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The Dark Tower #1-7
The Dark Tower Series: Books 1-7
時間も空間も変転する異界の地〈中間世界〉。最後の拳銃使いローランドは、宿敵である〈黒衣の男〉を追いつづけていた。タルの町で死から甦った男や妖艶な女説教師らから情報を聞き出し、旅は続く。やがて、別の世界からやってきた少年ジェイクと出会い、少しずつ心を通わせてゆく。だが思いがけない事態が二人を襲う……。本邦初翻訳となる『ダークタワーＩＶ-1/2 鍵穴を吹き抜ける風』も含む、今世紀最高のダーク・ファンタジーシリーズ、堂々の完結。
【電子書籍特典】シリーズ装画を手がけた山田章博氏、鈴木康士氏、田島昭宇氏、米田仁士氏によるラフ画を収録。山田章博氏による『ダークタワーＶＩＩ 暗黒の塔』のカバーラフ「キングバージョン」が見られるのは、全巻合本版のみ！
※本電子書籍は「ダークタワー Ｉ」～「ダークタワー ＶＩＩ」のシリーズ14冊を合わせた合本版です。
【電子書籍特典】シリーズ装画を手がけた山田章博氏、鈴木康士氏、田島昭宇氏、米田仁士氏によるラフ画を収録。山田章博氏による『ダークタワーＶＩＩ 暗黒の塔』のカバーラフ「キングバージョン」が見られるのは、全巻合本版のみ！
※本電子書籍は「ダークタワー Ｉ」～「ダークタワー ＶＩＩ」のシリーズ14冊を合わせた合本版です。
3914 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 2005
260 people are currently reading
11287 people want to read
About the author
Stephen King
2,393 books888k followersStephen Edwin King was born the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his father left them when Stephen was two, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of them. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.
He met Tabitha Spruce in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University, where they both worked as students; they married in January of 1971. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.
Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many were gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.
In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching English at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 471 reviews
December 18, 2015
( Spoiler Free Review)
Well, it's been a few years since I finished reading The Dark Tower Series and I have decided to share a few thoughts. First of all, I have to say that this was a massive undertaking from Stephen King and he didn't disappoint ( well, until I got to the ending anyway...) The books are beautifully written and he has managed to create a whole new universe of places and characters whose only relation seems to be that mysterious Dark Tower. The prose flows flawlessly, the characters are extremely well defined and you get emotionally attached to each and every one of them on their journey, the pace varies from action-packed to slow to flashback and then action again. There's so much in terms of story telling that it'd be impossible to even begin to describe what happens in the books- there's time travel, part of the plot takes place in the 70's, then the 80's and the present day, all of that intertwined with the alternate universe where the Dark Tower exists. The descriptions of people and places are so vivid that to this day I can recall most of them. He even inserted himself in the books as another character in what I can only call a very bold move.
But...yes, there's a but. After 7 very long and enjoyable books, it was time to end the saga and this is where he found himself in trouble. He admitted so himself at the end of the last book- there had to be an ending and he knew he was going to disappoint many people. I was furious myself by the time I finally got the end...but he really didn't have a choice. After some years of reflection I realize now that if you read the books you have to enjoythe journey and not so much the destination, frustrating as it is since it seemed for a while that the Dark Tower had taken over his whole life, even going as far as mentioning it in other books of his which had nothing to do with it or, as I mentioned, inserting himself in the series. I see that now but I can't deny that at the time I was pretty angry :)
I guess at some point Stephen King will be finally recognized as one of the best writers of his generation because his imgination has no limits and his writing skills are some of the best around.
Would I recommend these books to you? If you're a Stephen King fan, of course, go ahead. But remember that at 7 very long books, this is a commitment and it will take very long. My advice would be for you to enjoy the ride and not obsess over the mysterious Tower. Follow the characters on their journey and share with them their love and their grief, focus on the different places he describes and enjoy the different parts of this particular universe he's created. If you do that, you'll love the books and maybe you won't be as disappointed in the ending as I was.
I took away half a star because of the ending so let's give these books a solid 4 and a half stars.
Enjoy the ride!
Well, it's been a few years since I finished reading The Dark Tower Series and I have decided to share a few thoughts. First of all, I have to say that this was a massive undertaking from Stephen King and he didn't disappoint ( well, until I got to the ending anyway...) The books are beautifully written and he has managed to create a whole new universe of places and characters whose only relation seems to be that mysterious Dark Tower. The prose flows flawlessly, the characters are extremely well defined and you get emotionally attached to each and every one of them on their journey, the pace varies from action-packed to slow to flashback and then action again. There's so much in terms of story telling that it'd be impossible to even begin to describe what happens in the books- there's time travel, part of the plot takes place in the 70's, then the 80's and the present day, all of that intertwined with the alternate universe where the Dark Tower exists. The descriptions of people and places are so vivid that to this day I can recall most of them. He even inserted himself in the books as another character in what I can only call a very bold move.
But...yes, there's a but. After 7 very long and enjoyable books, it was time to end the saga and this is where he found himself in trouble. He admitted so himself at the end of the last book- there had to be an ending and he knew he was going to disappoint many people. I was furious myself by the time I finally got the end...but he really didn't have a choice. After some years of reflection I realize now that if you read the books you have to enjoythe journey and not so much the destination, frustrating as it is since it seemed for a while that the Dark Tower had taken over his whole life, even going as far as mentioning it in other books of his which had nothing to do with it or, as I mentioned, inserting himself in the series. I see that now but I can't deny that at the time I was pretty angry :)
I guess at some point Stephen King will be finally recognized as one of the best writers of his generation because his imgination has no limits and his writing skills are some of the best around.
Would I recommend these books to you? If you're a Stephen King fan, of course, go ahead. But remember that at 7 very long books, this is a commitment and it will take very long. My advice would be for you to enjoy the ride and not obsess over the mysterious Tower. Follow the characters on their journey and share with them their love and their grief, focus on the different places he describes and enjoy the different parts of this particular universe he's created. If you do that, you'll love the books and maybe you won't be as disappointed in the ending as I was.
I took away half a star because of the ending so let's give these books a solid 4 and a half stars.
Enjoy the ride!
September 13, 2011
I want to go back and rate them individually, due to all the ravings about how awful the last three books are vs the genius of the first four (and there is certainly a difference but not too much) but for now I must say that this series is life changing as a whole. If you make it past the first book you will be hooked into the Tower story and will carry on with Roland until the end, which itself serves as another place of polarizing opinion (I fall on the side that the ending was perfect,the very end anyways, the Crimson King part not so much) among all the fans. The series changes the way you view the universe, storytelling, character and even the way you speak. I don't know what else you could want out of series that crosses all genres and is vastly different from King's body of work but it holds one thing in common, it is vastly entertaining throughout.
June 10, 2012
loved this series, can't say enough good things about it. It has taken him over 20 years to write it. I started with the very first book "the gunslinger" in the early 80's, not knowing it was going to be a series. I don't think Mr.King did either. I liked it very much, I still had the original publication, a little hardback book, up until a couple years ago when I lost everything I owned. when the second book came out years later, I was totally hooked, sat on pins and needles waiting all those years for the others, as soon as they were in the bookstores, I ran out and bought a copy. (sometimes the waiting in between books just about killed me) If you have never read the dark tower series I would highly recommend it. They are my favorite of all stephen king's work. Anyone who knows me,surely knows I have read everything he has ever published and by far, these are his greatest work. God bless you stephen king for making every long bus ride, airplane trip, layover, waiting time and down time i had to endure, an exciting,enthralling moment with your books, for over half my life.
October 29, 2014
The first book in the series is good (not great, though). Read it, and then give yourself a favour and read a plot summary for the rest on wikipedia. The novels are full of small and large plot fragments that are unrelated to the main plot, are going nowhere or just make no sense whatsoever. The rest of the plot is very predictable, full of clichés and obvious recycling of King's other novels. Overall, the whole series feels like it was written for homework at writers' class, only the deadline had passed and the whole thing was thrown together in a hurry... The style of writing itself is horrible, full of slang wording and whithout the least literary quality or merit. Seriously, I dont recommend wasting your time on reading more than just the first novel.
September 5, 2012
I have read thousands of books. Two have made me cry, the first was black beauty and i was six. The second was one of the dark tower series, im not saying which one because i dont want to give anything away, but these books get you so emotionally involved its hard not to cry at some point.
February 17, 2013
After finishing this long series, I would say it was definitely worth the time. It was original and had a different feel from most of Stephen King's work (especially the first four books). While I feel that portions could have been tightened up and some all together abandoned and reworked, I still feel that this was a great adult adventure story revolving around good and evil and the human condition. I also have to give King kudos for his willingness to really go outside of general fantasy and stretch the boundaries by writing a hybrid genre series (fantasy, science fiction, horror, romance, western, apocalyptic). In this case, the whole was greater than the sum of its parts.
Now a brief overview and ranking of the books:
The Gunslinger - A strong start for an epic tale. Solid fantasy writing in this one. Favorite character: Roland; Most Hated: The Man in Black (Walter O'Dim); I rank it 4th of all 8.
The Drawing of the Three - An unexpected continuation to the Gunslinger's story. Fantasy begins to meld with science fiction. You can see Stephen King's usual style in this novel more so than the first one. Favorite new character: Eddie; Most Hated: Tie between lobstrosities and Jack Mort; I rank it 7th of all 8.
The Waste Lands - Momentum begins to really occur. Mid-World comes alive before you. This book really showcases the pilgrims on the journey. Favorite new character: Oy; Most hated: Blaine; I rank it 3rd of all 8.
Wizard and Glass - In my opinion, the best book of the entire series. Not a lot of forward movement towards the Dark Tower, but one heck of a backstory. Roland tells the story of his past in great detail. Favorite new character: Cuthbert; Most hated: Rhea of the Coos; I rank it 1st of all 8.
Wolves of Calla - Great story exemplifying what Gunslingers are all about. Build-up to the big shoot out. Interesting new developments boil over. Favorite new character: Rosalita Munoz; Most hated: Andy the robot; I rank it 5th of all 8.
Song of Susannah - This story really begins to offer a lot of explanations. Some of the explanations were not to my liking. This was the weakest book of the series in my opinion. Favorite new character: Nigel the robot; Most hated: Mordred; I rank it 8th of all 8.
The Dark Tower - The epic ending to the entire series. This book does not disappoint with a ton of action and finally reaching the fabled destination. It wouldn't be dark though without a couple deaths. Favorite new character: Bill the robot; Most hated: Tie between Dandelo and the Crimson King; I rank it 6th of all 8.
The Wind Through the Keyhole - It was written after the series was completed and actually functions as book 4.5. A great story within a story within a story. It had a nice fairy tale quality. Not for those who just want forward momentum on the tower tale. Favorite new character: Tim Ross; Most hated: The Covenant Man; I rank it 2nd best out of 8.
Now a brief overview and ranking of the books:
The Gunslinger - A strong start for an epic tale. Solid fantasy writing in this one. Favorite character: Roland; Most Hated: The Man in Black (Walter O'Dim); I rank it 4th of all 8.
The Drawing of the Three - An unexpected continuation to the Gunslinger's story. Fantasy begins to meld with science fiction. You can see Stephen King's usual style in this novel more so than the first one. Favorite new character: Eddie; Most Hated: Tie between lobstrosities and Jack Mort; I rank it 7th of all 8.
The Waste Lands - Momentum begins to really occur. Mid-World comes alive before you. This book really showcases the pilgrims on the journey. Favorite new character: Oy; Most hated: Blaine; I rank it 3rd of all 8.
Wizard and Glass - In my opinion, the best book of the entire series. Not a lot of forward movement towards the Dark Tower, but one heck of a backstory. Roland tells the story of his past in great detail. Favorite new character: Cuthbert; Most hated: Rhea of the Coos; I rank it 1st of all 8.
Wolves of Calla - Great story exemplifying what Gunslingers are all about. Build-up to the big shoot out. Interesting new developments boil over. Favorite new character: Rosalita Munoz; Most hated: Andy the robot; I rank it 5th of all 8.
Song of Susannah - This story really begins to offer a lot of explanations. Some of the explanations were not to my liking. This was the weakest book of the series in my opinion. Favorite new character: Nigel the robot; Most hated: Mordred; I rank it 8th of all 8.
The Dark Tower - The epic ending to the entire series. This book does not disappoint with a ton of action and finally reaching the fabled destination. It wouldn't be dark though without a couple deaths. Favorite new character: Bill the robot; Most hated: Tie between Dandelo and the Crimson King; I rank it 6th of all 8.
The Wind Through the Keyhole - It was written after the series was completed and actually functions as book 4.5. A great story within a story within a story. It had a nice fairy tale quality. Not for those who just want forward momentum on the tower tale. Favorite new character: Tim Ross; Most hated: The Covenant Man; I rank it 2nd best out of 8.
February 6, 2024
I’ve just finished a reread of King’s Dark Tower series and enjoyed it a whole lot more this time around.
I think there’s a few reasons for that. First time around I read them in order when they were published, and that meant there were big, sometimes huge, gaps between books, long enough for me to have forgotten a great deal of nuance in the intervening time. This time I read them straight through, one after the other, reading solidly every day over the course of a week and immersing myself in the story. It felt like one (almost) coherent whole.
Another thing that got me through it better this time was that I wasn’t nearly so pissed off at King inserting himself so blatantly into it — first time through it had nearly been enough to kick me out of the story forever, but this time I mostly saw why he’d done it and went with the flow, although the metafictional Deus-ex-Machina parts still grate a bit.
And thirdly, the ending felt more natural this time, having read them all at once, and as King himself has said, you may not like the ending, but it feels like the right one, especially with the hope of change in the next turn of the great wheel.
First time through the emotional beats of book 7 didn’t get to me — mainly due to my anger at the metafictional stuff — but this time I shed a wee tear for every member of the Ka-Tet along the way.
I still think Susannah is hard done by and not a great characterisation, and Eddie is a bit too superficially drawn, but Jake and Oy are magical, and Roland is a true wandering, wounded, knight of days of old.
Another strange thing was that I recently saw the movie, and although I didn’t see Mathew M as Walter, I did see Idris Elba as Roland in my head while reading at a few spots, and strangely enough it worked, even despite the fact that all the illos in the Grant editions I have show him as long and tall white.
So all in all I thoroughly enjoyed reading them all again after all these years. I’ve been reading King for well over forty years now, and this to me is up there with the best stuff. Sure his influences are showing but the way he weaves them into an epic is masterful.
Watch this review read by me on YouTube
I think there’s a few reasons for that. First time around I read them in order when they were published, and that meant there were big, sometimes huge, gaps between books, long enough for me to have forgotten a great deal of nuance in the intervening time. This time I read them straight through, one after the other, reading solidly every day over the course of a week and immersing myself in the story. It felt like one (almost) coherent whole.
Another thing that got me through it better this time was that I wasn’t nearly so pissed off at King inserting himself so blatantly into it — first time through it had nearly been enough to kick me out of the story forever, but this time I mostly saw why he’d done it and went with the flow, although the metafictional Deus-ex-Machina parts still grate a bit.
And thirdly, the ending felt more natural this time, having read them all at once, and as King himself has said, you may not like the ending, but it feels like the right one, especially with the hope of change in the next turn of the great wheel.
First time through the emotional beats of book 7 didn’t get to me — mainly due to my anger at the metafictional stuff — but this time I shed a wee tear for every member of the Ka-Tet along the way.
I still think Susannah is hard done by and not a great characterisation, and Eddie is a bit too superficially drawn, but Jake and Oy are magical, and Roland is a true wandering, wounded, knight of days of old.
Another strange thing was that I recently saw the movie, and although I didn’t see Mathew M as Walter, I did see Idris Elba as Roland in my head while reading at a few spots, and strangely enough it worked, even despite the fact that all the illos in the Grant editions I have show him as long and tall white.
So all in all I thoroughly enjoyed reading them all again after all these years. I’ve been reading King for well over forty years now, and this to me is up there with the best stuff. Sure his influences are showing but the way he weaves them into an epic is masterful.
Watch this review read by me on YouTube
August 14, 2012
Some genuinely great moments are rendered a waste of space as King fails to deliver on every setup. The deaths of the crimson king, the spider-baby and the wizard are all uninteresting throwaway moments, as though King couldn't be bothered. Neither should you.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 26, 2018
I was unsure how much I liked the Gunslinger in the first Tower Book, but was told the series got better, so stayed with it. Roland of Gilead is a crusty cowboy intent on his quest to find the Tower, and the first book isn't as good as the others, but necessary. In it, Roland sacrifices a young boy named Jake in his quest, although Jake has died once before in an auto accident on the streets of New York. When Roland lets him die again, Jake's last words are, "There are other worlds than these." That's for sure, in Roland's life people can move between worlds and realms in an instant.
I'm now beginning Book 5, Wolves of the Calla, so I'm hooked. I love Stephen King, his imagination must be quite a place to be! Book 2, The Drawing of the Three, brings Eddie Dean, a soon to be ex heroin addict from 1980's New York, into Roland's world. Roland has been wounded and must move into a world that has antibiotics to help him heal. Eddie helps him and is drawn into his quest, to the ocean in the west, stalked by huge monsters called lobstrocities.
Odetta Holems is a black civil rights activist in the 1960's and her unknown other personality, Detta Walker, a foul mouthed angry woman, become one personality, Susannah Dean. Her personality disorder came from having a brick hit her head from high above her, and being shoved in front of a moving subway train by an as yet unknown assailant, also in New York. In Book 3, The Waste Lands, Jake and Roland are having the same dreams, of a Rose, and are reunited once again.
So as Roland of Gilead called a fated group, the four of them have become what is called a katet. who are thrown together by their ka. Later, an animal called a billy bumbler named Oy is Jake's pet, there for reasons the reader doesn't yet know. Roland needs to tell the others about his past, what really happened with his parents and the Wizard, and his first love, Susan Delgado, in Wizard and Glass, a heartbreaking story that takes him years to finally discuss.
The katet must move on now, onward to Wolves of the Calla! In the Song of Susannah, she finds that she made a huge sacrifice to bring Jake back into their ka-tet, and now she has yet another personality to contend with, along with the above mentioned consequences. It seems the Rose is pivotal, the good against the Dark Tower's evil, and the group must save the Rose, in NY, at all costs. They have bought the property it's on, and now, in the last book, the final battle has begun. What will Roland of Gilead find at the top of the Tower? Will the whole ka-tet live through the experience? The Black Tower's evil has kept me up until 2 or 3AM reading, so I for one must get out of it's grip!
I'm now beginning Book 5, Wolves of the Calla, so I'm hooked. I love Stephen King, his imagination must be quite a place to be! Book 2, The Drawing of the Three, brings Eddie Dean, a soon to be ex heroin addict from 1980's New York, into Roland's world. Roland has been wounded and must move into a world that has antibiotics to help him heal. Eddie helps him and is drawn into his quest, to the ocean in the west, stalked by huge monsters called lobstrocities.
Odetta Holems is a black civil rights activist in the 1960's and her unknown other personality, Detta Walker, a foul mouthed angry woman, become one personality, Susannah Dean. Her personality disorder came from having a brick hit her head from high above her, and being shoved in front of a moving subway train by an as yet unknown assailant, also in New York. In Book 3, The Waste Lands, Jake and Roland are having the same dreams, of a Rose, and are reunited once again.
So as Roland of Gilead called a fated group, the four of them have become what is called a katet. who are thrown together by their ka. Later, an animal called a billy bumbler named Oy is Jake's pet, there for reasons the reader doesn't yet know. Roland needs to tell the others about his past, what really happened with his parents and the Wizard, and his first love, Susan Delgado, in Wizard and Glass, a heartbreaking story that takes him years to finally discuss.
The katet must move on now, onward to Wolves of the Calla! In the Song of Susannah, she finds that she made a huge sacrifice to bring Jake back into their ka-tet, and now she has yet another personality to contend with, along with the above mentioned consequences. It seems the Rose is pivotal, the good against the Dark Tower's evil, and the group must save the Rose, in NY, at all costs. They have bought the property it's on, and now, in the last book, the final battle has begun. What will Roland of Gilead find at the top of the Tower? Will the whole ka-tet live through the experience? The Black Tower's evil has kept me up until 2 or 3AM reading, so I for one must get out of it's grip!
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 8, 2012
Stephen King is a consistently terrific, not to mention prolific, writer. However, his "Dark Tower" series, which he began writing at age 17, far over-reaches all of his other writings. He himself refers to it as his grand masterpiece, and I fully agree. This series is much less gory than many of his works, yet filled to the brim with thrills and nightmares, hopes and dreams, and even love. Even if you have shunned King in the past, you Must beg, borrow, or steal (well, you don't have to go That far!)to get your hands on this series. By the end of the first paragraph you will be hooked, and you won't be able to put them down until you've read the last one...and then you'll probably want to start all over again, as I did!!
Final Word: Literature at its Finest
Final Word: Literature at its Finest
September 7, 2017
what can you even say about these books? Epic, heartbreaking, uplifting. The master doing some of his best work in these. I got so attached to the characters. And cried for them as well.
September 2, 2018
Seven and a half books. Over twenty years in the making. Well… strap in, folks, it is going to be a long one. So long in fact, I’m going to have to segment my review. First, however, let’s get some things out of the way.
-Are the Dark Tower books worth reading?
-Yes.
-Are they the best thing since sliced cheese?
-No. Not by a long shot.
-Should you read these books if you don’t like Stephen King’s style of writing?
-Probably not. I’ve had a lot of people claim that the Dark Tower series are quite different than his other books, and granted, I have only read a few, but even if the story feels a bit different than his usual, the style is still very much King’s.
Great, with this out of the way, feel free to flee, or you might end up being stuck here for several pages.
*****Spoilers begin bellow. *****
Introduction
The Dark Tower books depict the journey of Roland Deschein of Gilead. Stephen King is a fan of the Lord of the Rings and wanted to create a story much like it. However, instead of placing it in a generic fantasy setting he decided to go for one straight out of a John Wayne movie.
At least that is what he claimed. As the books progressed they began to deviate from that setting, sometimes they would carry their western vibe, sometimes they would be based in 70s America, sometimes in the 80s, etc. etc.
I’ll be honest, as far as journey beginnings went, I did not much care for the Gunslinger. The book was fairly enjoyable, but didn’t do a great job of setting up the world for me. It felt bland and empty. Few things happened and in general the whole thing felt like a trailer to a story and not an actual story in itself.
The World
The wonky start of the world building in the first book didn’t quite redeem itself in my eyes as the story went on.
It encompassed a vast array of creatures and set locations. A lot of the series’ fans share the opinion that the inclusion of all the different creatures like the taheen, can-toi, vampires, demons, etc, is an incredible display of imagination.
In my humble opinion, the effect is quite the opposite. The world of the Dark Tower feels like a video game world. Yes, it’s filled with all of these magical creatures and the heroes travel through all of these versions of America, but everything feels so goddamn hollow.
Demons are introduced left and right, with little to no explanation of their skills or function, never to be seen again. As a whole we have no concrete idea of this world’s rules. (I’ll get back to this when I talk about the magic.)
I mean, in the first book I remember Jake and Roland having to fight or evade “slow mutants” and by the time we reached the “Song of Susannah”, there were slow mutants who could be reasoned with and revered Roland as some sort of king.
He deliberately stalled on his quest to put one of the mutants out of his misery, even though he didn’t even think of doing that in the Gunslinger.
Don’t even get me started on the whole low man/can-toi clown fiesta. If the can-toi are children of humans and taheen, why do they only have rat heads? I could list other questions, but the bottom line is – all of the creatures are underdeveloped.
The fact that Roland was suddenly very knowledgeable about all the different races in the seventh book worsened matters substantially. It’s like he suddenly remembered to open up his game log and share with his friends.
The strangest part is that bad world building in a book generally includes bad character building. In this case this statement could not be farther from the truth.
The Characters
Character building was for the most part amazing. Especially in the “Drawing of the Three”. Hell, if I had to rate only that book I would give it a perfect score, I wouldn’t even bother trying to find its flaws, it was that damn immersive.
All of the main cast is well fleshed out, multidimensional and they have their own unique dynamic. I’ve heard lots of people claim that they would not swap a single character out of the story, and I agree, with one exception – Jake Chambers.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate or even dislike Jake. Well, after the Gunslinger at least, I never much cared for the way that Roland instantly fell in love with him, even if it was fated.
After he returned, his interactions with Roland were extremely enjoyable. However, I don’t like the way he came back. Now, I read the kindle editions of the series, which include the thoughts of the author. In one of them King claimed that you kill a character when you don’t know what to do with him or her. I don’t agree with that. You let go of a character when his or her story is done. Granted, it is the author who decides when that time has come. In this case Stephen King fucked up. Twice.
The first time was when he decided that he needed Jake to return, which lead to a series of “anything goes” moments, but I’ll get back to that when, you guessed it!, I talk about the world’s magic.
The second time was more important. It happened when King decided to include Patrick Danville in the last book, literally two hours before the ending. (Sorry, I’m not sure how many pages that is, Kindle doesn’t deal in pages.)
Couldn’t Patrick be the child that joined Roland in “The Waste Lands”? Jake would still have been the one who reminded Roland of his humanity, and through Patrick, Roland could have found redemption for sacrificing Jake Chambers.
Instead, Patrick Danville became a glorified McGuffin. Granted, I have never read the books that include him as a character, but hey I’m reviewing the Dark Tower series, not …let me make a quick google search… “Insomnia”.
The fact that the Dark Tower encompasses characters from an array of other books written by King, and draws them in a similar cosmos is commendable, but it should be able to stand on its own.
The Villains
If I claimed that the character building in the books was amazing then why am I creating a different section for the villains? Well, while their set up is quite good, almost all of the villains are actually quite laughable.
I think that King’s background as a predominantly horror writer was his downfall in this case. He must be more comfortable while handling “weaker” characters. Allow me to elaborate.
In “It” for example the main characters are a bunch of kids, who have to fight a cosmic monstrosity with baseball bats, they are helpless, terrified, outmatched and outgunned for most of the book. Roland is so much more powerful and skilled as a fighter than them, it’s like comparing the teletubbies to a freaking terminator.
King tries his hardest to set up these threats along his path only to have them flop one after the other.
The big bad Blue Coffin hunters – oh look they are sooo hard-core. They are so much deadlier and smarter than a bunch of kids. What a pile of bollocks. Eldred Jonas didn’t even get a somewhat dignified ending. You can’t have three kids demolish forces that are ten times larger than them and expect your readers to feel scared for Roland’s life at any point of his journey.
Mordred was an even bigger joke. He had the power to mind control Walter, Roland’s arch enemy, but he decided never to use that power against Roland or Susannah. I would have understood if he tried and failed, but that never happened. Did he know that they were somehow protected because he had already read the book?
At one point he couldn’t even use his power to catch deer. Bloody deer?! You could say that his telepathy only works in spider-form and he was far too scared to use it during the journey towards the tower, but he mind controlled the flippin’ Man in Black when he was some two days old – in baby-form! You taking the piss, mate? You should have let him shit himself to death, if this was the ending he got.
On the topic of Walter, along the way he somehow managed to devolve into a plot device rather than a genuine obstacle. For god’s sake Roland claimed he had nightmares with this guy even though he barely managed to slow him down. Instead he opted to go into full Bond-villain territory and just continuously yammer the same mantra – “Oh, he will never make it to X.”, “Oh he will die in Y.”
At the end of the "Gunslinger", Walter charms Roland and decides to slip away instead of killing him. If the Red King forbid his right hand man of actually killing Roland, because he needed him alive for whatever reason then the reason was poorly specified.
At some point Roland claims that he need his guns to walk into the Dark Tower, hinting that the Red King needs the reforged Excalibur to claim the tower. Fair enough. Why didn’t Walter steal one or both of his guns while he was charmed? Hell, Roland could have hunted him down and claimed them back afterwards.
John Farson and Reah of the Cöos ended up being more frightening and damaging to Roland than the main villains, and John didn’t actually show up in any of the books.
But the biggest disappointment of them all was the Red King. He is supposed to be the Sauron of the Dark Tower. I mean he has the “red eye” and all. Except that Sauron wasn’t a fucking joke. In Lord of the Rings you could feel his presence throughout the land, a sliver of his power is enough to terrify even the most resilient beings and corrupt all powerful and immortal characters like Galadriel.
I couldn’t even begin to figure out how in the nine hells did the Red King manage to gather his incompetent servants. He is literally described as an old guy with red eyes, whose greatest weapons in the final confrontation are Harry Potter exploding snitches.
Weapons, by the way, which had already been proven to be essentially worthless against Jake Chambers, let alone Roland himself. Now, King never reveals what his other weapon in his showdown with Roland is, but I choose to believe that it was a golden-plated AK-47, because if we are going to be battling in the lands of the loonie-toons we might as well go full retard.
Even the timeframe up to the showdown makes no sense. It’s established fairly early that the Red King is imprisoned within the Dark Tower, but when we finally reach the castle of Discordia, the servant there claims that the Red King rushed to the tower when he found out that Roland was closing in.
He was basically sitting there, until one day, he stood up, slapped himself across the forehead and went “Ooooh shit! Roland’s almost here! I’m late. Well, all of you normal clowns eat some rat poison and I’ll swallow this spoon!” If this was Mordred, Stephen King would’ve probably written a paragraph where he shits out the spoon, too.
Am I supposed to feel intimidated by this grandpa? Why? Even if you tell me that he somehow became immortal after killing himself… Hahahahhahahaha…. I’m sorry I need a moment. Hhhhahahhahhahahahah. Okay, okay, right. Let’s forget the absence of logic there for a second.
In Lord of the Rings, Frodo never fights against Sauron, he is an ant in front of a god, who barely manages to keep his sanity intact while carrying the One Ring. In Lord of the Rings, Sauron is never humanized. He is not brought down to the level of the other sorcerers or fighters.
In the Dark Tower, the Red King is. You can have a human villain, and he can be deadly, dangerous, and amazing, but you can’t go the Sauron path and curve it towards crazy grandpa at the end.
The Magic
King is a talented writer, he has interesting ideas and, as proven by the series, he is quite good at improvisation. However, he is not consistent and nowhere is that more evident than with the magic of the books.
Everything functions in a “make-it-up-as-you-go” sort of way. Sometimes Jake and Callahan would be able to world hop without even knowing how they did it, sometimes you will need a random unfound-door to do it.
As a rule of thumb I generally dislike time travel stories. In most of them anything flies. I don’t like how authors use the setting to disregard their own rules. I don’t like how they generally make zero bloody sense, and I like even less how they destroy any sort of suspense and cheapen past moments.
If Jake comes back then his sacrifice means fuck all in the grand scheme of things. Worse than that King has to hastily set up some ridiculous rules.
You can’t go back in time on Key Stone Earth, because it’s apparently the original dimension or something and houses the rose. Okay… fair enough. But you also can’t travel back in time on End-World, because it houses the Dark Tower… I guess?
Okay. Now let me ask you this – How is Mid-World separated from End-World? Why did the people of the Calla know about and upheld Gilead’s laws, if the Calla was located in End-World and Gilead in Mid-World. Did Blain the Mono travel between worlds?!
All I’m saying is that if King spent more time working on the details and less time working on the “mother kisses the erect penis of her new-born baby” scenes, his world would have been much better.
Stephen King as a character
Speaking of the King-man himself. Let’s take a moment to talk about his appearance in the books. Initially I was quite unhappy with the inclusion. While I understand why he did it he could have also made the whole thing more subtle. I mean the character didn’t have to be called Stephen King, he could have warped the name. He already demonstrated that names and books were already warped in his multiverse.
As the pages went on I found the whole thing less obnoxious then I expected it to be. Unfortunately, there still was one big, big, big-ass exception – the ability of Stephen King the character to directly send messages and influence the other protagonists.
In the final book, Susannah receives a message which tips her off that their host is a vampire who is about to essentially devour them. If SK the character had that power then why didn’t he leave a message for Eddie?
Slap a shirt that says “Shoot me twice” on the warden and Eddie lives. In the book it’s already stated that Eddie would have immediately seen through Dondelo. If Eddie doesn’t die they don’t have to spend the hours on his wake and by extension Jake doesn’t die, because they would have arrived earlier back to Key Stone Earth.
“Ah, but, no, no, no!” you say. “When Eddie died SKC had not been saved yet.”
Alright then. Let’s follow that logic for a second. Let’s take a look at two ways through which SKC could have influenced Susannah.
Example A – he contacts her directly, through telepathy.
Example B – he writes the note into his Dark Tower book.
According to the source itself, the second is a more likely option. In that scenario, however, SKC hadn’t even started working on the Dark Tower and he would probably have been incapable of working on it before the journey of Roland came to an end. Unless he banged it out on his plaster-cast.
Which means that he essentially manipulated the past of End-World through the future of Key Stone Earth. Wait. Wasn’t time supposed to flow only forward in those places, i.e. you can’t manipulate/change the past?
Time travel stories, ladies and gents. Here’s a shovel for your logic, I’m sure it will enjoy its spot in the backyard.
The Ending
As the story drew ever closer to an ending I began to worry. There were simply no ways I could think of that the story could be wrapped up in a satisfying way.
I imagined Roland dying to save Jake at the steps of the Tower. I pictured Roland becoming the Red King. Hell this was a time travel story, it could even end up in a full reset, which it kinda did.
I knew for a fact that it would not have a “Lord of the Rings happy ending”, King has his street cred to uphold. Let’s face it, if Susannah’s ending was any indication, he’d probably botch it.
Here is why the ending works – The Dark Tower series aren’t just about the journey up to the tower, they also depict his life and his inhuman abilities aside he is very much human.
In a sense much like him all of us chase our own Dark Towers, our own unreachable dreams. We obsess without cause or logic. Many of us never even reach our towers. In some ways Roland is what we wish to be. He is no Aragorn or Frodo, he is no hero, he is human. A human whose will is strong enough to fulfil his dream.
If the book ended at the gates of the Dark Tower I would have accepted, I might even have liked it more.
As it stands, the ending leaves much to be desired. Why? Because we don’t actually see the entirety of Roland’s journey. We don’t even know where on his journey we met him. How many times has he reached the tower before this point?
I mean there is probably a version where Roland did this whole quest while being stark naked! If we could see a situation where the horn of Arthur Eld could have changed the story, things would have been different, but we didn’t. In the end it was like seeing a single day of “Groundhog Day”, without seeing the whole story.
Perhaps some people would be urged to do as Roland and begin reading the "Gunslinger" anew. I know not.
The Dark Tower Series peaked early and deteriorated as time went on, however, even as a person who dislikes Stephen King’s style. I have to respect the man. There was a reason why he took so long to finish Roland’s story. He was afraid and unsure on how to weave it.
In the end he did and the result was good. Not amazing, but quite good. Stephen King reached his Dark Tower.
I read these book to see if I would like a slightly different work by a highly renowned author that in all honesty is just not my cup of tea. I did not, perhaps you will.
The man in black fled across the desert, but I will no longer follow.
-Are the Dark Tower books worth reading?
-Yes.
-Are they the best thing since sliced cheese?
-No. Not by a long shot.
-Should you read these books if you don’t like Stephen King’s style of writing?
-Probably not. I’ve had a lot of people claim that the Dark Tower series are quite different than his other books, and granted, I have only read a few, but even if the story feels a bit different than his usual, the style is still very much King’s.
Great, with this out of the way, feel free to flee, or you might end up being stuck here for several pages.
*****Spoilers begin bellow. *****
Introduction
The Dark Tower books depict the journey of Roland Deschein of Gilead. Stephen King is a fan of the Lord of the Rings and wanted to create a story much like it. However, instead of placing it in a generic fantasy setting he decided to go for one straight out of a John Wayne movie.
At least that is what he claimed. As the books progressed they began to deviate from that setting, sometimes they would carry their western vibe, sometimes they would be based in 70s America, sometimes in the 80s, etc. etc.
I’ll be honest, as far as journey beginnings went, I did not much care for the Gunslinger. The book was fairly enjoyable, but didn’t do a great job of setting up the world for me. It felt bland and empty. Few things happened and in general the whole thing felt like a trailer to a story and not an actual story in itself.
The World
The wonky start of the world building in the first book didn’t quite redeem itself in my eyes as the story went on.
It encompassed a vast array of creatures and set locations. A lot of the series’ fans share the opinion that the inclusion of all the different creatures like the taheen, can-toi, vampires, demons, etc, is an incredible display of imagination.
In my humble opinion, the effect is quite the opposite. The world of the Dark Tower feels like a video game world. Yes, it’s filled with all of these magical creatures and the heroes travel through all of these versions of America, but everything feels so goddamn hollow.
Demons are introduced left and right, with little to no explanation of their skills or function, never to be seen again. As a whole we have no concrete idea of this world’s rules. (I’ll get back to this when I talk about the magic.)
I mean, in the first book I remember Jake and Roland having to fight or evade “slow mutants” and by the time we reached the “Song of Susannah”, there were slow mutants who could be reasoned with and revered Roland as some sort of king.
He deliberately stalled on his quest to put one of the mutants out of his misery, even though he didn’t even think of doing that in the Gunslinger.
Don’t even get me started on the whole low man/can-toi clown fiesta. If the can-toi are children of humans and taheen, why do they only have rat heads? I could list other questions, but the bottom line is – all of the creatures are underdeveloped.
The fact that Roland was suddenly very knowledgeable about all the different races in the seventh book worsened matters substantially. It’s like he suddenly remembered to open up his game log and share with his friends.
The strangest part is that bad world building in a book generally includes bad character building. In this case this statement could not be farther from the truth.
The Characters
Character building was for the most part amazing. Especially in the “Drawing of the Three”. Hell, if I had to rate only that book I would give it a perfect score, I wouldn’t even bother trying to find its flaws, it was that damn immersive.
All of the main cast is well fleshed out, multidimensional and they have their own unique dynamic. I’ve heard lots of people claim that they would not swap a single character out of the story, and I agree, with one exception – Jake Chambers.
Don’t get me wrong. I don’t hate or even dislike Jake. Well, after the Gunslinger at least, I never much cared for the way that Roland instantly fell in love with him, even if it was fated.
After he returned, his interactions with Roland were extremely enjoyable. However, I don’t like the way he came back. Now, I read the kindle editions of the series, which include the thoughts of the author. In one of them King claimed that you kill a character when you don’t know what to do with him or her. I don’t agree with that. You let go of a character when his or her story is done. Granted, it is the author who decides when that time has come. In this case Stephen King fucked up. Twice.
The first time was when he decided that he needed Jake to return, which lead to a series of “anything goes” moments, but I’ll get back to that when, you guessed it!, I talk about the world’s magic.
The second time was more important. It happened when King decided to include Patrick Danville in the last book, literally two hours before the ending. (Sorry, I’m not sure how many pages that is, Kindle doesn’t deal in pages.)
Couldn’t Patrick be the child that joined Roland in “The Waste Lands”? Jake would still have been the one who reminded Roland of his humanity, and through Patrick, Roland could have found redemption for sacrificing Jake Chambers.
Instead, Patrick Danville became a glorified McGuffin. Granted, I have never read the books that include him as a character, but hey I’m reviewing the Dark Tower series, not …let me make a quick google search… “Insomnia”.
The fact that the Dark Tower encompasses characters from an array of other books written by King, and draws them in a similar cosmos is commendable, but it should be able to stand on its own.
The Villains
If I claimed that the character building in the books was amazing then why am I creating a different section for the villains? Well, while their set up is quite good, almost all of the villains are actually quite laughable.
I think that King’s background as a predominantly horror writer was his downfall in this case. He must be more comfortable while handling “weaker” characters. Allow me to elaborate.
In “It” for example the main characters are a bunch of kids, who have to fight a cosmic monstrosity with baseball bats, they are helpless, terrified, outmatched and outgunned for most of the book. Roland is so much more powerful and skilled as a fighter than them, it’s like comparing the teletubbies to a freaking terminator.
King tries his hardest to set up these threats along his path only to have them flop one after the other.
The big bad Blue Coffin hunters – oh look they are sooo hard-core. They are so much deadlier and smarter than a bunch of kids. What a pile of bollocks. Eldred Jonas didn’t even get a somewhat dignified ending. You can’t have three kids demolish forces that are ten times larger than them and expect your readers to feel scared for Roland’s life at any point of his journey.
Mordred was an even bigger joke. He had the power to mind control Walter, Roland’s arch enemy, but he decided never to use that power against Roland or Susannah. I would have understood if he tried and failed, but that never happened. Did he know that they were somehow protected because he had already read the book?
At one point he couldn’t even use his power to catch deer. Bloody deer?! You could say that his telepathy only works in spider-form and he was far too scared to use it during the journey towards the tower, but he mind controlled the flippin’ Man in Black when he was some two days old – in baby-form! You taking the piss, mate? You should have let him shit himself to death, if this was the ending he got.
On the topic of Walter, along the way he somehow managed to devolve into a plot device rather than a genuine obstacle. For god’s sake Roland claimed he had nightmares with this guy even though he barely managed to slow him down. Instead he opted to go into full Bond-villain territory and just continuously yammer the same mantra – “Oh, he will never make it to X.”, “Oh he will die in Y.”
At the end of the "Gunslinger", Walter charms Roland and decides to slip away instead of killing him. If the Red King forbid his right hand man of actually killing Roland, because he needed him alive for whatever reason then the reason was poorly specified.
At some point Roland claims that he need his guns to walk into the Dark Tower, hinting that the Red King needs the reforged Excalibur to claim the tower. Fair enough. Why didn’t Walter steal one or both of his guns while he was charmed? Hell, Roland could have hunted him down and claimed them back afterwards.
John Farson and Reah of the Cöos ended up being more frightening and damaging to Roland than the main villains, and John didn’t actually show up in any of the books.
But the biggest disappointment of them all was the Red King. He is supposed to be the Sauron of the Dark Tower. I mean he has the “red eye” and all. Except that Sauron wasn’t a fucking joke. In Lord of the Rings you could feel his presence throughout the land, a sliver of his power is enough to terrify even the most resilient beings and corrupt all powerful and immortal characters like Galadriel.
I couldn’t even begin to figure out how in the nine hells did the Red King manage to gather his incompetent servants. He is literally described as an old guy with red eyes, whose greatest weapons in the final confrontation are Harry Potter exploding snitches.
Weapons, by the way, which had already been proven to be essentially worthless against Jake Chambers, let alone Roland himself. Now, King never reveals what his other weapon in his showdown with Roland is, but I choose to believe that it was a golden-plated AK-47, because if we are going to be battling in the lands of the loonie-toons we might as well go full retard.
Even the timeframe up to the showdown makes no sense. It’s established fairly early that the Red King is imprisoned within the Dark Tower, but when we finally reach the castle of Discordia, the servant there claims that the Red King rushed to the tower when he found out that Roland was closing in.
He was basically sitting there, until one day, he stood up, slapped himself across the forehead and went “Ooooh shit! Roland’s almost here! I’m late. Well, all of you normal clowns eat some rat poison and I’ll swallow this spoon!” If this was Mordred, Stephen King would’ve probably written a paragraph where he shits out the spoon, too.
Am I supposed to feel intimidated by this grandpa? Why? Even if you tell me that he somehow became immortal after killing himself… Hahahahhahahaha…. I’m sorry I need a moment. Hhhhahahhahhahahahah. Okay, okay, right. Let’s forget the absence of logic there for a second.
In Lord of the Rings, Frodo never fights against Sauron, he is an ant in front of a god, who barely manages to keep his sanity intact while carrying the One Ring. In Lord of the Rings, Sauron is never humanized. He is not brought down to the level of the other sorcerers or fighters.
In the Dark Tower, the Red King is. You can have a human villain, and he can be deadly, dangerous, and amazing, but you can’t go the Sauron path and curve it towards crazy grandpa at the end.
The Magic
King is a talented writer, he has interesting ideas and, as proven by the series, he is quite good at improvisation. However, he is not consistent and nowhere is that more evident than with the magic of the books.
Everything functions in a “make-it-up-as-you-go” sort of way. Sometimes Jake and Callahan would be able to world hop without even knowing how they did it, sometimes you will need a random unfound-door to do it.
As a rule of thumb I generally dislike time travel stories. In most of them anything flies. I don’t like how authors use the setting to disregard their own rules. I don’t like how they generally make zero bloody sense, and I like even less how they destroy any sort of suspense and cheapen past moments.
If Jake comes back then his sacrifice means fuck all in the grand scheme of things. Worse than that King has to hastily set up some ridiculous rules.
You can’t go back in time on Key Stone Earth, because it’s apparently the original dimension or something and houses the rose. Okay… fair enough. But you also can’t travel back in time on End-World, because it houses the Dark Tower… I guess?
Okay. Now let me ask you this – How is Mid-World separated from End-World? Why did the people of the Calla know about and upheld Gilead’s laws, if the Calla was located in End-World and Gilead in Mid-World. Did Blain the Mono travel between worlds?!
All I’m saying is that if King spent more time working on the details and less time working on the “mother kisses the erect penis of her new-born baby” scenes, his world would have been much better.
Stephen King as a character
Speaking of the King-man himself. Let’s take a moment to talk about his appearance in the books. Initially I was quite unhappy with the inclusion. While I understand why he did it he could have also made the whole thing more subtle. I mean the character didn’t have to be called Stephen King, he could have warped the name. He already demonstrated that names and books were already warped in his multiverse.
As the pages went on I found the whole thing less obnoxious then I expected it to be. Unfortunately, there still was one big, big, big-ass exception – the ability of Stephen King the character to directly send messages and influence the other protagonists.
In the final book, Susannah receives a message which tips her off that their host is a vampire who is about to essentially devour them. If SK the character had that power then why didn’t he leave a message for Eddie?
Slap a shirt that says “Shoot me twice” on the warden and Eddie lives. In the book it’s already stated that Eddie would have immediately seen through Dondelo. If Eddie doesn’t die they don’t have to spend the hours on his wake and by extension Jake doesn’t die, because they would have arrived earlier back to Key Stone Earth.
“Ah, but, no, no, no!” you say. “When Eddie died SKC had not been saved yet.”
Alright then. Let’s follow that logic for a second. Let’s take a look at two ways through which SKC could have influenced Susannah.
Example A – he contacts her directly, through telepathy.
Example B – he writes the note into his Dark Tower book.
According to the source itself, the second is a more likely option. In that scenario, however, SKC hadn’t even started working on the Dark Tower and he would probably have been incapable of working on it before the journey of Roland came to an end. Unless he banged it out on his plaster-cast.
Which means that he essentially manipulated the past of End-World through the future of Key Stone Earth. Wait. Wasn’t time supposed to flow only forward in those places, i.e. you can’t manipulate/change the past?
Time travel stories, ladies and gents. Here’s a shovel for your logic, I’m sure it will enjoy its spot in the backyard.
The Ending
As the story drew ever closer to an ending I began to worry. There were simply no ways I could think of that the story could be wrapped up in a satisfying way.
I imagined Roland dying to save Jake at the steps of the Tower. I pictured Roland becoming the Red King. Hell this was a time travel story, it could even end up in a full reset, which it kinda did.
I knew for a fact that it would not have a “Lord of the Rings happy ending”, King has his street cred to uphold. Let’s face it, if Susannah’s ending was any indication, he’d probably botch it.
Here is why the ending works – The Dark Tower series aren’t just about the journey up to the tower, they also depict his life and his inhuman abilities aside he is very much human.
In a sense much like him all of us chase our own Dark Towers, our own unreachable dreams. We obsess without cause or logic. Many of us never even reach our towers. In some ways Roland is what we wish to be. He is no Aragorn or Frodo, he is no hero, he is human. A human whose will is strong enough to fulfil his dream.
If the book ended at the gates of the Dark Tower I would have accepted, I might even have liked it more.
As it stands, the ending leaves much to be desired. Why? Because we don’t actually see the entirety of Roland’s journey. We don’t even know where on his journey we met him. How many times has he reached the tower before this point?
I mean there is probably a version where Roland did this whole quest while being stark naked! If we could see a situation where the horn of Arthur Eld could have changed the story, things would have been different, but we didn’t. In the end it was like seeing a single day of “Groundhog Day”, without seeing the whole story.
Perhaps some people would be urged to do as Roland and begin reading the "Gunslinger" anew. I know not.
The Dark Tower Series peaked early and deteriorated as time went on, however, even as a person who dislikes Stephen King’s style. I have to respect the man. There was a reason why he took so long to finish Roland’s story. He was afraid and unsure on how to weave it.
In the end he did and the result was good. Not amazing, but quite good. Stephen King reached his Dark Tower.
I read these book to see if I would like a slightly different work by a highly renowned author that in all honesty is just not my cup of tea. I did not, perhaps you will.
The man in black fled across the desert, but I will no longer follow.
September 1, 2017
I consider myself one of Stephen King's "Constant Readers" but had never tackled this series. I read King to reacquaint myself with the genre I know and love: horror. I am not, in general, a fan of fantasy novels, and I have never read LOTR. When the Dark Tower movie was announced, I knew I had to delve into this saga before watching the movie, despite my reservations. As a review of the series, I'll jot a few notes:
* I treat this collection like you would the broad concept of art: if it makes you think, then it is art, regardless of whether or not it's a formal painting in a museum. This story is something that makes you think. The ending of the book is something that will stick with you as you turn in over and over in your head falling asleep at night. That is the definition of a great piece of literature, a work of art. Whether you like the ending is less important than whether it made you question the world around you.
* I'm almost glad I read the reviews of Book 6 mid-way through that book. Most people panned it as the worst in the series mostly because of the plot device used (the introduction of a certain character, which I'll leave unspoiled). Yes, most of this book is a slog, but that plot device was brilliant. Again, whether or not you like the insertion of a character, the breaking of the fourth wall makes you think. I was so pleasantly surprised by this book because the reviews had lowered my expectations. This was not a careless choice made by an ego-driven author; this was an ingenious way to get true bibliophiles to question the meaning of ka (destiny).
* This is a world I want to live in. I found myself using phrases from the book in my everyday speech (ok when I'm at home talking to myself). I accidentally tripped on my cat and said, "Cry your pardon." I call my cat "Sai Stout" instead of his usual "Mister Stout." I love the swear "gods d--- it." It's a relaxed and flowing manner of speech (mostly fleshed out in Book 5) and I feel immersed in that world because of the language.
* Reading this series taught me a lot. I realized time and time again that I seemed to get impatient with side plots and detours and the meeting of inconsequential characters. After reading the book (and King's note in the end, which pointed out my folly in seeking the destination instead of enjoying the journey), I realized that indeed, I was too hastily craving the final chapter. You could say that the first ending you come to in the series is somewhat anti-climactic for an 8-book saga, but that wasn't the point of the book. The second ending (the one that really makes you think) shows how each twist and turn of the previous books was needed to make this quest as epic as it is. I think my desire to rush to the ending caused me to not enjoy Book 4 as much as I should have because it was one of those detours from the main journey. Patience is a virtue I need to strive toward. I wanted to downgrade my rating of the series because of the length, but I think my opinion was just skewed. I shouldn't look at side-tracking as a negative thing when overall the story and the world of these characters was further fleshed out because of it.
* I had doubts throughout this entire series if reading it would be "worth it." I questioned what King was doing with this giant pile of words and what I was doing with weeks of my life reading them. It was. I sound like a broken record, and for this I cry your pardon, but this series makes you think. The perspective given in this book of how characters, authors, and the universe are all connected was worth obtaining. Thinking about how an author could have written this colossal series and woven all these characters together into this universe leaves me with added respect for King.
* I treat this collection like you would the broad concept of art: if it makes you think, then it is art, regardless of whether or not it's a formal painting in a museum. This story is something that makes you think. The ending of the book is something that will stick with you as you turn in over and over in your head falling asleep at night. That is the definition of a great piece of literature, a work of art. Whether you like the ending is less important than whether it made you question the world around you.
* I'm almost glad I read the reviews of Book 6 mid-way through that book. Most people panned it as the worst in the series mostly because of the plot device used (the introduction of a certain character, which I'll leave unspoiled). Yes, most of this book is a slog, but that plot device was brilliant. Again, whether or not you like the insertion of a character, the breaking of the fourth wall makes you think. I was so pleasantly surprised by this book because the reviews had lowered my expectations. This was not a careless choice made by an ego-driven author; this was an ingenious way to get true bibliophiles to question the meaning of ka (destiny).
* This is a world I want to live in. I found myself using phrases from the book in my everyday speech (ok when I'm at home talking to myself). I accidentally tripped on my cat and said, "Cry your pardon." I call my cat "Sai Stout" instead of his usual "Mister Stout." I love the swear "gods d--- it." It's a relaxed and flowing manner of speech (mostly fleshed out in Book 5) and I feel immersed in that world because of the language.
* Reading this series taught me a lot. I realized time and time again that I seemed to get impatient with side plots and detours and the meeting of inconsequential characters. After reading the book (and King's note in the end, which pointed out my folly in seeking the destination instead of enjoying the journey), I realized that indeed, I was too hastily craving the final chapter. You could say that the first ending you come to in the series is somewhat anti-climactic for an 8-book saga, but that wasn't the point of the book. The second ending (the one that really makes you think) shows how each twist and turn of the previous books was needed to make this quest as epic as it is. I think my desire to rush to the ending caused me to not enjoy Book 4 as much as I should have because it was one of those detours from the main journey. Patience is a virtue I need to strive toward. I wanted to downgrade my rating of the series because of the length, but I think my opinion was just skewed. I shouldn't look at side-tracking as a negative thing when overall the story and the world of these characters was further fleshed out because of it.
* I had doubts throughout this entire series if reading it would be "worth it." I questioned what King was doing with this giant pile of words and what I was doing with weeks of my life reading them. It was. I sound like a broken record, and for this I cry your pardon, but this series makes you think. The perspective given in this book of how characters, authors, and the universe are all connected was worth obtaining. Thinking about how an author could have written this colossal series and woven all these characters together into this universe leaves me with added respect for King.
April 21, 2012
An epic in the full sense of the word. Amazing, if only for spectrum. King manages to combine high fantasy, western, science fiction, romance, horror, and numerous other genres into an intricately created, well, not world, but universe of universes that forms what can truly be called his magnum opus. Admittedly, the length of the series is daunting, and can prove to be a problem for the reader as he or she forgets previous developments along the way. But my advice is the same as King's - enjoy the journey. And the ending is - well, genius in itself.
The only real bone that I have to chew is that there are some loose ends, random stories and details really, that aren't tied up entirely at the end. This doesn't degrade the plot in any way whatsoever, but it leaves the reader with a sense of unfulfillment, which actually is rather fitting in respect to the... well, you'll see.
The style is, of course, King's, meaning it's equal parts scatological, gritty, and lofty.
Condensing such a large work - in the physical as well literary sense - into a short review is inadvisable, if not impossible. Read the series, with all its ineffable glory, for yourself.
The only real bone that I have to chew is that there are some loose ends, random stories and details really, that aren't tied up entirely at the end. This doesn't degrade the plot in any way whatsoever, but it leaves the reader with a sense of unfulfillment, which actually is rather fitting in respect to the... well, you'll see.
The style is, of course, King's, meaning it's equal parts scatological, gritty, and lofty.
Condensing such a large work - in the physical as well literary sense - into a short review is inadvisable, if not impossible. Read the series, with all its ineffable glory, for yourself.
March 9, 2014
If you love Stephen King and you haven't read this series...then you don't really love Stephen King. The Dark Tower Series is an epic adventure through different worlds and times, with all of the subtle detail that you expect from a King book. You might need to take notes if you want to keep the plot straight, but that's the beauty of it. The complexity here is mind-blowing, yet the way it all neatly fits into place is pure mastery.
Roland is an understated protagonist, in a menacing, I'll blow your head off if I feel like it, sort of way. His fellowship with Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy is better than OZ and more believable then the Ring. Without them Roland would not have been able to make this journey. Jake, Eddie, and Oy broke my heart, but I did not cry for Susannah.
The end of this series will blow your mind and have your opening up to the first page of the first book again. I was left wondering why that horn was so damn important.
Read this series.
Roland is an understated protagonist, in a menacing, I'll blow your head off if I feel like it, sort of way. His fellowship with Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy is better than OZ and more believable then the Ring. Without them Roland would not have been able to make this journey. Jake, Eddie, and Oy broke my heart, but I did not cry for Susannah.
The end of this series will blow your mind and have your opening up to the first page of the first book again. I was left wondering why that horn was so damn important.
Read this series.
February 22, 2017
I am writing independent reviews for each book ~ Some books in this series I loved more than others. Notwithstanding this, I would have to say The Dark Tower series is my favorite of all of Kings work.
February 10, 2024
If you like Stephen King and have a lot of time to read this might be for you.
November 12, 2012
I love this series of books. I have suggested it to many people and been specific that altough they are very dark in some places, they are not the typical 'horror' that Stephen King is known for.
I was given the first book "The Gunslinger" as a birthday gift almost twenty years ago. I started it and put it down only to pick it up again five years later. The second time around, I flew through it and immediately went out to buy books two and three. At the time, those were the only ones to have been written and there was talk that Stephen was never going to be able to finish the series. As someone who hates things that are unfinished, this devasted me as I was completely hooked into these characters and their adventures and the idea that I would never know their journeys end was upsetting.
I waited patiently with other fans of the series and as each new story came out I read them with both anxious anticipation and at the same time fought to read them as slowly as possible, knowing full well that it might be the last time I got to spend time with these characters that had grown on me so.
I have read some of the other reviews and complaints from readers and although I understand them, I do not agree with them. I think this is a brilliant series from beginning to end. I have struggled to find the first editions to the entire series because I treasure it so much in my library. The action, suspense, characters, storyline, they get into your head until you feel you are a part of the Ka-tet along with Roland, Eddie, Susannah Jake and even Oy.
I highly reccomend this series, just keep in mind, I will never look at lobsters the same way again.
I was given the first book "The Gunslinger" as a birthday gift almost twenty years ago. I started it and put it down only to pick it up again five years later. The second time around, I flew through it and immediately went out to buy books two and three. At the time, those were the only ones to have been written and there was talk that Stephen was never going to be able to finish the series. As someone who hates things that are unfinished, this devasted me as I was completely hooked into these characters and their adventures and the idea that I would never know their journeys end was upsetting.
I waited patiently with other fans of the series and as each new story came out I read them with both anxious anticipation and at the same time fought to read them as slowly as possible, knowing full well that it might be the last time I got to spend time with these characters that had grown on me so.
I have read some of the other reviews and complaints from readers and although I understand them, I do not agree with them. I think this is a brilliant series from beginning to end. I have struggled to find the first editions to the entire series because I treasure it so much in my library. The action, suspense, characters, storyline, they get into your head until you feel you are a part of the Ka-tet along with Roland, Eddie, Susannah Jake and even Oy.
I highly reccomend this series, just keep in mind, I will never look at lobsters the same way again.
April 11, 2021
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
The Dark Tower series, roughly 5000 pages of dark fantasy, science fiction, horror and western.
Having read a couple (and a few more) books by the wordslinger King, such as:
- IT (you already wanna have read IT before DT, highly recommend it/IT)
- 'Salem's Lot (definitely should have read this one, at latest right before "Wolves of the Calla", which basically contains the whole 'Salem's Lot plot combined in a few pages, huge spoilers there)
And my all-time favorite - The Stand (when it comes to just really nice references to this one, for example in "Wizzard and Glass")
I must say..
EPIC!
Ain't you keen?
All things serve the fucking Beam!
Looking forward finding more references in other books by King.
You must read the Dark Tower before you enter the clearing at the end of the path, I beg.
Ya won't regret it, set my watch and warrant on it.
Long days and pleasant nights folks✌️
& Thankee-sai King!
The Dark Tower series, roughly 5000 pages of dark fantasy, science fiction, horror and western.
Having read a couple (and a few more) books by the wordslinger King, such as:
- IT (you already wanna have read IT before DT, highly recommend it/IT)
- 'Salem's Lot (definitely should have read this one, at latest right before "Wolves of the Calla", which basically contains the whole 'Salem's Lot plot combined in a few pages, huge spoilers there)
And my all-time favorite - The Stand (when it comes to just really nice references to this one, for example in "Wizzard and Glass")
I must say..
EPIC!
Ain't you keen?
All things serve the fucking Beam!
Looking forward finding more references in other books by King.
You must read the Dark Tower before you enter the clearing at the end of the path, I beg.
Ya won't regret it, set my watch and warrant on it.
Long days and pleasant nights folks✌️
& Thankee-sai King!
April 9, 2018
Book 1: The Gunslinger (★★★★☆)
Book 2: The Drawing of the Three (★★★★☆)
Book 3: The Waste Lands (★★★★☆)
Book 4: Wizard and Glass (★★★☆☆)
Book 5: Wolves of the Calla (★★★★☆)
Book 6: Song of Susannah (★★★★☆)
Book 7: The Dark Tower (★★★☆☆)
Book 2: The Drawing of the Three (★★★★☆)
Book 3: The Waste Lands (★★★★☆)
Book 4: Wizard and Glass (★★★☆☆)
Book 5: Wolves of the Calla (★★★★☆)
Book 6: Song of Susannah (★★★★☆)
Book 7: The Dark Tower (★★★☆☆)
January 14, 2021
Probably the best creation of Stephen King and one of the best books I've read. Epic saga, a science fiction, a fairy tale and of course a horror story. Like King himself mentioned in his afterword, this story is supposed to connect and unite many others, involving the same characters, parts of the same universe (or multiverse)
Если вам доведется слушать эту книгу на русском языке, ищите озвучку Романа Волкова - совершенно другой уровень, после этого тяжело слушать аудиокниги в другом исполнении.
Если вам доведется слушать эту книгу на русском языке, ищите озвучку Романа Волкова - совершенно другой уровень, после этого тяжело слушать аудиокниги в другом исполнении.
June 19, 2016
Another masterfully crafted plot from Stephen King. Through his meticulous shaping of their personalities, I feel as though I truly know each of these characters. The magic of this series is how real it seems to be. Perhaps I will one day stumble upon a half-invisible door myself, which leads to a forgotten world.
Friendship, romance, honor, adventure, mystery, fantasy, science fiction. You want it, the Dark Tower's got it.
Friendship, romance, honor, adventure, mystery, fantasy, science fiction. You want it, the Dark Tower's got it.
July 9, 2017
After reading the final line, I felt redeemed in spending as much time reading the series in its entirety. After letting the ending sit with me for a bit, my first thought was I need to go back immediately and re-read the first book.
Well played Mr. King, my new favourite books!
Well played Mr. King, my new favourite books!
Read
April 26, 2017Reading it again as I flee across the desert......
May 16, 2023
One of the best series I’ve ever read.
I was so attached to these characters. I will definitely be reading it again.
I was so attached to these characters. I will definitely be reading it again.
January 7, 2021
A wonderful, amazing series of books
January 31, 2025
Ranking of the books:
1. Wizard and Glass- 5 stars
2. Drawing of the three- 5 stars
3. Song of Susana- 5 stars
4. The dark tower- 4.5 stars
5. Wolves of the Calla- 4 stars
6. The wastelands- 4 stars
7. The Gunslinger- 2 stars
8. Wind through the keyhole- 2 Stars
1. Wizard and Glass- 5 stars
2. Drawing of the three- 5 stars
3. Song of Susana- 5 stars
4. The dark tower- 4.5 stars
5. Wolves of the Calla- 4 stars
6. The wastelands- 4 stars
7. The Gunslinger- 2 stars
8. Wind through the keyhole- 2 Stars
June 25, 2025
My favorite book series ever. Long days and pleasant nights to you, constant reader 🌹
September 26, 2018
HUGE SPOILERS FOR BOOKS
I’m conflicted about The Dark Tower series as a whole. Well, maybe not as a whole, more like I’m conflicted about The Dark Tower books separately.
As a whole, I wish I hadn’t read them, and I would not recommend reading them. I finished the series, but I wish I’d never started. Separately, though, I’ve really enjoyed some of them.
The Gunslinger, I hated. I read it twice over the years and didn't like it either time.
The Drawing of the Three was wonderful.
The Waist Lands had interesting parts. But over all was pretty meh.
Wizard and Glass would have been one of my favorite King books if it hadn’t dragged unresolved Blaine the Pain into the beginning, and visited the Wizard of Oz at the end, but for some terrible reason it did.
Wolves of the Calla was good, but completely spoiled Salem’s Lot. I would have been so pissed had I not have read that before reading Wolves. And having robotic wolves in Dr.Doom robes, waving literal lightsabers, and throwing explosive Harry Potter snitches is strangely disconcerting. And Wolves felt kind of like a filler novel. Very little tower business, but a good enough story on it own. However, it introduced Stephen King as a character in this world, and that’s my main problem with Song of Susannah.
I think it was in The Da Vinci Code that someone said the reason the Mona Lisa is so highly regarded is because Da Vinci told everyone it was. I feel the same way about The Dark Tower and Stephen King.
I think Stephen King really likes The Dark Tower. In Song of Susannah, when Roland of Gilead shows up at King’s vacation house and talks to him, Roland hypnotizes King and tells him that all his other books will come from this story, I hate that, and I disagree with it.
I hated that King existed in this universe. I hated that they thought of him as a god. I hated that Roland met King. I hated that he had Roland call King a “word slinger.” I hated that they hypnotized King but couldn’t have him stop drinking, somehow blaming Roland (a fictional character) for King’s real drinking problems. And mostly, I hated that “all his other stories are somehow about this story.” I just hated it and I hope I can read other King books without thinking about The Dark Tower.
The last book, was not good. The deaths should have shook me to my core, but they didn't. And Susannah just wonders out of the world? And artist boy goes to the tower? And then it just starts over? Terrible.
I’m conflicted about The Dark Tower series as a whole. Well, maybe not as a whole, more like I’m conflicted about The Dark Tower books separately.
As a whole, I wish I hadn’t read them, and I would not recommend reading them. I finished the series, but I wish I’d never started. Separately, though, I’ve really enjoyed some of them.
The Gunslinger, I hated. I read it twice over the years and didn't like it either time.
The Drawing of the Three was wonderful.
The Waist Lands had interesting parts. But over all was pretty meh.
Wizard and Glass would have been one of my favorite King books if it hadn’t dragged unresolved Blaine the Pain into the beginning, and visited the Wizard of Oz at the end, but for some terrible reason it did.
Wolves of the Calla was good, but completely spoiled Salem’s Lot. I would have been so pissed had I not have read that before reading Wolves. And having robotic wolves in Dr.Doom robes, waving literal lightsabers, and throwing explosive Harry Potter snitches is strangely disconcerting. And Wolves felt kind of like a filler novel. Very little tower business, but a good enough story on it own. However, it introduced Stephen King as a character in this world, and that’s my main problem with Song of Susannah.
I think it was in The Da Vinci Code that someone said the reason the Mona Lisa is so highly regarded is because Da Vinci told everyone it was. I feel the same way about The Dark Tower and Stephen King.
I think Stephen King really likes The Dark Tower. In Song of Susannah, when Roland of Gilead shows up at King’s vacation house and talks to him, Roland hypnotizes King and tells him that all his other books will come from this story, I hate that, and I disagree with it.
I hated that King existed in this universe. I hated that they thought of him as a god. I hated that Roland met King. I hated that he had Roland call King a “word slinger.” I hated that they hypnotized King but couldn’t have him stop drinking, somehow blaming Roland (a fictional character) for King’s real drinking problems. And mostly, I hated that “all his other stories are somehow about this story.” I just hated it and I hope I can read other King books without thinking about The Dark Tower.
The last book, was not good. The deaths should have shook me to my core, but they didn't. And Susannah just wonders out of the world? And artist boy goes to the tower? And then it just starts over? Terrible.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
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