Dark Tower, The by Stephen King

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Submitted by Up the Rabbitohs 
(Jan 06, 2010)

I was very frustrated by this series of books. I was disappointed that the first 5 books filled me with so many questions that the last 2 books didn't answer. I which I could just have a converstaion with Stephen King just to find out so answers to important questions that the books never answered.

The Dark Tower is an excellent idea and the scene setting in the first book is excellent. A dark, post apocalyptic setting mixing the wild west with mad max. The gunslinger himself is the best kind of hero. One of the high tongue, a doomed samurai, the last of his kind from the legendary court of the king, bidden with a final mission to save the world. But what world is this? Our own? another planet? A parallel dimension? We are never really sure and the suspense and new questions continue throughout the first four books until we begin to get some answers. And what is the Dark Tower? It is described in a dream like way as both a wonderful and terrible place - the link that binds all worlds perhaps?

After this great draw in, the narrative becomes unconnected and the last three books breeze by far too quickly. New characters added in the last books are poorly thought out and annoying - they have not trodden the journey with us since the first books. Maybe its because it took him so long to write it that people like me are so disappointed with the ending. For some, the final showdown has been almost thirty years in the waiting and when it came it was nothing spectacular. The master villain, always spoken of in hushed words which kept us wondering who (and even what) it was over six of the novels just isn't what it should have been. But heck, I'm not the author!

My summary, for what its worth, is that the world and characters of the first 4 books are brilliant. The plot starts well but ends badly in last 3 books and the unnecessary extra characters in the last novel are truly awful. The whole series was a long winded anti-climax (like this review).

The only Stephen King novel I had read prior to the Dark Tower series was "Dreamcatcher", which I enjoyed immensely. A friend of mine had told me he had heard that the Dark Tower series was a good read so, I went out and bought The Gunslingler. 3 months and 7 books later I can safely say that the series has been a pleasure to read and I am glad to have immersed myself in the world of Roland and his ka-tet. Even though the first book is obviously written quite a while before the rest of the series, (and in a completely different style to the rest of the series), I felt it allowed me to watch Stephen King mature as a writer, his later novels in the series are far more accomplished but that is not to say that The Gunslinger is not a great read. The biggest compliment I can pay to Stephen and these books are that I have read lord of the rings several times and never thought I would come across a fantasy series as absorbing and brilliant. But, I did.

I looked upon "The Gunslinger" years ago and heard it was terrible, not a good read. I purchased it and began to read the first pages and was suddenly sucked into the world of Roland. Kings vivid words and explanation for the terrain and people help me to see through the tired and weary eyes of Roland (which is the main character.) I follow the gunslinger through the pages, and find myself growing close to it. After reading the first instalment I felt I somewhat already knew Roland and I couldn't wait for a sequel.
I was excited to begin the journey into the sequel of "The Gunslinger" and when I began to read it I found out it was inches better than the first. I once again simply fell in love with the adventure of Roland and his followers.
The Dark Tower series is a great read. Filled with much suspense that kept me reading and reading from the lateness of night into the dawn of light. The seven book series will, no lie, keep you questioning and trying to guess what will soon occur. The vivid imagination of Mr. King spews over in the Dark Tower series. So readers for a grand book of terror, surprise, and follow a group of close friends in search of one thing, the Dark Tower, I advise you to get them.

The Dark Tower Series is for the most part an unorganized, discombobulated series. Between the second and fifth books, the narrative rambles on without any clear direction (in the sixth book, King mentions that he had lost his outline). While the books are very lengthy, the plot is often dull (especially in Wolves of the Calla, which rambles for eight hundred pages before anything interesting happens). King also borrows unoriginal images and ideas extensively from other novels. To his credit, King has many original good ideas but they are poorly woven together and often fail to form a cohesive narrative. The series was written over thirty years, and sometimes you can tell when King stopped writing and then later resumed (he sets characters such as the Tic Toc Man up to be important, and then later they disappear). The only thing that kept me reading this series was the thought that the next book had to be better. By Wolves of the Calla I realized this was unlikely, but I felt compelled to find out how the story concluded after buying the last five. I liked the first book- its actually much shorter and concise, and much more entertaining. The last two books are also considerably better than the middle ones, but that is not saying much. Read these at your own risk.