The Dark Tower

[Josh]

I can't think of any way to talk about any of this without spoiling something. I don't even know why I made this thread.

But yeah... how about that ending. Roland has such a horrible life.

[icarusfall]

If you haven't read them all, get out of this thread.




For a place that is constantly falling apart, it's one of the better realized worlds I've read.

When Jake died for real I was upset.

Oy is the king of all creation.

[bbobb]

Oy's death brought a tear to my eye, seriously.

[enigmajelly]

When Eddie died, since he was the first of the core group to go, I was physically shocked, I'd been reading his story for YEARS, once he died I knew that all bets were off. Overall, the ENDING ending, was satisfying, but the ending scenes were a bit lackluster, I thought the whole Crimson king fight was less that stellar.

[icarusfall]

I'm not bothering with spoiler tags, or the whole thread will just be black.

Really? I thought it was cool that he kept the western theme running all the way to the end. IE: One last big shootout. Everyone hiding behind the rocks and such. It was just like any good saloon-gunfight scene.

[Compass]

Yeah, screw spoiler tags. The second post should be warning enough.

The first four Dark Tower books were incredible. Some of the most imaginative and creative writing I've ever had the pleasure of experiencing. Wizard & Glass is in my top five of all time. Essentially a love story, and a fucking great one at that. Susan Delgado, yes. And how about that stalemate stand-off scene in the saloon where there are like six people each with a gun to the one in front? The stuff of legends I tell you.

However, after the fourth book, the series took a decidedly crappier turn. I'll quote myself from another thread now... It really did come off as him rushing through to make sure he got the last few done before he died. So much seemed like quick last-minute wrap-ups. How about the chap? Like two whole books of build-up before he's even born, then another whole book of him chasing Roland. FINALLY he catches up, forgets about Oy, rushes him, and dies in two seconds. WTF.

I did like the ending, I have to say. However, I did not appreciate his trying to make the reader feel guilty for wanting to read the ending. What was up with that? It was like he was ashamed of it, so needed to be able to say, "See! I told you not to read it! It's your fault!"

Complaints aside, the series is easily his best work, and even with the drop-off in quality in books 5-7, a spectacularly enjoyable read from beginning to end. I think I also read every DT-related novel and short story as well. The Talisman and Insomnia are probably the best of those. From a Buick 8 was also very cool (I love stories where they spend a lot of time figuring things out -- in this case it was studying the car, trying to understand what the hell it was).

[Cowutopia]

Compass is right, and I've been saying that all along. After book four, read no more.

[Josh]

Compass is right, and I've been saying that all along. After book four, read no more.

I disagree. It certainly peaks at Wizard and Glass, but stopping there would really be cheating yourself out of a lot.

[Jed]

I'm glad I slogged through all the books, but I gotta agree about the last two being HUGE dissapointments. The first book is so fucking good, has the perfect balance of sci-fi/western, very starkly written. I loved the next three and thought it definitely peaked with Wizard & Glass. But when he starts writing himself into the story and blatantly ripping off shit from Harry Potter and Star Wars, I completely lost interest. I think he seriously fucked it up.

[Will]

I haven't gotten any of the books but I'm going to check out the Dark Tower comic books done by Marvel.

Any of you Dark Tower fans getting those?