Kevin's Watch

I started the Dark Tower for the first time on Tuesday - I'm upto 'Lud: A Heap of Broken Images'. Great books, but I did notice some inconsistency between Gunslinger and later books (Mostly just when things from the end of Gunslinger are mentioned later - and it was the revised version of Gunslinger that I read).

I'll probably finish Wizard and Glass by Tuesday, but I'll be waiting for the paperback before I get Wolves of the Calla.

How can you wait???

Check it out from the library if you have too

Oh, and it just awesome...half way thru!!! Callahan's story has me mesmerized I was up til 1am last night!!

Come Come Commala
rice come a-falla...

Okay, I'm being slow with this...But i'm almost DONE!! It's so awesome!!

Is it just me, or did King write the story of Susan Delgado better than he writes the main story? Reading Wizard and Glass, one thing really stood out, for me - I liked Cuthbert, Alain, Susan, and a young Roland more than I like Eddie, Susannah, and the older Roland (Jake's okay). I don't know if its just an improvement in his overall writing which I may have missed because the Susan story takes up so much of the whole book, but that part also seems better written than any other part of the series so far - Hated the way it had to end, loved the rest of it.

Anyway - I always find it hard waiting for the next book in a series when I could go out and get it now, but I'm gonna wait for the paperback of Wolves anyway, even though it'll be a long while coming...

I see what your saying Murrin. I think it may be because we actually learn about Roland's backstory in Wizard and Glass, we get inside his head more, we see him as young man just starting out. We learn more about his mother and father, of Gilead, of Cort, Marten and Walter, of Cuthburt and Alian (would love to learn more about Jamie too).

I also think, it may be because all the characters in that part of the story were from Roland's world. It brought him to life, he was no longer just this quiet, conflicted Gunslinger anymore, who seemed liked such an enigma. Here, he becomes an actual person, we see him show such emotions as joy, love, pride, despair, grief...etc. He becomes "real" to us when he's protrayed as this young man who suffers such grief and loss at such a young age. It defines him, makes us understand who the older Roland is. The one who draws Eddie, Susannah and Jake. The one who is so obsessed with the Dark Tower. We understand why he must find it now, why he sacrifices everything to get to the Tower. He's lost too much not too....

Ka like the wind...

Finished a couple of days ago. I enjoyed it immensely but I think "Wizard" was a better story. A couple of gripes:

Spoiler

I thought the final battle was a little anticlimactic. It didn't pack the emotional punch I was hoping for. I guess I was looking for a little more melodrama. I also thought the revelation that the Wolves were just robots was a letdown. I was hoping for something far more sinister especially considering the fact that the nature of the Wolves was revealed in Jamie's story and then kept from the reader for 300 pages. Finally, I hope that Mr. King doesn't get too enamored with his attempts to weave in references to all his other novels at the expense of crafting a new and gripping story. I care less about the connections to his other works than I do about Roland and the wonders of his World(s).

All that aside, I still love Roland and the Ka-tet and I am eagerly awaiting the next installment!

*resists the urge to looks at Brinn's spoiler*

No, no...don't look do ya ken, don't do it, hear me I beg...

Be strong Furls! Wait if you haven't finished it yet. We can talk then!

Brinn, I don't know how to black out spoilers, so

SPOILER ALERT






I was not surprised by the revelation that the Wolves were robots. Here's why. I like most of Bernie Wrightson's artwork, but his illustration of the woman killing the Wolf during Gran-Pere's Tale was obviously a robot. I think this was a mistake on Wrightson's part - giving away a plot point hundreds of pages before the author intended.

Otherwise, I liked the ending. I'm a sucker for Magnificent Seven plots, anyway.

I agree that King may be getting too caught up in his many clever tie-ins to other novels in his own oeuvre, and the possibility that the character of Callahan himself may not even be real opens up quite a can of worms. Callahan's nature calls into question the entire series as to what's real and what isn't, and if King were to stoop so low as to make all of this nothing but some wild dream sequence in our world - well, I would be catastrophically disapointed myself, and I imagine a lot of other fans would be as well.

I'd hate to have my ongoing appreciation of King's work, spanning more than twenty years now, come crashing down in such a bitter resolution. Say it ain't so, Stephen.

Whew! Just finished it! AWESOME!!

Spoiler

I find it interesting how King has incorporated Salem's Lot into this. I'm wondering what it all means, it has me a little confused. Could King be the Crimson King??? And the way the New Yorks keep changing everytime they go back..hmmm... I'm kind of at a loss because I haven't read many of his books, so if there are other characters other than Callahan finding their way into Roland's world, I don't know them. I'm going to check out Salem's Lot and reread it again. It's been about 20 years since I read it.

And Susannah!!! What's happening with her?? She has Black Thirteen!! and giving birth to a demon spawn!! If anything happens to her...i'm gonna be really p****d!!!

Many other tie ins Furls:

Randal Flagg is the antagonist in The Stand.

The Crimson King is mentioned in many of his books including Black House, Insomnia and a few others.

The "Breakers" of Thunderclap were also mentioned in Black House.

These are a few I can recall off the top of my head. I'll have to think a little more and I'll have a few more for you.

Roland *cough*andFurls*cough* - To do the spoiler thing you just highlight the spoiling text and then click on the spoiler button above the reply box. You can go back into your post and edit it to be all blacked out and cool and stuff.

Not that I care, I've read it, but some people get downright irate about this sort of thing.

Furls- OMG!! I know! How awful to have to wait 8 mos to find out! I don't know if I want to find out. Two books later and I'm still worried to death about her.

King has several tie-in books to the Dark Tower. Essential Tower supplemental materials include:

Insomnia
Hearts in Atlantis (Low Men In Yellow Coats)
Little Sisters of Eluria (Short Story)
The Eyes of the Dragon (tenuous tie)
The Talisman (nothing to do with TDT as far as I can tell, but a damn fine book in any case)
Black House (Sequel to The Talisman, has a lot to do with TDT)
The Stand (One of the best books I've ever read, Features Flagg)
and now apparantly
'Salem's Lot


Funny, as soon as I finished Calla I was stricken with a strange desire to re-read 'Salems Lot.

Cry your pardon about the spoiler!! I was so excited about finishing it that I completely forgot to black it out. Tis fix, ya ken.

Wow! I guess I got alot of reading to do!! All those people from other books. Hmmm...now I'm thinking that maybe King really is the Crimson King...

Two other things I forgot to mention.

One, Murrin, it's interesting that you consider the flashback in Wizard and Glass the best writing, because I've heard many other readers say just the opposite. That this flashback is unnecessary and drastically slows down the story. I love it myself, but I don't think it's superior to the later Roland and company's story.

Spoiler

And two, I think of all the tie-in novels, besides Salem's Lot, and perhaps even more so, the one that absolutely must be read is Low Men in Yellow Coats from Hearts in Atlantis. Ted Brautigan, a key character down the line, and the whole concept of the Breakers, are extremely important.

I'm not really sure that paragraph is a spoiler, I'm just practicing.

*writes all these down for her next library trip*

But, I have to read the other Earthsea books first or Fist will have a coronary...

bump

Maybe these two should be moved to the his Forum in the Library

That was the hopeful intention.....

Bump ... for A Gunslinger

Hey Dan?? Could you move this one and the Calla one to the Stephen King Forum in the library??