five_sparrows's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
somebunny23's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
inspiring
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
lord_petros's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
adub_212's review against another edition
3.0
What I learned from this book is that when I can just tell that I'm going to hate something from the get-go, I really shouldn't pick it up. Especially not when it's a 7-novel long epic of...epic proportions. Still, this was possibly closest to being the best written of the series, still falling short to The Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands.
edwardpointsman's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
itcamefromthepage's review against another edition
5.0
The ending of The Dark Tower does NOT disappoint.
A grand journey that shall stick with me for many years.
Tears of joy and despair.
A grand journey that shall stick with me for many years.
Tears of joy and despair.
aldoojeda's review against another edition
2.0
Le llamo síndrome de Stephen King cuando en una historia todo va bien hasta llegar al acto final, entonces las cosas empiezan a caer en pedazos para tener un desenlace decepcionante. La serie completa de La Torre Oscura es el ejemplo clásico de ello. Los primeros libros son excelentes, pero poco a poco empiezan a aflojar. Cuando llegamos al séptimo libro de la serie, el autor sale con un deus ex machina tremendo que corta la suspensión de la incredulidad de manera tosca.
Todo el viaje que representan estos libros vale la pena, pero es una verdadera lástima que La Torre Oscura no cierre con fuerza.
Todo el viaje que representan estos libros vale la pena, pero es una verdadera lástima que La Torre Oscura no cierre con fuerza.
doctorsleep's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
review from 01/15/17:
now that i've gone through all five stages of grief, i think i can finally say a few things about this book.
now that i've gone through all five stages of grief, i think i can finally say a few things about this book.
“You needn't die happy when your time comes, but you must die satisfied, for you have lived your life from the beginning to the end and ka is always served.”
i honestly loved everything about this. it's often hit or miss with the last book in a series, but i think stephen king did a fantastic job ending this long journey. i loved king being a character in his own story, all of the connections to his other works, and the big twist at the end. i had no idea it was coming, it really surprised me and i love the idea of it - even if it fucking hurts.
Spoiler
the character deaths hit me so hard, i was literally sobbing through most of the story. jake hurt the most honestly i think i might cry just thinking about it. i hated having to see him die again my heart is in a million pieces. but he sacrificed himself to save everyone he's just so good and pure and i love my son?????? UH SPEAKING OF SON ROLAND THINKING OF HIM AS HIS TRUE SON KILLED ME i'm upset again i love these characters so much!!!! i love love loved the ending for jake and eddie and susannah SO MUCH i'm so glad they're all together again and jake and eddie are BROTHERS and ahhhh it made me so happy i'm crying again byei'm sad this series is over but i'm so glad to have read it. thanks uncle steve. let's end this with a spoilery quote that made me cry:
"Time flies, knells call, life passes, so hear my prayer.
Birth is nothing but death begun, so hear my prayer.
Death is speechless, so hear my speech."
He knelt a moment longer with his hands clasped between his knees, thinking he had not understood the true power of sorrow, nor the pain of regret, until this moment. I cannot bear to let him go. But once again, this was a cruel paradox: if he didn't, the sacrafice was in vain. Roland opened his eyes and said,
"Goodbye, Jake. I love you, dear."
❤️
crookedtreehouse's review against another edition
2.0
Twenty friggen Stephen King books to get to an ending that I remembered not enjoying when I first read it, over a decade ago.
I must have skimmed the middle portion the first time I read it, as I vividly remembered the first section, and vaguely remembered the last couple hundred of pages but I have no recollection of the middle portion at all. It's possible that I was skipping pages during my original read, and while I'm glad, for this project, that I stuck it out, and read every page, I can't recommend it. There is an eternally long portion of the book where three characters trudge through a snowy badlands where not much happens but it takes a tortorously long time. It could have been summed up in about a paragraph. Instead, it's somewhere between seventy-five and twelve billion pages long, so you feel just as cold and torturously bored reading it, as the characters did surviving it.
The biggest drawback of this volume for me, is King's constant...I don't want to call it foreshadowing, as that's often subtle and you don't fully appreciate it until after the event foreshadowed occurs....forspoilering? Several times in the narrative, this book, which is the seventh part of a roughly five thousand page long series (over ten thousand if you read all the associated books), King says "By the end of this chapter a character you love will be dead." No suspense. No hint. Just...BtWs, I'm about to kill *spoiler*. Oh, wasn't that said, next up, I'm going to kill *spoiler*. While King does dial back a bit from his I AM GOD IN THIS SERIES that took place in [b:Song of Susannah|5093|Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, #6)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372296326s/5093.jpg|1178083], he can't help but keep inserting himself, not just as a character, but as a narrator. Every chapter or so, he takes an opportunity to remind you that this book is hard to write. It continuously took me out of a story that I found myself less and less interested in as the final book continued.
There were cool parts. The major scenes between the Boring Badlands and the climax hadn't stuck in my mind from my first read, so they were enjoyable and I was glad that I read them, even with the over-meta-fictional Stephen King constantly interfering with the narrative.
The ending. I had the ending spoiled for me before I read it the first time. I had forgotten that King, himself, has two brief chapters after what he believes to be the ending of the story, and the actual end. Both of them implore you not to read his ending. And he's right. DON'T READ THE EPILOGUE. The coda is a satisfying ending.
I recommend this if you've already read, at least, the other six major books (skipping [b:The Wind Through the Keyhole|12341557|The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328001524s/12341557.jpg|15678889] isn't just acceptable, it's recommended). I don't see any other reason why anyone would choose to read just the final book of an epic series. Weirdo.
I must have skimmed the middle portion the first time I read it, as I vividly remembered the first section, and vaguely remembered the last couple hundred of pages but I have no recollection of the middle portion at all. It's possible that I was skipping pages during my original read, and while I'm glad, for this project, that I stuck it out, and read every page, I can't recommend it. There is an eternally long portion of the book where three characters trudge through a snowy badlands where not much happens but it takes a tortorously long time. It could have been summed up in about a paragraph. Instead, it's somewhere between seventy-five and twelve billion pages long, so you feel just as cold and torturously bored reading it, as the characters did surviving it.
The biggest drawback of this volume for me, is King's constant...I don't want to call it foreshadowing, as that's often subtle and you don't fully appreciate it until after the event foreshadowed occurs....forspoilering? Several times in the narrative, this book, which is the seventh part of a roughly five thousand page long series (over ten thousand if you read all the associated books), King says "By the end of this chapter a character you love will be dead." No suspense. No hint. Just...BtWs, I'm about to kill *spoiler*. Oh, wasn't that said, next up, I'm going to kill *spoiler*. While King does dial back a bit from his I AM GOD IN THIS SERIES that took place in [b:Song of Susannah|5093|Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, #6)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1372296326s/5093.jpg|1178083], he can't help but keep inserting himself, not just as a character, but as a narrator. Every chapter or so, he takes an opportunity to remind you that this book is hard to write. It continuously took me out of a story that I found myself less and less interested in as the final book continued.
There were cool parts. The major scenes between the Boring Badlands and the climax hadn't stuck in my mind from my first read, so they were enjoyable and I was glad that I read them, even with the over-meta-fictional Stephen King constantly interfering with the narrative.
The ending. I had the ending spoiled for me before I read it the first time. I had forgotten that King, himself, has two brief chapters after what he believes to be the ending of the story, and the actual end. Both of them implore you not to read his ending. And he's right. DON'T READ THE EPILOGUE. The coda is a satisfying ending.
I recommend this if you've already read, at least, the other six major books (skipping [b:The Wind Through the Keyhole|12341557|The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5)|Stephen King|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1328001524s/12341557.jpg|15678889] isn't just acceptable, it's recommended). I don't see any other reason why anyone would choose to read just the final book of an epic series. Weirdo.
paigedc's review against another edition
4.0
The end of the journey for the ka-tet, of which I've been following since August 2017, say true. This was certainly the most emotional of the series, and I was unprepared for so much loss and grief (although JK Rowling has prepared me better for the ruthless slaying of core characters). I'll read the 8th installment, the off-shoot story, but I'm glad I've seen Roland's story through to the end, say true, say thank you.