T-Minus 17 days.. DT VII!!!!

[A Gunslinger]

I cannot wait. I am filled with trepidation, wonder, fear, and hope!!

Who lives and dies?

Does the Tower fall?

AGGGHHHHHH!!!

[Byrn]

I jsut finished Wolves of the Calla like 5 minutes before this post. I should have Song of Susanah read before the 21st.

[A Gunslinger]

Enjoy!

[Roland of Gilead]

I'm freaking out, too, Gunslinger. So much is on the line, so many characters with fates hanging in the balance. I feel I've known and travelled with these characters for half my life. Twenty-two years . . . well, not quite half, but close.

These may be the longest ten days of my life.

And if my damned job gets so hectic I can't read my regular times, then I'll read from 11:00 to 1:00 in the morning. Nothing is going to take away my Dark Tower fix.

[FizbansTalking_Hat]

This is something I am eagerly awaiting. I'm still on book IV, and finishing up the Stand but I want to have this copy and know that I can just plow straight through to the end, cheers.

[Old Darth]

One week to go.

[birdandbear]

I await this book with as much trepidation as eagerness....the end of such a loooong journey....and the knowledge that this time at least some of the inner circle will almost certainly die.....

But on the other hand there's SK's promise from so long ago....

"....at some point, at some magic time, there will be a purple evening (an evening made for romance!) when he will come to his dark tower, and approach it, winding his horn...."

And there are the climactic final stanza's of Browning's poem that make the hair on the back of my neck stand up every time I read them..

XXXIII
Not hear? When noise was everywhere! it tolled
Increasing like a bell. Names in my ears
Of all the lost adventurers, my peers -
How such a one was strong, and such was bold,
And such was fortunate, yet each of old
Lost, lost! one moment knelled the woe of years.

XXXIV
There they stood, ranged along the hillsides, met
To view the last of me, a living frame
For one more picture! In a sheet of flame
I saw them and I knew them all. And yet
Dauntless the slug-horn to my lips I set,
And blew. 'Childe Roland to the Dark Tower came.'


I think it will be like that.

And I think that they will all Stand and be true....and if it's the end for them, then what an end it wil be!

"There I will sing all their names!"

Gah! I can't wait!!

[Roland of Gilead]

Good stuff, Bird and Bear.

I've been waiting twenty-two years for the conclusion. There's probably no way it can live up to my expectations, but you know what? I think it's going to come darned close.

And each and every one of these companions has become such a wonderful, living, breathing character in my imagination that they will jerk my heart-strings from start to finish, regardless of the outcome. What more can you ask of a novel?

[A Gunslinger]

What did you think of it Roland?

[Roland of Gilead]

Gunslinger, I just finished it today. I savored it and read rather slowly, seventy pages per weekday.

In a word, stunning. But one word doesn't cut it, so here goes. And there will be spoilers:















Never have I been moved so many times to tears. Every death, certainly, but also when Jake called Roland father, and every dying scene, and Susannah's departure, and even the reunions. And sometimes just admiration for the brilliant story-telling and how everything fell into place, every motif and artifact and theme.

I liked the ending. And for those readers who didn't . . . well, King warns us, doesn't he? If you want the happy ending, cry off when Susannah finds Eddie and Jake.

And the excitment and suspense. King proved yet again why he's the master of horror, with the monster in the tunnels and Roland and Susannah running out of light.

And like King, I grew up on the westerns of the fifties and sixties. TWICE he comes up with a plausible fast draw scene, even though this was mostly a myth in our real Old West. I just loved all the gunfights.

I liked how every villain met their demise.

I even couldn't find a lot of fault with King's own role in the tale, which was the one flaw I found in Song of Susannah. This time it seemed more integrated and believable, not just megalomania.

I was also very impressed with how Low Men in Yellow Coats and Insomnia were seamlessly woven into the story. Only Jack Sawyer was a no-show, and hopefully this tale will be completed in a third Talisman trilogy with Straub.

My only complaint - no flashbacks to Roland's old friends and the ultimate fate of his father Steven. Perhaps these stories will be told in another Legends collection?

Otherwise, I once thought Wizard and Glass was the pinnacle of the series. No longer - Dark Tower VII is the finest novel I've read since the eighties. A masterpiece and I'm in awe. I had ridiculously high expectations for this novel . . . and yet King surpassed them. That's the best praise I can give a book.

Also, I feel like Roland himself. I want to re-read the entire series, over and over again. Ka like a wheel. Because I don't want it to end. But I won't. Instead, I've just picked up Bev Vincent's scholarly study, The Road to the Dark Tower. It should be a fascinating treatise and will probably provide some great insights into both King's personal life and the winding and twisting thread of the Dark Tower series.

One last note - the artwork. I already considered Whelan the best artist in the world, but he's put himself so beyond the competition with this collection that it's not even a contest anymore. I might buy another copy of the book, just so I can remove the illustrations and make a framed collage for my bookroom.

Long days and pleasant nights. Say thankya, sai King.

[Byrn]

I finished the Dark Tower yesterday. I've been digesting the book all day. Without spoiling anything, King is correct in saying the ending is the ONLY ending. Ka is a wheel.

I only started reading the series mid-summer. I had never read any Stephen King prior. I read the Stand and Eyes of the Dragon between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla. After the Dark Tower, I'm very interested in Insomnia. I'm guessing Black House and Talisman would be another two I should read.

Spoiler

Eddie's death was not a shock, just hearbreaking