Eyes of The Dragon
I'm glad I read King's intro to Eyes of The Dragon, saying that he'd written the story for his 13yo daughter. Though, I expect if I'd read it at 13, I still would have found it too simplistic. Iirc I was getting into Covenant at 13. Flagg could have been much better developed (I mean, King's known for his horror isn't he? He should be able to make a more original bad guy, even for a 13yo) King Roland and the periphery characters I didn't mind so much, but again I thought Peter and Thomas were a bit too formulaic. Peter could have been Peter from The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe, without any stretch of the imagination at all, and Thomas not far from Edward. The finale to the Needle I found a bit jarring - both Flagg with a battleaxe and one husky pulling enough napkins to cushion the fall. Regarding the banishment of Flagg, I felt the arrow was a bit of a deus ex machina, though the locket was a good touch. There were plenty of scenes in King Roland's chambers, where it was generally cold except by the fire - so how come this arrow that retained the heat of the dragon it had slain, wasn't mentioned before the end?
Overall rating: 2/10
The Gunslinger
What a strange book! I think maybe that this book is just a scene setter - well, I hope it is because as a book in itself I thought it was poor. Maybe I'll change my mind as I get further into the series. I enjoyed the descriptiveness of the bleak setting. It reminded me of my first Cormac McCarthy read, Blood Meridian, a book that I didn't actually enjoy, but that I appreciated very much for its style.
Roland - what a c**t!
The mentions of Hey Jude, and Jake's backstory, did have me intrigued. Also, I'm dying to find out the connection between Roland's dream of Jake with a nail through his forehead, and Allie's scar.
The final scene with the man in black didn't fit, at all. It seemed to me that he'd written this bit as the ending because he hadn't got a clue how the story would end, and just wanted to get it finished before moving on to the other books.
One thing that annoyed me (that I've noticed once already in The Drawing of The Three), is a casual mention of something in passing, the chapter before that something comes into the story - in this case the Slow Mutants encounter. It felt too contrived. (In this case, during a reminisce about going back to Hax's ruined kitchen after the revolution, there were Slow Mutants there in the corner. Then hey presto! next chapter, there's an attack by them)
Roland's coming of age scene, also lacked backstory. We had one mention of David the hawk earlier, then all of a sudden he's using hawk as a weapon and claiming his 'friendship' with the hawk as the reason for his victory. No explanation of this friendship, and let's face it, Roland's character so far doesn't seem to be the type to make friends with an animal. Though I suppose maybe the whole 'sacrifice of a friend' thing may be a recurring theme....? Still, the point stands that we don't see any of this particular friendship growing.
Overall rating 4/10
The Drawing of The Three
I haven't been able to put this down! From the first couple of pages - the attack of the lobstrocity - it has me completely gripped! Looking at it dispassionately, I don't like the unoriginality of the idea of the Prisoner story (stepping through a door into someone's mind), I don't like the storyline itself about drugdealers and mafiosa, but I got so caught up in it, that that didn't matter at all. So far, The Prisoner gets a 9/10.
I'm only a few pages into Lady Of Shadows, but that has me delighted with disbelief and dying to see how it will turn out.
I was mulling over it in bed last night, and a big fear is that the book will be spoiled by another jarring moment - he's down to his last couple of bullets, and as a gunslinger I assume he's gonna need more. I hope if/when the opportunity to resupply comes along, it's in complete context of the story.
More soon
I'm just 'stirring really.
