted scenes are the same, but he's repainted them all in a somewhat different (and, I think, more mature) style. DT 3 and 4 appear to be identical to the old paperbacks, though.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Spoiler

I don't think the loop has anything to do with Walter/CK seeing as it's Gan who is forcing Roland on his quest of retribution. CK is just as desperate to see whats at the top of the tower as Roland. Anyways, I assume the only way Roland can truly break the loop is that he has to see all that he has sacrificed and the fact that it is no longer neccessary to enter the Tower when he approaches it and cry off before entering. I'm assuming the horn plays some part in that - either just as a reminder or blowing it outside the tower will maybe call up the spirits of all who have died?

great idea, I think that might just be it.

 

[maharg]

Adding a bit to what I said previously.

Spoiler

I like this especially because the tower, as we see it in book 7, is nothing like the tower described in Insomnia. We're given to believe the tower supports all of reality, each level being one stage of reality. All we're given in Roland's tower is a picture book of one reality. With only 30-some floors.

We're also told, I might add, in Insomnia, that the drawing kid is supposed to save *two people*, not just Roland.

I think this fits in well with the commentary when they saved the beams that they were, as a Ka-tet, done with their quest. Roland is still convinced that his Ka still leads him to the tower, but when he starts on that quest, his Tet up and dies on him. All of them except Susannah (and I think it would have been better if she had died).

I think the secret, maybe, is that there is no top of the tower. It's just plain infinity.

 

[LinesInTheSand]

Adding a bit to what I said previously.

Spoiler

I like this especially because the tower, as we see it in book 7, is nothing like the tower described in Insomnia. We're given to believe the tower supports all of reality, each level being one stage of reality. All we're given in Roland's tower is a picture book of one reality. With only 30-some floors.

We're also told, I might add, in Insomnia, that the drawing kid is supposed to save *two people*, not just Roland.

I think this fits in well with the commentary when they saved the beams that they were, as a Ka-tet, done with their quest. Roland is still convinced that his Ka still leads him to the tower, but when he starts on that quest, his Tet up and dies on him. All of them except Susannah (and I think it would have been better if she had died).

I think the secret, maybe, is that there is no top of the tower. It's just plain infinity.

Spoiler

To be fair he saved himself and he did save Susannah technically, but I believe the line in Insomnia said two men

 

[maharg]

Spoiler

To be fair he saved himself and he did save Susannah technically, but I believe the line in Insomnia said two men

It did indeed, I take that as generally not mattering though.

Spoiler

I assume he originally meant for Eddie to make it, so it's just a character swap. If Susannah hadn't left, it's hard to say she would have died. If anything, if she'd been there Mordred probably would have died without the loss of Oy.

So I don't think it happened the way the little people expected it to, at any rate.

Actually, one more thing that was disapointing...

Spoiler

The Crimson King was kinda.... a let down. Better if he hadn't shown up at all, a la Lord of the Rings.

 

[FnordChan]

Done and done. Spoilers, spoilers, spoilers:

Spoiler

Hrm.

The finale to Stephen King's magnum opus is a resounding "not bad". I was hoping for "fucking incredible" and I was afraid we'd get "godawful" or possibly "unfinished due to King's untimely death", so I suppose getting something in the middle is better than nothing.

The Good: I liked the whole shebang with the Breakers. Maybe I'd be even more stoked for it if I'd read "Hearts in Atlantis", but I'm pretty happy with it either way. Eddie's death didn't bother me; shit happens, people die in less than supremely heroic circumstances, and that's the sort of thing King has always been into. Speaking of King, I liked the way he wrote his accident into the series; if the man wants to wrap-up the pinacle of his career with a life-changing incident, I can't argue with that, Jake's death and all. I also liked the bits where folks are travelling: the tunnels underneath Discordia, the badlands en route to the Tower, the final trek with Bill, that sort of thing. Oh, and, as always, Oy ruled.

The Bad: The whole Mordred subplot just plain fizzled. Bleah. This, in turn, hurts Song of Susannah overall: there's a lot of frantic running around for something that just didn't have the appropriate payoff in the end. Walter/Flagg had a lot of potential in him, just sucked out by lame ass Mordred. And the Crimson King's appearance was also less than stellar. A friend of mine kept yelling "EEEEEEEEEEEEE!" when we were discussing the book last night, which we both agree was less than menacing. Ah well. Speaking of the Crimson King...

The Ugly: I'm decidedly unenthralled by Deux ex Machina boy. I wouldn't have minded so much if he had been set up sometime before the beginning of Book 7 and had appeared earlier than the last 150 pages or so. But, he was thrown in at the last minute to make sure the Crimson King battle was suitably lame and to throw Susannah out of the picture at hte last minute, for no really good reason. Sigh.

Outside of all this we have the ending itself, which I'm perfectly comfortable with. After all these years, anything King put at the top of the Dark Tower risked being horribly, horribly anticlimactic. And, as mentioned above, thank god King himself wasn't sitting up there. I would have been happy with the pre-epilogue ending: Roland walks into the Dark Tower and we're left to imagine his fate. And, in retrospect, King's advice in the Coda - be happy with that ending - is probably pretty good, even if he knows absolutely everyone is going to keep reading anyway. That said, I like the Buddhist-esque notion of Roland repeating his life until he gets it right. Who knows, perhaps he'll break out of it someday. And, it was nice to see the rest of the gang get the happy ending that poor damned Roland could never have.

Meanwhile, I completely agree with King when he said that the journey, not the finale, is what's important. I think the thing I enjoyed best about the Dark Tower series was that the first four books are doing very different things from each other, with King going off in all manner of interesting directions. He may not be getting particularly close to resolving the plot, but he's having a helluva time meandering on his way there. By the time we get to Wolves of the Calla, King's trying to wrap everything up - and it just isn't as fun. Watching King try to bring his plot threads together isn't as exciting as seeing him run with them in the first place. (I'm reminded of The Stand, which I think is a absolutely terrific first half and a pretty decent second half.)

Oh, sure, I'm glad to have an ending, but I wish it had turned out differently - not the very end itself, mind you, but the getting there. I can't blame King for saying, "Shit, I'd better finish this up before I die", but, as painful as the waits often were, I would have preferred to see a new volume released every five years or so, where we could let King show us what's been percolating in the back of his mind between books. Alternately, if King could have kept pace, with a new Dark Tower book every two or three years or so from The Wastelands onwards, that would have possibly been best of all. Alas.

I think the thing that most bugged me about the last few books was a lack of newness. Wolves revisited the "small Western town under attack by raiders" routine from Wizard and Glass. Song of Susannah spent a lot of time going back to New York, when we'd already spent a fair amount of time there earlier in the series. The Dark Tower had some nice new moments, but it also had a lot of obsessive backtracking. You can see this particularly in the way that the final volumes don't really create new memorable dialogue - they just quote lines from the earlier books. There's no new "I shoot with my mind" or "There are other worlds than these". Perhaps some will come to mind in time, but at the moment I'm drawing an unfortunate blank.

That said, even flawed King is pretty damn entertaining, and you can tell he put effort into the final volumes rather than just crapping them out like some of his more mainstream novels. In the end, I'm content with the series overall, if not as king-hell stoked as I'd hoped to be. I'm looking forward to letting the entire series sit for a few years, then going back for a re-read. I haven't read Wizard and Glass since it was first released in hardcover, and I'm expecting it'll improve vastly upon re-read. Hell, I'm thinking Wolves of the Calla will improve, too - but I'm not so sure about Song or The Dark Tower.

This seems astoundingly unlikely, but one thing that could come out of the circular nature fo Roland's quest is the notion of other interpretations of it. With King's blessing an author could start with "The man in black fled across the desert and the Gunslinger followed" and run with it, keeping the between-realities feel of Mid-World and Roland's backstory and creating new quests for the Tower from there. I'm guessing this is going to be relegated (in most cases badly) to the realm of fanfiction, but it's still an intriguing thought.

Finally, my series ranking as it stands now:

1 - Drawing of the Three
2 - The Wastelands
3 - The Gunslinger
4 - Wizard and Glass
5 - Wolves of the Calla
6 - The Dark Tower
7 - Song of Susannah

FnordChan

 

[nitewulf]

finished it last night.

Spoiler

Book 7 has a fantastic pace, and I liked the ending. My biggest gripe, and I'm talking about the series as a whole, would be that, all the boss battles are very anti climactic. Starting with The Tick Tock Man, and continuing with Walter, Mordred and finally The CK, all of them are disposed off pretty easily. There is so much buildup, yet they die so quick!
I guess when you have blazing fast gunslingers who will either shoot, or get shot, you arent really left with much of an option. Still I think King should have drawn out these battles more, made them more tense, suspenceful and overall TOUGHER. Roland is mostly one handed! Susannah IS IN A WHEELCHAIR!! They should have tougher time beating these baddies!
I mean take Mordred for example, he is supposedly this super powerful creature, is however weakened by freaking food poisoning?? Interrupted by Oy while attempting to kill Roland and takes only two shots to die?? Why couldnt he just creep close and take control of Roland's mind like he did with Walter? Hell for that matter, how come such a powerful Wizard like Walter fell victim to his mind tricks so easily?
The ultimate Arch-Nemesis, The CK, the would be destroyer of all existance as we know it, the ruler of all worlds...is a senile old man??? And he only has a bunch of homing RPGs at his disposal? No wizardry? So how did he take over so many low men, taheen and humes to begin with??
The phrase "All hail to the Crimson King" was looing all throughout book 4 and onwards, and invoked a feeling of awe, of immense danger. We were lead to believe he is extremely powerful, and all knowing, like a god. Yet after eveything's said and done, he is erased by some geek? Inventive, yes...but there should have been more to it!
Basically that is my main gripe, the villains fell too quickly, too easily.
I liked Book 7 overall, very eventful, good character building as usual. Oy's demise was very touching. I did want to kick SK's ass for not getting with the program and finishing the book, thereby forcing the gunslingers to save his ass.
And the ending was definitely the right one.
I'm glad that he didnt go the route of "rendezvous with rama" bringing in

*****RAMA SPOILER*****
heavy handed religious angles, what god's main purpose is and what not.
*****END RAMA SPOILER*****

Or that SK didnt turn out to be on the top, "Welcome Roland, I am god!". Would have been very lame.
I mean what else could have been said about the Tower? Some ancient superior civilization built the Tower, and Roland was transported to their planet/dimension and was given the answer to life, the universe and everything? Nah. Though my curiosity about the Tower itself wasnt quenched, the ending itself felt right.
I also agree that the whole Susannah stepping out bit was a cop out. How could she be happy with a fake eddie and a fake jake? She should have stayed and died. I think she forgot the face of her father

Overall Ranking:

1) Wizard and Glass
2) The Wastelands
3) The Drawing of the Three
4) Wolves of the Calla
5) The Dark Tower
6) Song of Susannah
7) The Gunslinger

I love the series overall. Very satisfactory. Looking forward to some sidestories a la "Little Sisters of Eluria", stories of Roland's adventures after Mejis and before Tull, stories of his adventures with Alain and Cuthbert etc.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

Found this one the amazon website: (spoilers if you haven't read the book, I guess)

A Brief History of Mid-World (All-World-That-Was) and of Roland Deschain, Warrior of the White
by Robin Furth, author of Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance, Vol. I and Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance, Vol. II


In the beginning there was only the Prim, the magical soup of creation. From the Prim arose Gan, spirit of the Dark Tower, who spun the physical universe from his navel. Gan tipped the world with his finger and set it rolling. This forward movement was Time.

The magical tide of the Prim receded from the earth, but left behind it the Tower and the Beams, the fundamental structures which hold the macroverse together. Enough magic was left in Tower and Beams to last for eternity, but The Great Old Ones, in their hubris, decided to remake Beams and Tower using their technology. Magic is eternal, but machinery (like the men who build it) is mortal. Hence, the great technological advances of the Old People made possible not just the destruction of one level of the Tower, but the obliteration of all of them.

Magic is eternal, but machinery (like the men who build it) is mortal.

The Great Old Ones had the knowledge of gods and so, like reckless demiurges, they assumed that they had the right to manipulate reality with impunity. For their own decadent entertainment, they created doorways that led from their world to other wheres and whens on every level of the Tower. They built great cities where centralized computers and Asimov robots catered to their every need.

But still, it wasn't enough. The Old People designed Dogans where magic and technology could be joined. Here, their scientists/alchemists created new diseases, such as the Red Death, and terrible weapons which they launched against their enemies, poisoning earth, air, and water. Soon every living creature on the surface of the earth became contaminated. Animals and humans gave birth to mutants, and Mid-World was reduced to a great poisoned waste land.

The time of the Great Old Ones was almost over. But before they disappeared from their level of the Tower, The Old People made a final act of atonement. To make amends for their atrocities and to pay penance for the sins they had committed against the earth and against each other, they built twelve giant mechanical Guardians to watch over the twelve entrances into, and out of, Mid-World. These Guardians--Bear and Turtle, Elephant and Wolf, Rat and Fish, Bat and Hare, Eagle and Lion, Dog and Horse--were cyborg versions of the twelve immortal animal totems left by the Prim to guard the Beams.

These Guardians--Bear and Turtle, Elephant and Wolf, Rat and Fish, Bat and Hare, Eagle and Lion, Dog and Horse--were cyborg versions of the twelve immortal animal totems left by the Prim to guard the Beams.

Yet even this final act of atonement proved to be misguided. The fabric of reality, rewoven by the Great Old Ones, was destined to fray. Less than three thousand years after being built in the farthest reaches of Out-World, the giant cyborg Bear Guardian, Shardik, ran mad. The mechanical Beams (already eroded) began--one by one--to topple. The computers and robots built by the ancient company North Central Positronics (a leader in mind-to-mind communications since the ten thousands) became dangerously psychotic and either murdered their masters' descendants or joined forces with the Crimson King, that ancient Lord of Chaos. And as the Old Ones' technological web collapsed, whole worlds were destroyed by plagues like the Super-Flu.

But life is striving to be life, and against all odds it will defy the Outer Dark. The Tower had more than a little of its old magic left, and from its ancient grey-black foundations deep in the red rose-fields of End-World, it sent out a call. From In-World-that-was, it drew forth the world's last gunslinger--final descendant of Arthur Eld, King of All-World-that-was, Warrior of the White and Guardian of the Tower. Although this gunslinger believed that his only ambition was to climb to the top of the Tower to meet whatever being resided there, ka had greater plans for him.

Like his enemy the Red King, Lord of Discordia, Roland Deschain of the White both darkles and tincts. Leaping from one level of the Tower to another, he pursues his vision and his quest. With the help of a ka-tet drawn from other levels of the Tower (ones where the great city of Lud is called New York, and where North Central Positronics and the Sombra Corporation have not yet poisoned the ambitions of their culture), he opposes Discordia and fulfils the will of the White.

What began, in The Gunslinger, as the journey of a goal-obsessed loner, becomes, in The Dark Tower, a great journey of redemption and sacrifice. End-World lies ahead, and the Tower waits.

kinda interesting. I didn't know that about Roland, but it makes sense.

 

[maharg]

Er, some of that doesn't make sense to me. Wasn't it said somewhere that the reason they built mechanical beams was BECAUSE the magic ones were failing? And wasn't it also said that the Tower was actually part of that process?

Maybe I'm completely misremembering.

 

[Prospero]

Well, I finally finished my runthrough of all 7 Dark Tower books. Upon reading the spoilers, I'm glad to see that some agree with me that the seventh book was not the best. I was expecting to come in here and see a lovefest. DT 5-7 have some of King's best writing, but also some of his worst writing.

Good things about the final volume (actually, maybe I should talk about v6 and v7 together, as they probably should have been published as a single volume with some serious editing):

Spoiler

The Battle of Algul Siento rocked, and it was nice to see Ted Brautigan again. In the White Lands of Empathica, the story finally gets that slow, mellow rhythm that makes the first volume so great, and my favorite of the series. Roland and Susannah made a great team together, which I never would have expected. Also a nice reversal of v1, with Roland being pursued, not pursuing.

Michael Whelan turned out some of the best artwork he's ever done for this book. It wasn't until King mentioned it near the end of the book that I noticed the trees in the painting on the inside cover have "19" woven into them, and even the word "CHASSIT."

Bad things:

Spoiler

Sloppy, sloppy, shamefully sloppy, terrible, shitassed plotting. Is everybody in this book a telepath? Can everybody teleport just whenever the hell they want? Does everybody suddenly know crucially important information just because they do? Every ten pages, I swear. It's worse than a Square RPG. Postmodern hijinks and "deus ex machina" bullshit are no excuse.

Stephen King as a character. The first appearance of Stephen King in volume 6 was cool (the bit where he had the flashback to the age of seven and broke down and cried). The bit in volume 7 with the Stephen King doppelgangers was also cool. Everything else seemed not "pretentious," as King says in the afterword, but downright egotistical, the work of a writer who's jealous that he's not included in the literary canon because of his success as a popular writer. Seriously--taking shots at Norman Mailer and John Updike, even mentioning them by name? Embarrassing. The whole sequence where the fate of the universe hinges on whether SK gets hit by a van is embarrassing. (And the guy who hit him had already gotten chewed out in "On Writing," so there was no need to revisit that.) And I didn't appreciate the afterword in which he tells his readers not to write him letters or try to find his house. One Amazon reviewer says it better than me: "in the inevitable afterword he actually lumps his psychotic fans and his casual readers into one group for a collective scolding." The Stephen King that I briefly met in person seemed like a nice enough guy (even though he refused to sign my copy of The Gunslinger that I had on me at the time). The one who wrote these final volumes seems like he can barely disguise his contempt for those who have been responsible for his critical and financial success.

Walter's death--what an ignominious way to kill off the most badass villain of all Stephen King novels.

That whole "nineteen" thing never came to much in the end.

The ending:

Spoiler

I could have done without the tongue-lashing about how a good reader won't care about what's in the Tower, but I was fine with that ending, as anything he'd put in the top of the Tower would have been a letdown.

Do I have to rank them? Everyone else is doing it, so I'll give it a shot. On a scale from 1-10, measured against SK's other novels (for comparison, I rank The Dark Half as 1, and Hearts in Atlantis as 10):

The Gunslinger: 9 for the original version; 10 for the revised version
The Drawing of the Three: 8 (best shootout in the series)
The Waste Lands: 8
Wizard and Glass: 5 (I'm in the minority here, I know. The Susan/Roland romance has its moments, but the book as a whole feels rushed, and the schemes of Roland's posse only work because the villains of the book persist in being idiots. Also there's the cliched Stephen King Mentally Disabled Guy Who's Smarter Than You Think, which always knocks off a point.)
Wolves of the Calla: 8 (we've seen some of this before, but at least this book has a fairly strong narrative structure, unlike what follows. And

Spoiler

The Priest's Tale

was some of the best storytelling of all seven books.)
Song of Susannah: 7 (bad plotting and lots of teleportation, but some beautiful images and Susannah finally comes into her own as a character.

Spoiler

The cliffhanger at the end of v6 comes to nothing--I'm glad I waited until DT7 was out to read all the books.

)
The Dark Tower: 7 (see above)

 

[Virgin Wii]

I just discovered the series myself. I've finished The Drawing of the Three and will pick up The Waste Lands soon. It's sad to hear everyone say that the last 3 books in the series is trash compared to the first 4 books, though. I'll continue on anyway. Maybe I'll end up liking them.

 

[MC Safety]

I thought it was a pretty bad read. Overwrought and without any substance.

Going in to specifics would only depress me, but I think I can safely point to the ultimate fate for the three major villains as evidence this book has little to offer anyone.

I did, however, like the part where King discusses the jibberish he uses in the book and suggests that his editor will remove most of it. For my money, the editor should have used a heavier hand.

 

[Prospero]

I just discovered the series myself. I've finished The Drawing of the Three and will pick up The Waste Lands soon. It's sad to hear everyone say that the last 3 books in the series is trash compared to the first 4 books, though. I'll continue on anyway. Maybe I'll end up liking them.

The Waste Lands is the last truly good one (and now that I'm posting again, a few hours after having finished the final book and thought about it, I'm tempted to revise my scores down even further, as if it mattered).

I almost want to tell you to turn back now, before you've invested too much time. Unfortunately for you, The Waste Lands has a brutal cliffhanger that will immediately force you to buy the fourth book, and after you get through the fourth, you'll say, "What the hell. I may as well read book five." Then it's all downhill from there, and soon you'll know what we know.

Going in to specifics would only depress me, but I think I can safely point to the ultimate fate for the three major villains as evidence this book has little to offer anyone.

Spoiler

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEE!"

 

[Virgin Wii]

The Waste Lands is the last truly good one (and now that I'm posting again, a few hours after having finished the final book and thought about it, I'm tempted to revise my scores down even further, as if it mattered).

I almost want to tell you to turn back now, before you've invested too much time. Unfortunately for you, The Waste Lands has a brutal cliffhanger that will immediately force you to buy the fourth book, and after you get through the fourth, you'll say, "What the hell. I may as well read book five." Then it's all downhill from there, and soon you'll know what we know.

I've already read The Gunslinger and The Drawing, so I figure I've already invested a lot of time. Besides, I really want to learn more about Roland. He seems to have a very interesting past and I want to learn more about that. And I gotta know what the fuck this Dark Tower is all about, and why Roland wants to get to it so badly.

Now that I know the last books are subpar, maybe I'll enjoy them more since I won't be expecting anything grand.

 

[boredJonathan]

Besides, I really want to learn more about Roland. He seems to have a very interesting past and I want to learn more about that. And I gotta know what the fuck this Dark Tower is all about, and why Roland wants to get to it so badly.

This one is hooked. Nothing we can say will stop him from finishing the series now.

Seriously, I don't think the last 3 books are trash or a complete letdown. I think my biggest let down was

Spoiler

the end of the Walking Dude/Ageless Stranger/Walter/Randal Flagg. It was just incredibly weak and done even more diservice that a dead tired Roland was able to take out Mordred fairly easily (Well with the help of Oy).

. Other than that I can see everything else making sense and fitting within the book. The verbal tounge lashing people seem to get steamed over, :: shrugs ::, I didn't take it that way. I wasn't going to go hunting him down and while reading the book not know that the geography was messed with I was shocked that he was basically giving directions to his house.

I guess I took that little section towards the end, where that comment comes from, more as a story teller trying to build up a little tease. It seemed old fashioned. It seemed to work, for me at least, within the confines of King being the story teller.

 

[Christoff Yurievich]

I think my biggest let down was

Spoiler

the end of the Walking Dude/Ageless Stranger/Walter/Randal Flagg. It was just incredibly weak and done even more diservice that a dead tired Roland was able to take out Mordred fairly easily (Well with the help of Oy).

.

Spoiler

you must remember that Mordred had eaten the bad horse and therefore was practically dead anyways from food poisoning. Roland just helped him along, so to speak.

 

[boredJonathan]

Spoiler

you must remember that Mordred had eaten the bad horse and therefore was practically dead anyways from food poisoning. Roland just helped him along, so to speak.

I remember that. It still doesn't make what happend any more dramatic. In general most anything having to do with

Spoiler

Modred after he was born

was pretty anti-climatic. Not quite deus ex machina.. but a weak ass bad guy that comes out of nowhere.. And hardly poses a challenege

 

[nitewulf]

nah, the last three books arent trash or subpar at all. after you've read the series you may read my post to view my main gripe. while that takes away from the series, it doesnt take away enough to make the last books trashy.
and certainly wizard and glass is a fantastic book, the best in the series IMO, and i loved wolves of the calla. the song of sussanah is a love/hate ordeal, and i overall enjoyed/liked the last book.

Spoiler

"EEEEEEEEEEEEEE! EEEEEEEEEE!"

I KNEW IT WITHOUT EVEN LOOKING!!