[Cadfael]

One of my favorite series is the Dark Tower books by Stephen King. Now I am an out and out fantasy fan, but are these books fantasy?

I just can't seem to place what genre to put them in

[Rob B]

I think Dark Tower is definitely fantasy. It has many elements: A world similar to our own, involvement of magic and mystical places, strange/mystical creatures (mutants from the blasted lands, Blaine the Pain, Flagg)the Dark Tower itself. If for nothing else the Legends anthology of modern fantasy had a Dark Tower short novel.

If you like Dark Tower by SK, you should read The Eyes of the Dragon featuring an evil mage named Flagg.

[Cadfael]

I've read EotD, about 13 years ago, Flagg... Randal Flagg? He is the ever reccuring antiposis of evil in his books, but I can't remember him in EotD, I think a revisit is in order

[Rob B]

Randall Flagg was in other books. In EotD he was simply Flagg in the timeline of EotD, but appeared in the land previously under different name(s).

EotD is being made into an animated film. Hopefully it will not be Disney-ized.

[drakon]

I also think that The Dark Tower is defenitily fantasy but it might be placed under some sub category. It has imo a different feel to it then most "normal" fantasy books. I don't know wha tit is exactly, maybe it's just not as heroic as most fantasy,it's much darker and psychological maybe...i dunno *shrug*. I am currently reading the farseer triology ( yeah FitzFlagg I haven'e finished it yet) and that also has a very unique 'feel' to it.

[Rob B]

The three things about DT, IMHO, that give it that different vibe are:

a) Our hero is a gunslinger. Not many fantasy heroes are gunslingers. He has trained to be a gunslinger and many of the methods and ideas that he believes in and practices are things normally attributed to swordsmen or even mages.

b) Roland's world. His world is much more like our world than most fantasies out there.

c) The whole series has a western feel to it as well. But I guess that is tied into what Roland is.

I know my mediocre description does the series and the quality of the writing and story no justice, but...

Farseer does have a different feel to it too. Maybe because it is a 1st person narrative and not many fantasies are written in the first person.

[Cadfael]

I agree... Farseer and DT, and to a certain extent Thomas Covenant and Song of Ice and Fire, are also very unpedicable. You think you have the plot sussed, but then the hero does something totally unexpected.

This is what I think separates a good story from a more mundane tale.

With DT, its the blend of Western and fantasy I find interesting, is it our world? Hey Jude is a honky-tonk song, and yet magic exist in the world. I though The Gunslinger was the weakest book of the set, but the Drawing of the Three was totally mind-boggling in it concept. The Wasteland carried on that theme, an interesting use of paradox there!*******SPOILER****** I just hope we dont have to wait as long for book 5, as we did for Wizard and Glass, I think they were on that train for 5 years! I went crazy, trying to imagine what conundrum they would come up with ******* END SPOILER******

I am tempted to call it a Sci Fi book, for I am sure it takes place on a future earth

[Maya]

What attracted me to the dark tower was its originality it is definitely fantasy. the first 3 novels were hypnotic however wizard and glass........the less said about that the better. revealing so much about Roland's past was a real mistake and i would have preferred it to have been discovered little by little by Eddie and friends in their conversations with Roland instead of the way it was, as if it was the present. there was too litle of the search for the tower. what does everyone else think?

[Rob B]

Maya: I agree that Wizard and Glass was the weakest DT book so far, but it was still pretty good. I liked finally getting to know about the guys that Roland grew up with.

Did anybdoy read Little Sisters of Eluria from the Legends anthology?