Dark Tower

[michaelS0620]

My whole problem with Wolves is that there was very little suspense. I thought the wolves turned out to be pretty easily defeated, and there seemed to be little doubt that they would be.

Myself, I prefer DT2 for tension. That wasa great read, as was DT1, although most people have a hard time getting into it.

 

[magze]

I first read 1,2,3 nearly 20 years I reread them before I read Wizard and Glass,and wolves and I was surprised how much I remembered,the whole series just leaves you wanting more.

 

[DrBloodmoney1]

Perfect ending to the series. King definetly did it up right, IMO anyways. There are folks who disagree, but it fits and as King pointed out in the epilogue, it's the only ending that fit.

 

[Sparhawke]

Is there anybody here that started the series way back when and has just finished?

What must that be like?

 

[AuntiePam]

Sparhawke, it's kind of a relief.

I lucked into a copy of The Gunslinger back in 1984 and have read each book as it came out. I'm really glad the series is finished, and I feel for the terminally ill woman who wrote to King after the first three books, wanting him to tell her how the story ends. She feared she wouldn't live to see the final book.

I sorta feel that way about A Song of Ice and Fire. Should probably quit smoking and lower my cholesterol.

 

[Sparhawke]

Overwhelming to think about...


I have an Auntie Pam.

That's not you is it?

Um... how are Kate and Stuart?

 

[AuntiePam]

Kate joined a cult and Stuart made the honor roll. How're you doin'?

 

[saintjon]

I'm halfway through the last book and need a break. Intense stuff. I don't know if I want to say this is one of the most well-written series' I've read, but it's a hell of a story, if that makes any sense.

Stephen King doesn't pull punches either it seems.


******************SPOILERS!!!!!**********************


What did you guys think of what happened to Walter? What an insane, disturbing ending for a villain King's gotten so much mileage out of

Fitting and all, but man, usually a great villain like that goes out in a flare of infamy or something.

 

[Eventine]

Just a request for someone who hasn't read all of the books yet:
Can someone who's read them create a very obviously marked spoiler thread and have the spolier discussion there?

I sometimes accidentally read spoilers and would like to read the discussion about the books without ruining it for myself - I nearly read that section by SJ and would have hated myself if I did.

Cheers.

 

[magze]

Is there anybody here that started the series way back when and has just finished?

What must that be like?

I read the first 2 about 1988

 

[magze]

I'm halfway through the last book and need a break. Intense stuff. I don't know if I want to say this is one of the most well-written series' I've read, but it's a hell of a story, if that makes any sense.

Stephen King doesn't pull punches either it seems.


******************SPOILERS!!!!!**********************


What did you guys think of what happened to Walter? What an insane, disturbing ending for a villain King's gotten so much mileage out of

Fitting and all, but man, usually a great villain like that goes out in a flare of infamy or something.[/QUOTE/]
********************SPOILER!!! I liked Walters demise. What do you make of Mordred's shape-changing ?

 

[saintjon]

It's not the shape-changing that creeps me out about him (ah Werewolf and your many expansion, how you've desensitized me to lycanthropy), it's the seemingly ultra-dominant mind-powers he's got. doesn't do you much good to be able to kill the damn thing with bullets when he can just shut your motor skills off at any given time

 

[Rob B]

I finished Song of Susannah last night and onto DTVII today.

I am really excited about this series like I was when I first started reading it.

 

[magze]

Finally got over my annoyance with Sai King for his ending of The Dark Tower I know it was the best ending for the series specialy what happened to Roland but the rest of his ka-tet I'm not sure.He has left me wanting more , I want to Know what happened to Patrick.

 

[Erfael]

Finally got over my annoyance with Sai King for his ending of The Dark Tower I know it was the best ending for the series specialy what happened to Roland but the rest of his ka-tet I'm not sure.He has left me wanting more , I want to Know what happened to Patrick.

Spoiler

I really, really liked the ending to Dark Tower. I thought it was very appropriate, especially given the theme he picked up of the journey being more important than the end.

 

[magze]

It was what happened to Jake,Eddie & Susannah that peeved me

 

[Erfael]

possible spoiler

We should use spoiler warnings for anything that might give anything away.

Spoiler

I don't think that the ending would have made as much sense if those characters weren't killed or disposed of. Part of Roland's problem is the "get to the top of the tower at whatever cost necessary mentality." And as long as he has that mentality, he'll be cursed to walk the same path over and over again.

All he has to do at any point is give up the goal of getting to the tower in favor of embracing his fellow people as more than just tools to get to the top (wonder if there's a corporate message in that). If he turns his skills to just keeping them alive and saving the tower rather than his self-centered quest to actually get there, he can still save the tower and then they can all live happily ever after.

In short, they all needed to die for that ending to work. If they don't die, Roland has finally learned something of what it is to actually love and commit self-sacrifice, the things necessary to allow him to move on to the next level of his life. As he doesn't learn these things, he can't move on. The ending is taken right out of any mythology that uses reincarnation as a means to improve oneself. That he gets the horn shows that he at least did a little better in his most recent trip than he has previously.

 

[magze]

We should use spoiler warnings for anything that might give anything away.

Spoiler

I don't think that the ending would have made as much sense if those characters weren't killed or disposed of. Part of Roland's problem is the "get to the top of the tower at whatever cost necessary mentality." And as long as he has that mentality, he'll be cursed to walk the same path over and over again.

All he has to do at any point is give up the goal of getting to the tower in favor of embracing his fellow people as more than just tools to get to the top (wonder if there's a corporate message in that). If he turns his skills to just keeping them alive and saving the tower rather than his self-centered quest to actually get there, he can still save the tower and then they can all live happily ever after
In short, they all needed to die for that ending to work. If they don't die, Roland has finally learned something of what it is to actually love and commit self-sacrifice, the things necessary to allow him to move on to the next level of his life. As he doesn't learn these things, he can't move on. The ending is taken right out of any mythology that uses reincarnation as a means to improve oneself. That he gets the horn shows that he at least did a little better in his most recent trip than he has previously.

I agree is just wasnt what I was expecting it was a stroke of genius on Kings part

 

[Rob B]

Spoiler

I don't think the deaths were being meaningless. They all died prior to the saving of the Tower or as a sacrifice for the existince of the Tower. While Roland still wanted to see what was at the top of the Tower, Jake and Eddie particularly, sacrifices were not meaningless.

Oy's death may have been the most difficult for me to read and I can't recall (maybe because it has been many years since reading the earlier volumes) Oy referring to Roland or calling him by name. The first and last time Oy spoke Olan pulled at my heartstrings.

I was half expecting the Crimson King to turn out to be Roland underneath all those robes. It would have been a somewhat fitting end that Roland assumes the guise of his enemy, and perhaps Patrick could have become Roland in some fashion.

I thought both endings fit, as well. If King had ended with Roland entering the Tower without revealing the true ending in the "Coda" I would have been satisfied, after all, it illustrated Roland achieving his quest.

However, Roland restarting his quest was ever more perfect, as he "relived" his life through the Tower, preparing him once again, to resume his quest. King always pays homage to his literary "parents," "siblings," and "grandparents" and I felt the ending resonated quite a bit and immediately brought to mind Eddison's Worm Ouroboros and Moorcock's Eternal Champion saga.

I don't think the saga could have ened any differently, or more aptly.

The last scenes in the Coda are ones I will never forget

This just may have been the best damned thing he ever wrote and all I can keep saying is WOW!

 

[saintjon]

What surprised me the most about the last few books is how cool Jake got all of a sudden. at the end of Song of Susannah I was totally pumped. Good thing I didn't wait til Christmas to read The Dark Tower.

I think someday I'll have to get a print of that one picture "He stopped in a clearing that was more like a chapel" or however it went, man what a great sequence that was!

Yeah this story got me pretty choked up at times.

What did you guys think of the Crimson King? I suppose if it weren't for roland's company it would have been another story but he didn't seem like anywhere near the kind of hardcase Flagg was in The Stand.

The Stand, having finished it the other day coincidentally, was amazing.