Dark Tower fans

[El Brakiachi]

I was wondering if any one else here has read Stephen Kings dark tower series?

[Eric Lofgren]

I've read everything up to and including Wizards & Glass. I really need to get my hands on the last three now.

It's worth noting as well that The Dark Tower series is going to be serialized in comic book form written by no less then King himself. I haven't looked into it too deeply yet so I'm not certain if the story in the books will be serialized or if new material is being created for the comics. I do know that I've seen some pretty cool comic preview pages floating around out there on the net, though.

[glikster]

I've read everything up to and including Wizards & Glass. I really need to get my hands on the last three now.
Ditto...

I lost the drive to read it when my friend (a HUGE Stephen King fan) read the rest and was SUPER disappointed with the end of the last book. I heard he just dropped all the loose plot threads.

[OBX]

i just finished them, like last week. When i finished i wasnt sure whether i liked the ending or not. The ending was different. basically u get to the end, and he says he doesnt want to really write an ending to the series. but he has to, and he does. Im not even sure stephen king liked the ending either. but its the only way i think he coulda ended it.

i really liked the books, the characters and of the ideas in it, but i feel like he didnt do the whole universe he created enuf justice. I mean u dont even reaaaly know the antagonist till the last 3 books.

wizard and glass was the hardest one for me to read, juts too long and drawn out, but it had some good material. my favorite by far was the second book. Then probably wolves of the calla. I really like how he writes too.

personally im a huge western geek, and the character roland is just the coolest evar! the ultimate western hero... or anti-hero. i dont really know.

all in all i was ok with the ending. but if u do get to the last book, i warn ye of the car crash(no pun) that is the ending. twas a good palavar.

[El Brakiachi]

i myself and hlaf way through the "Wolves of the Calla." and am eager to see what happens.

For those of you who finished. PLEASE, don't spoil the ending for me and the others who haven't finished it.

[cotron]

I read all of em... I think wizard is the best one. The last couple just seemed...feh. Wolves of the Calla wasn't bad, in fact it was the best of the new ones...but it seemed like a rush to get the last 2 out. King is very involved with himself and puffing his ego in the last two, and it shows. I won't ruin it for anyone, but if they've read it, they know what I'm talking about.

[corky13]

*knows what cotron is talking about* :(
Read them all...i really loved the first 3...they where amazing..i even loved "The Gunslinger" where anyone else said that it cant compete with the other books...in fact i think "The Gunslinger" and "the Wastelands" are the best two...they really show us this destroied , battleruined world of Roland.

The Wolfes of the Calla was also quite nice :)

Susanna was ok...very confusing on some Parts

The Twoer SUCKED !!! I was very unhappy after the read...not because of the ending which was kind of apropriate but because of the lousy istuff before the actual ending...it all reads like king was in a total rush , trxing to hit the release-date -,-....

[El Brakiachi]

reading the wolves of the calla was a step down from the others I read.:[
I liked the fact that in the wastelands king depicted a torn world, once a world much like ours in utter ruin. Though in wolves of the calla he depicts homey little villages where things are kinda honky dory, besides the wolves that is. I love reading these books, but I wish would've stuck with the original platform.

[corky13]

hmmm...he still made hints to the ruined world of the elder. But youre right...it was a bit too nice <_<. (And "Seven Samurais" almost started dripping from the pages...) ...tho` its better than the final book ;)

[cotron]

(And "Seven Samurais" almost started dripping from the pages...) ...tho` its better than the final book ;)

Totally, it felt like Seven Samurai and the Magnificent Seven were basically being remade with Dark Tower characters. Also, the reference to Harry Potter (the sneetches) was pretty absurd, I felt. Stuff like that in the latter 3 books broke the suspension of disbelief that this world could exist on its own. I didn't mind the wizard of oz references in Wizard and Glass, I guess because that story is so woven into american folklore now... but Harry Potter? come on... that feels too new and overpublicized to fit a world like that. It's like Paris Hilton suddenly became the damsel in distress or some lame shit on that level.

[corky13]

Youre right...though i have to admit that these , often a bit ridicolous , references from the real world (Dr. Doom Robots...wtf ?) assist to create the world of the tower....Every univers including the one(s) of the current reader are part of the Tower wich works as a kind of "spine" that holds everything together.
BUT as said above...some of the references were pretty absurd...

[El Brakiachi]

I love the fact that King creates a world for other characters from his books and brings them into the tower series. Like the fact he used Father Callahan from salems lot. Loved it.

[CaptainSwank]

I really liked the ending. I just finished the Dark Tower a couple of hours ago actually. But, honestly, what did you expect from Sai King? If you've read any of his books before you know that he isn't big on sickly sweet happy endings. And to me, the ending explained a LOT that had confused me through out the series. I liked the Harry Potter references too. Maybe that's because I'm a rabid Potter fan though. SK doesn't just bring in other characters from his other books either. The Dark Tower contains all of his other books, pretty much everything he's ever written is connected to the tower series in one way or another. I love all of that complexity and unity. :D

[0kelvin]

I loved the entire Dark Tower series, even the end. My favourite was the Wastelands, but every book has it's share of great moments.

Anyone read King's newest book Cell? I just finished it and thought it was great. It was like The Stand meets Dawn of the Dead. Nobody writes the apocalypse like Stephen King.



0kelvin

[Stephan_R]

I finished Cell, and it's fantastic. I was contemplating drawing up the main characters. I'd recommend the book to anyone, it's powerful and entertaining.

[Moai]

I loved these books! I agree with 0kelvin that the third one was the best; it just exemplified that indefinable feeling of Dark Tower-ness, to me at least. After book four, though, the books were still mostly good, but they definitely had a different feeling to them. Song of Susannah seemed like a pointless intermission between books five and seven, though. Not much happened in that book.
Of course, all of the typical flaws (at least in my opinion) of King's writing style are in this series: people getting "feelings" and "intuitions" to solve problems, rather than solving them on their own; too many people talking to themselves in their heads; too much really obvious symbolism; and finally, waaay to much anticlimax. I love many of his books, but King is the king of anticlimax, unfortunately.

Edit: Oh yeah, Phil Hale illustrated book two. How awesome is that?