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With two recent Dark Tower releases and a forthcoming grand finale, fans of Stephen King's dark fantasy series may want to brush up on the first four volumes of the series. "The Gunslinger," "the Drawing of the Three," "The Waste Lands" and "Wizard's Glass" all have their individual flaws, but the overall effect is excellent.
"The Gunslinger" introduces us to Roland Deschain of Gilead, the last gunslinger of a long-dead land. The hardened cowboy/knight wanders through a wasted world, tracking a "man in black" who can help him find (cue ominous music) the Dark Tower. Along the way he finds Jake, a young boy who was killed in a car accident in our world. But in the name of his quest, Roland may be called on to sacrifice what he loves...
"The Drawing of the Three" kicks off mere hours after "Gunslinger" ends. Roland is sick, and being pursued by carnivorous "lobstrosities." But then he ends up transporting his mind into our world -- specifically, into the minds of junkie smuggler Eddie Dean, and legless civil rights activist Odetta Holmes (and her evil alter ego, Detta). Roland "draws" these two into his own world, but Eddie's withdrawal and Detta's malevolence might kill his quest before it even starts.
"The Waste Lands" begins with Roland tutoring Susannah (formerly Odetta/Detta) and Eddie in how to be gunslingers. But while the newlyweds are rapidly getting the hang of it, Roland is not doing well. Because of a paradox he created when he saved the boy Jake, his mind is starting to deteriorate. In Manhattan, Jake is suffering from the same thing. To save them both from madness, the gang draws Jake away from our world. But no sooner has he joined them than they come to a ruined city, with an insane mono train and a sinister figure following them...
"Wizard's Glass" opens with the gang (or ka-tet) riddling desperately against an insane train, which is on a suicide run. Eddie barely manages to defeat it with a bunch of stupid jokes, and the ka-tet continues their journey. Along the way, Roland tells them the story of his first love Susan Delgado, a beautiful girl who was promised to a dirty old man, and how he lost her when he was only fourteen. And the story is linked to what is ahead -- a person from Roland's past awaits them, along with the hard-won Wizard's Glass that destroyed Roland's family.
Stephen King is best known for being a horror writer, covering everything from evil cars to telekinetic high-schoolers. But "The Dark Tower" is a gritty fantasy with a few horror elements in it, and though it has some grotesque images, it's more fantastical than icky. Not to mention that it has homages sprinkled through it to "Lord of the Rings," the "Childe Roland" story, "The Wizard of Oz," and even King's own books.
King's writing is full of slam-bang action, even if it doesn't excel in the technical sense. And the gunslinger is an excellent lead character, a mixture of rock-hard determination and affection for his friends. Eddie comes across as rather annoying at times, but he's evidently supposed to; on the other hand, Susannah is remarkably complex with her double personality. And Jake serves as a surrogate son for Roland, while displaying his own brand of eleven-year-old toughness.
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2004-10-12, 12:21 PM
The end of Stephen King's Dark Tower series is on shelves now. I just finished Song of Susannah and i'm about to go buy Dark Tower. I just don't want this god damned story to end. 
The End is Here
I bet nobody notices this text.
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