Dark Fantasy

As any true blue King fan can tell you, the Dark Tower is at the center of King's entire universe. It's not essential to read the DT novels to enjoy his other works, but for a King junkie, Roland's quest is like china white (ask Eddie if you don't know). Wolves of the Calla, fifth in the DT series, is in many ways the most complete story of the bunch. Not only does it have a self contained adventure that forms the crux of the novel, it weaves in elements of all 4 previous tales, not to mention Salem's Lot and Hearts in Atlantis. It most clearly resembles the flash back in Wizard and Glass (my personal favorite) in style and setting, but it revisits scenes and devices from books 1-3 as well. So, everything seems to be coming together splendidly...until the end. I won't ruin it for you (as others do below - so be forewarned), but let me just say that it feels like a cop out. Now, since it is a cliffhanger ending (well, actually its got a few loose threads hanging out there) I'm willing to give SK the benefit of the doubt, for now. But I really didn't like the turn this one took.

Stephen King is my favourite author and I have read most of his books and enjoyed almost all of them, my favourite is the dark tower series especially Wizard and Glass. I wonder if the reason I enjoyed Wizard and Glass so much was because it is not really about the ka-tet but about Roland who is by far the most interesting character. A problem I have had with the last three dark tower books is that I find Suzzanna and Eddie esentially unlikeable. It is hard to take them seriously as gunslingers. It is also hard to root for characters you don't like. So this problem continued with Wolves of the Calla - eddie and suzzannah are no more likeable in this book than they were in the others. Wolves fo the Calla take us to a small town that is besieged every 20 or so year by mysterious creatures that abduct the towns children and send them back permantly damaged. The ka-tet is asked to help save the children from this happening again. It introduces what will apparantly be a key character Pere Callahan who featured in 'Salems Lot. I have enjoyed the references to Kings other books but feel that Callahans tale is kind of dull and makes the story line messy. At times I felt quite frustrated with this book - it sometimes felt like it was written by someone else. I also found the references to the number 19 a bit ridiculous. To be honest I had to force myself to read this and it took me several weeks with whole days going by when i did not pick it up at all, unlike the first four books which I read (all of them) in less then 2 weeks and could not put them down. So on the whole very disappointing but the last 100 pages or so were more interesting and by the time I had finished I had reaserted my desire to complete the series. THe last 100 pages picked up the pace and of course there is the obligatory cliffhanger with lots of questions still to be answered and the mystery still there. So yes I do recomend reading this book but I am grateful I did not pay $50 for it(as I nearly did) but got it out of the library instead.

For all of you, like me, who despised Wizard and Glass this book is for you. Finally we are getting somewhere. It has been YEARS since King has been this good. It is good to see him back. Don't listen to the reviews of people who don't like the fact that it seems King is going to include himself in the Dark Tower series. What is the difference between that and Eddie, Susannah, and Jake entering Roland's world. Obviously they don't understand the point King has been hinting at all along: the thinness of reality. He even goes into a beautiful aside about how the choices we make and how one side step can change the course of our history. This is King's oh so subtle way of letting us know that our perception of reality may not be the truth of the matter. I'm hooked again Mr. King. Bring me to the Dark Tower. It has been years and I am ready. As we all are. I'm sure you won't dissapoint.