Kevin's Watch

OK, it's been out for a few weeks now, I'm sure at least one other person here has finished it. What'd you think?

Other than:

Spoiler

All the baddies dying waayyyy to easily, and Suze deciding to leave (which I think was completely out of character),

I really liked it.

Although, I was expecting a few other characters to show up.

I really liked it. I think that Suze HAD to go, though I felt she abandoned Roland. She was starting to go the way of Jake when he was torn between 2 realities. Her part of the story was done. She got Roland out of ODD END, and freed Danville.

While I agree in principle, I find it hard to believe that she abandoned the quest so close to the destination. But I knew that Roland would enter the Tower alone. He had to.

I really expected Jack Sawyer to make an appearance too.

I agree with King. It was the ONLY ending. And anyone who didn't like it should have cried off after Susannah met Jake and Eddie in the park. You can't way you weren't warned.

***********BE WARNED> MAJOR SPOILERS AHEAD************


I agree with Roland of Gilead (and who would be a more authoritative voice on this subject than the Gunslinger himself!:)).

One of the major themes of the series was the neverending cycle of Ka thus the return to the beginning was a most appropriate ending. Aside from that, it was an absolutely brilliant literary device. Possibly the best ending I have ever read. King has, in the last two chapters of the series, quite literally allowed us to walk a mile in Roland's shoes. Let me explain:

Roland's obsession was always to reach the top of the Tower. In that respect, his obsession with achieving that end trumped all other concerns. He was willing to sacrifice everything to achieve this goal. He saved the beams and saved the world (Worlds) but he would never be satisfied until he had reached the top of the Tower. If only he could just stop (and smell the roses) and savor his victory he would realize that it is the journey and not the conclusion that matters most. If only he could turn away from the Tower he would have won and achieved that literary cliche known as the "Happy Ending". But King will not let Roland nor us off that easy. Roland cannot put aside his obsession, he is not happy with all he has accomplished and he must pursue the quest to its bitter end. It is an end that is both depressing in its ramifications yet hopeful in that Roland has the Horn of Eld in his possession showing him that his priorities and thus his actions can change and that he can ultimately let go of his obsession. But can we the reader let go of ours?

King, in his genius, has taken the concept of metafiction one step further and has lured us, as unwitting participants, into his world. King gives us, the obsessed or "constant" reader, the same choice that Roland faces. Can we stop when the author tells us to, secure in the knowledge that the world(s) have been saved and that the ka-tet has been reunited on a parallel Earth. Can we be happy with the happy ending Mr. King has given us? Or must we pursue our obsession to the bitter end? Must we see for ouselves what is at the top of the Tower? I for one, like Roland himself, failed the test and am now destined to begin the cycle again. Are there any out there who can say they did not fail also?

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed...

You can be sure that the next time I will take the authors advice and be content with the happy ending.

Well said, Brinn.

I'm back after a long trial working eighty hour weeks, and a long vacation to recover from it.

Hile gunslinger! Welcome back.

Thanks, good to be back.

Although I won't be on-line for the next four days - I'm taking a long weekend, doing my errands on Friday so I can watch the NFL playoffs undisturbed . . . and Monday is a holiday.

I had to skip past this thread, but I'll put my two cents in without reading it: I stopped when Stephen King told me to. I don't know how it really ends, but for me, eternally, Roland of Gilead just entered the Dark Tower.

Jem,

You have passed the test and are truly a Gunslinger. Now feel free to go back and read the post as well as the final chapter. It's OK.

Wow Jem! You're the first person I've seen who's been able to do that. Maybe I wish I could have, I'm not sure. I did eventually work my way 'round to Awesome! after finishing the book, but it took me months to get there. I wasn't disappointed, exactly, but it was not how I wanted the story to end. And it took me awhile to accept the rightness of the full circle thing.

Jem, you have will power on a par with Roland himself!!

Impressive.

I set the book down and walked away, only to run back about 2 minutes later to finish the damned thing.

I think it works well, and as has been said, it's really the only ending possible.

I never even hesitated, but turned to the next page without even thinking of it. The only way that I could have followed his advice was if he'd never written past that point. (And if he'd wanted people to leave it there, would he have wirtten on anyway?)

It was awesome. It was, as Brinn so eloquently said, the only way that it could have ended.

The only thing that disappointed me was the "return" of the others, albeit on some alternate plane of existence.

And the only thing that annoyed me, (as it does in all of Kings writings), was the constant, almost compulsive, foreshadowing that he gives, which ranges from the in-your-face obvious in Pet Semetary to the thankfully usually oblique in these books.

These are, without doubt some of, if not the greatest fantasy books ever written, and Roland of Gilead is possibly the greatest fantasy character of all time.

The last fifteen years (which is how long it's been since I first encountered Roland) have, in the end, led where they should have done. To the beginning.

While it may not have been the happiest ending, it was certainly the most appropriate, not to mention a more "true to life" one than "They lived happily..."

And in my heart of hearts, a part of me is glad that the story does not end. That it will forever (perhaps?) circle.

--Avatar

Well put Av. I'm bracing myself for a complete re-read of all 7 books this winter, although I need to re-read Insomnia, since so much is drawn from it.

I'm planning a long and consecutive re-read myself, as soon as I buy my own copies of the last two.

Gotta say that I'm still sorry that it had to end, (in as far as it did), and I still sorta secretly hope for more tales of Roland. Probably in vain, but you never know.

--A

Gotta say that I'm still sorry that it had to end, (in as far as it did), and I still sorta secretly hope for more tales of Roland. Probably in vain, but you never know

Absolutly, some short stories centred around Gilead and his father would also be good, or a full scale version of with Gunslingers battles with the rebel guy (Farson?) or a tale of Aurther the Eld...the list is endless.

Damn right. Let's hope.

--A

I was not impressed. I like the idea of the circular ending, but I would rather have followed the story with the horn (and the fact that there was a horn was the only thing that kept me from thinking that, in the end, nothing was achieved).

I did not like the happy ending. Too easy. And the fake New York thing just plain sucked. Am I to take it that there is no clearing at the end of the path? Am I to take it that the whole thing about death being final in certain planes to be a myth? Or should I just be happy that Susannah settled for a close substitute? No, I think she abandoned Roland, but more to the point, King, tired of killing characters, took an easy way out. Her departure, much like Jake and Eddie's (though not Oy's, strangely enough), felt forced, like it happened because King thought it had to.

You know those stereoscopic images, Magic Eye, and such? You know how if you get distracted, you lose it? Well, the ending and the deaths could've still been 3-d for me, but King bringing himself into the story was too big of a distraction. And I had to laugh in scorn when I read "here comes the Deus ex Machina." Arrrrggggg!

Combine that with the fact that so many resolutions were just too easy... *sigh*

I was kind of ticked at never encountering Bango Skank, though the idea of the great, missing character appeals to me. What I did not like, and I simply could've missed this, is that, well...

At the end of Calla, didn't Callahan give Roland a blessing, and something was stated to the effect that later, he was glad that he did? Did I make more out of that than I should've, or did nothing ever come of it?

The Watch... useless. Ok, so time started to go backwards. So?? Why did Jake bother telling Oy (who in turn told Roland) about Dandelo? What was the problem with Deepnau's neice? What was the "mind trap" with Insomnia?

Ok, and now for the why nots... Why not give Roland something useful for Susannah (instead of a kiss), like, say, a couple of prosthetic legs (they couldn't all be made my NC Positronics)? And if you can erase cancer, why not draw a couple of legs? Why not draw some new fingers for Roland?

Anyway, I could accept the whole writer as medium argument for all of this, but only if the story flows. Instead, so many elements felt contrived, so why not contrive something better?

*sigh* Good books, but I can't say I'm not a little disappointed.

I think King's near-death experience has a lot to do with the turns the story took. I agree, the deaths and departures seemed contrived and hollow, with the exception of Oy's.

Still, a very good story, but I think it would have been better had King not been run down by that van.