Kevin's Watch

Well, after 14 months of reading (off and on), last night I finished reading Dark Tower 7.

I feel relief at having finished the story. I feel immense sadness and grief for Roland given the ending, and yet the ending felt "right" to me. Its the ending that resonates most looking back on the story. I'm wondering just where did Roland lose his way? Was it really in The Gunslinger when he let Jake fall to his death?

I laughed at the irony of me reading Insomnia before DT7, then Roland being given the book of Insomnia and giving it away!

I hated the ending where Susannah is reunited with Eddie and Jake. I thought that Eddie and Susannah's love throughout the story would have made a better tragedy at the end if we didnt know what happened to Susannah after she went through the door.

My biggest disappointment with the series is King's self allusions in DT6 and DT7. It was unnecessary and made way too overt the references between King's other novels and DT.

The best book was undoubtedly Wizard and Glass, followed by The Drawing of the Three. In these two books King's sheer storytelling ability meshes with a well constructed plot (so rare for King) and just "works". W&G is right there with "The Mist" as the best story King has written.

Final comments/flashbacks/memories on the novels -
The Gunslinger. That first line. Surely that is King's "memorable sentence". Roland. The desert. Walter. Jake.
The Drawing of the Three. The title says it all.
The Wastelands. Oy. Lud. Blaine.
Wizard and Glass. Roland and his original ka tet in his youth. His love for Susan Delgado. Jericho Hill. Disaster.
Wolves of the Calla. Roland dancing the commala. Pere Callahan. Kids coming back roont.
Song of Susannah. King's self allusions. Mia. The Dixie Pig.
The Dark Tower. The breakers, deaths, the roses, the Tower... Roland.

duke wrote:I hated the ending where Susannah is reunited with Eddie and Jake. I thought that Eddie and Susannah's love throughout the story would have made a better tragedy at the end if we didnt know what happened to Susannah after she went through the door.

My biggest disappointment with the series is King's self allusions in DT6 and DT7. It was unnecessary and made way too overt the references between King's other novels and DT.

The best book was undoubtedly Wizard and Glass, followed by The Drawing of the Three. In these two books King's sheer storytelling ability meshes with a well constructed plot (so rare for King) and just "works".

Great post. I pretty much completely agree with all that. Eddie/Jake/Suze ended as a cop-out...where's the King with the guts to kill his characters I always loved?

And yeah...I think the brilliance of the first line of The Gunslinger seduced him...he couldn't top it at the end...so he used it again.

Another favourite: "Go then! There are other worlds than these!"

--A

Avatar, I also wanted to comment on your suggested reading order for the series.

I read the stories in this order:

DT 1
Eyes of the Dragon
DT 2
DT 3
DT 4
'Salem's Lot
DT 5
Hearts in Atlantis
DT 6
Insomnia
DT 7

Eyes of the Dragon was definitely not required for 'a full appreciation of the Dark Tower'.
'Salem's Lot was just right at that point in the DT story. A really good vampire story, it served as a long form 'backstory' for Pere Callahan, and a great lead-in to 'Wolves'.
Hearts in Atlantis kinda broke the flow after finishing DT 5, and the same with Insomnia before DT 7. But in the case of 'Hearts', it is a great book that anyone serious about reading King should make time to read. Insomnia before DT 7 was a tough slog, as I was itching for the end of Roland's quest.

Overall I'd rate 'Salem's Lot even more essential than Insomnia - Callahan's backstory added so much to my appreciation of 'Wolves' and 'Song of Susannah', but Insomnia really only softened the clunky Patrick Danville mess at the end of DT 7.

Thanks for the suggested reading order!

*nodding*

I read Eyes of the Dragon first, and really felt I shouldn't even continue after that. I really felt King was a fish out of water there.

If you ever slog through the original "Fresh Journey" thread, you'll see I really balked at continuing during the first half of Imsomnia. I really had a hard time with that book.

Wizard and Glass was beautiful. But, I like Wolves more. And I agree about Salem's Lot. Absolutely essential to the cycle, IMO. Not only for Callahan, but for the whole Tower the book collector subplot as well.

I understand either Black House or The Talisman fits in somewhere, as does It. But I didn't read any of those, so I can't comment on them.

*shrug* Eyes is set in Rolands world. It's chronologically the first appearance I know about of Flagg, and Roland actually meets Dennis and the other boy...Thomas?...in the ruins of Gilead while they hunt the magician. *shrug* Essential, no. but relevant to the backstory? I think so.

--A

Even more so than Little Sisters, unless I missed a reference to that story in the cycle proper somewhere.

But I still found Eyes painful to read...
Little Sisters I enjoyed so much my Borderlands faction is based on them.

Avatar wrote:*shrug* Eyes is set in Rolands world.

Eyes of the Dragon was my first exposure to King's writing, and I enjoyed it very much. I loved seeing Flagg turn up in Roland's world, but is Eyes necessarily set in Roland's world? Couldn't Flagg and his pursuers just be transplanted into Roland's world much as Callahan or even Eddie & Susannah were?

- Dan -

I also really enjoyed Eyes. And as far as DT tie-ins and backstory, The Stand was phenomenal, as well as containing quite a bit of information about Flagg.

And duke, I pretty much agree with all of your points in your original post. Spot-on. Nice job.

Dan65802 wrote:

Avatar wrote:*shrug* Eyes is set in Rolands world.

Eyes of the Dragon was my first exposure to King's writing, and I enjoyed it very much. I loved seeing Flagg turn up in Roland's world, but is Eyes necessarily set in Roland's world? Couldn't Flagg and his pursuers just be transplanted into Roland's world much as Callahan or even Eddie & Susannah were?

- Dan -

Pretty sure that the land of Garlan is mentioned in Eyes as being a far off country, and it is definitely mentioned as a distant land in the DT. Also, Delain, the land in which Peter is King, is mentioned in Little Sisters as a country of liars.

--A

Avatar wrote:Pretty sure that the land of Garlan is mentioned in Eyes as being a far off country, and it is definitely mentioned as a distant land in the DT. Also, Delain, the land in which Peter is King, is mentioned in Little Sisters as a country of liars.

Ah, hadn't caught that. It's been at least 15 years since I've read Eyes

- Dan -