Has anyone else read this yet? While I thought it was better than Wolves of the Calla (nothing could be worse, do ya fine) I have to admit that I was once again severely disappointed. I cannot believe the gall of King. The way he wrote himself into the story as a sort of godlike figure makes me want to puke. King has managed to turn what started out as a fantastic tale with one of the most enjoyable settings ever into a steaming pile of egotistical tripe. I really liked this series better when it was driven by the setting (books 1 & 3 especially) rather than by plot or character or King's small penis. For me, the only truly enjoyable parts of book 6 were the brief glimpses of the ruined Castle Discordia where Susannah conversed with Mia in her mind. Those segments featured some nice descriptive writing. But aside from that, this book was a definite disappointment. I'll reserve final judgement until after book 7, but I get the feeling that this series should have ended with Wizard and Glass. So far, I'd rate them all like this: 1. The Wastelands 2. The Gunslinger 3. The Drawing of the Three 4. Wizard and Glass 5. Song of Susannah 6. Wolves of the Calla (utter garbage..)
It's OUT? Crap I gotta run to Barnes & Noble's now. If it's what it sounds like (all Susannah all the time) I'm not going to like it. To me she's the least interesting or likeable character, and yet she seems to be the end-all be-all of the books. If there's a problem, chances are a) Susannah's more often than not the cause of it and b) She's going to solve it, along with everything else. I'm hating I know it, but to me the story should be about Roland with everyone else relating to him, not Roland being relegated to ancillary character in favor of his students.
I've read a bunch about this series and how good/bad it is. What is this series about? What kind of person would like it?
It's about a gunslinger (sort of a cross between a Clint Eastwood western gunfighter and a chivalric knight) named Roland and his quest to find the Dark Tower, which stands at the nexus of time and space. Along the way he meets up with several characters who join him on his quest. The world he travels through is a melting pot of medieval times, the old west, a Tolkien-esque fantasy world, and an apocalyptic wasteland. The series turns into crap starting with volume 5 when King starts making everyone talk in an incredibly annoying dialect and even introduces himself as a character in the story, but the first four books are sheer magic. I would recommend it to anyone who likes fantasy.
