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Liked It1 of 1 members found this review helpful “Another long entry in the Dark Tower series. I enjoyed the continuation of the saga of Roland, Susannah, Eddie and Jake, but found the reasoning for this over longtale, which did very little to add to the saga. It did provide a little more character development, but the bookscould have been...” see full review » see other reviews » |
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“Before, I read another King novel, and one of the characters plays a big role in this one. That's another reason why this series is great; King incorporates his other works into this series about alternative worlds. ”
Hannah G wrote this review 3 weeks ago. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I've always thought that this book could have stood on it's own...”
Matthew E wrote this review Sunday, October 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“The 5th book in the Dark Tower Series. It can go slow at times but the tie-ins to other of Kings work including himself, is cool. Remember Father Callahan from Salem's Lot?”
Tyler J wrote this review Thursday, October 22 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Decent Dark Tower reintroduction”
Vinny F wrote this review Monday, October 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“I don't think he can write a bad book. The people who are in the stories almost become real to you because you are so caught up in the story”
JoAnn M wrote this review Friday, October 16 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“my journey for the dark tower still looms over me. who knows where roland is right now :o i better get started on the next book :O”
Big Butt Bruce wrote this review Friday, September 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“This will be the first Dark Tower book I've reviewed. I believe I've come far enough along to surmise that I simply don't like the characters in this series. They're just not good people at their very core and I'm finding it very difficult to be sympathetic with them. The plotline is engaging and I definitely want to see what happens. King's arrogance is somewhat humorous, bringing his own books as behind the scenes characters in the story. It's a first that I know of. I think this series will be the last of King I read. ”
Edward B wrote this review Friday, September 25 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No“It was a long wait between part 4 and this one, but worth it. It ties in to one of his other books, Salem's Lot, in a major way (roughly half of King's novels tie to the Dark Tower).”
Kevin J wrote this review Wednesday, September 23 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
“Being a fan of the Dark Tower series, I was highly disappointed in this book. I found it to be boring and unneccessary in the telling of the journey of the wonderful characters. This is a book that can be skipped in the reading of the series. This story could and should have been told in less than 700 pages. However, the tales of Susannah's pregnancy and the throwing of the plates are what kept me reading until the end. I am looking forward to book VI.”
Jimmy W wrote this review Monday, September 21 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
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Caitie F wrote this review Saturday, September 19 2009. ( reply | permalink ) Was this review helpful? Yes | No
Stephen King delivered another masterpiece with this book.
I just finished the fifth book of Stephen King's Dark Tower series, and of the first five, it was my favorite. That is a big statement because I loved four out of those five. I don't want to give a summary of this one like I usually would because it would ruin parts of the first four, and that is no fun. I will talk about some of the great aspects of this book.
The first is the characters. Each character in this gigantic novel, from Roland, our dinh, to little singleton Aaron has a purpose. There are not flat characters or spare characters that are just there to add more people to the crowd. They have distinct personalities and motivations for everything they do. Our band of four main characters have some of the toughest decisions they have had in the series. Should Jake tell Roland what he has seen? Do they all tell Susannah about the demon inside of her? Can Susannah fight Mia and be able to help her ka-tet? The reader gets to see how each character makes their decision and why, which might be part of the reason readers get attached to these characters.
The setting makes one think of an old-fashioned Western movie. There are farmers and ranchers, there is a decision to be made and the town is split in two, and there are four strangers and a bumbler who come waltzing in to save the day. But there are also robots that warn of the wolves coming, yet always seems to be laughing at the humans. There is an old man who knows what The Wolves truly are and has told no one. There is a priest whose story seems awfully familiar and comes from the same place as Jake and Eddie...but more on that later. It seems like it could become cliche, but it never comes close.
I don't want to really give much away because some of the discoveries that characters make are what make the book. I will touch on the priest, Father Callahan, who escaped to this world after being bit by a vampire and running for years from Jerusalem's Lot...known to Stephen King readers as Salem's Lot. Near the end of The Wolves of the Calla the character finds this book and starts to read it. At one point he says "but I am a real person!", he is reading his story and is flabbergasted. How is his story in this novel, this piece of fiction? I won't get too detailed in my analysis of what this may mean because I know it is an important theme of the next two books (where Stephen King becomes a character), but I will pose this question. What is a character in a book really? We have all read books where the characters seem like friends of ours and what happens to them impacts us emotionally. Can you imagine how this would be for an author, the one who breathed life into these characters? I look forward to reading the next two books and going deeper into this issue with all of you!
One final note, you may not know this, but I am a huge Harry Potter fan, so when there was a weapon called a Sneetch that was manufactured by Harry Potter, it made me smile!
So go read all The Dark Tower books! When you read them, try to get the editions that have the great illustrations in them. The first one is a little hard to get through at first, but push yourself, because, so far, it is worth it! ”
