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asourceoffiction's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
tense
medium-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
4.0
I'm relieved that I enjoyed this second installment much more than the first. I feel invested in Roland's journey now, and I might actually remember the events of this book when I come to read the third!
This is noticeable in a few of King's books from the '80s and earlier, but he throws racial slurs around carelessly at times, and it's something to be prepared for. He's careful to mention when a particular element of the story is a blatant and inaccurate stereotype, but that doesn't make it any less uncomfortable.
There's something quite lovely about seeing such a serious character as the Gunslinger experience life in our world for the first time. His first Pepsi, his first brain freeze, his inability to pronounce the word aspirin, all humanised him enough to make the whole story more engaging for me.
I was also much more invested in Eddie and Odetta's stories than Roland's alone, and by the third door I was completely hooked. The tension shot up and I rushed through the last 100 pages. There were some brilliant connections made and I feel set up for the rest of the series now.
And the tower is closer.
This is noticeable in a few of King's books from the '80s and earlier, but he throws racial slurs around carelessly at times, and it's something to be prepared for. He's careful to mention when a particular element of the story is a blatant and inaccurate stereotype, but that doesn't make it any less uncomfortable.
There's something quite lovely about seeing such a serious character as the Gunslinger experience life in our world for the first time. His first Pepsi, his first brain freeze, his inability to pronounce the word aspirin, all humanised him enough to make the whole story more engaging for me.
I was also much more invested in Eddie and Odetta's stories than Roland's alone, and by the third door I was completely hooked. The tension shot up and I rushed through the last 100 pages. There were some brilliant connections made and I feel set up for the rest of the series now.
And the tower is closer.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Violence, Gun violence, Drug abuse, Murder, Racial slurs, and Racism
carleneb's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
sad
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
4.75
Content Warnings
Graphic: Vomit, Violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Mental illness, Injury/Injury detail, Gun violence, Racism, Racial slurs, Murder, and Gore
geeters14's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
5.0
Content Warnings
Graphic: Injury/Injury detail, Racial slurs, Blood, and Violence
Moderate: Gun violence, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Addiction, Death, and Grief
Minor: Fire/Fire injury
filmmaths's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? It's complicated
- Flaws of characters a main focus? It's complicated
3.5
Still don't really understand the meaning/value of the dark tower, but there's more to appreciate here than just setting (which I couldn't say for my first read of the Gunslinger).
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Drug abuse, Gore, Mental illness, Violence, Cursing, Toxic friendship, Gun violence, Blood, Drug use, Injury/Injury detail, Medical trauma, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , and Toxic relationship
directorpurry's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? No
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
2.5
Content Warnings
Graphic: Drug use, Racial slurs, Violence, Mental illness, Blood, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Homophobia, and Injury/Injury detail
Moderate: Addiction, Gun violence, and Drug abuse
Minor: Child death
ggcd1981's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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
3.5
Este é o quarto livro (não contando os contos) que leio de Stephen King e o segundo volume da The Dark Tower Series. Vi várias pessoas dizendo que é no segundo livro que a série começa a ficar boa, mas na verdade preferi The Gunslinger a The Drawing of the Three, apesar da diferença não ser grande. No primeiro volume o mundo era intrigante e misterioso, o livro tinha problemas, mas não superaram meu interesse pelo mundo e personagens. Em The Drawing of the Three, apesar do positivo superar o negativo, os problemas da obra me incomodaram mais. Sendo breve sobre os pontos negativos: A) Detta Walker, uma das personalidades de Odetta Holmes. Detta é um estereotipo ofensivo de mulher negra, King está ciente disso pois na obra Roland e Eddie Dean referenciam este fato literalmente dizendo que Detta age como um estereotipo. Porém o texto estar ciente disso não torna a leitura das cenas de Detta mais agradável. Ao final da obra o melhor evento é que Detta some (assim como Odetta) dando lugar a personalidade unificada de Susana Dean; B) a hiper-sexualização de personagens femininos, o que já acontecia no volume 1, mas infelizmente continua no volume 2; C) O último elemento que não gostei foi que em alguns momentos King escolheu mostrar a mesma cena do ponto de vista de várias pessoas, incluindo, por exemplo, Roland dentro da cabeça de Eddie e o próprio Eddie. As sequências em que o autor fez isso eram breves porem repetitivas e deixavam a cena um pouco maçante.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Grief, Sexual violence, Stalking, Violence, Confinement, Racial slurs, Kidnapping, Toxic relationship, Addiction, Animal death, Child abuse, Cursing, Drug use, Misogyny, Murder, Police brutality, Racism, Death, Emotional abuse, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, and Mental illness
Moderate: Suicide attempt
bluejayreads's review against another edition
dark
slow-paced
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
3.0
This was a weird reading experience. I’m reading this series more to talk about it with a friend than because I want to read it, and if it wasn’t for him I wouldn’t have continued after The Gunslinger. This book does get more into the action, so it felt less like an extended beginning and more like an actual story. At some points it was even enjoyable.
Roland spends this book going back and forth through doors that are only half there to collect the three people the man in black told him he needed. These three people are in our world in different times. There’s Eddie, a drug addict who’s on his first smuggling run when Roland meets him and who quickly became my favorite. There’s Odetta, a black amputee and two different varieties of racist stereotype. And there’s Jack Mort, whose section was fairly enjoyable even though I spent the entire time hoping that he would not have to end up joining the group.
That’s pretty much the plot. There’s an overarching plot of Roland has an infected injury and is trying to stay alive and the three shorter plots of what’s through the doors and trying to get the three people to join him, tied together by sections of walking down a disturbing beach. It is slow-paced, but it’s interesting enough, and compared to book one it’s absolutely action-packed.
It was true of book one, and only got more extreme in this book, but The Drawing of the Three falls into one of my biggest complaints with adult fantasy-adjacent books: relying on grossness and bodily fluids to portray “realism.” There’s a lot of urine, feces, sweat, pus, saliva, and all other kinds of disgusting liquid-ish things that the human body can produce. I know that it is realistic, but personally I read for fun and prefer all the gross stuff to be sanitized by the lens of fiction. I’m aware this is a personal opinion, but if bodily fluids make you squeamish you may want to skip this one.
I was also pretty weirded out by the preteen girl masturbation scene and the guy who orgasmed by murdering people, but it’s not like Stephen King has never written creepy sexual scenes before, so I guess that’s a risk you take when reading his books.
When I finished this book, I was really ambivalent about reading on. Even though this series isn’t the worst thing I’ve ever read, it’s a little too slow and gross for me. This series was starting to feel more like an obligation than anything I particularly want to read. But my friend who’s also reading the series gave me a spoiler for future books that makes me more interested in reading on. So I guess I am continuing the series after all.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Death, Excrement, Blood, Racial slurs, Injury/Injury detail, and Gun violence
Moderate: Addiction, Racism, Drug abuse, and Drug use
Minor: Rape, Sexual content, Murder, and Medical content
Sexual content involving minors, mind control, someone inside your mind without your consentbookbelle5_17's review
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.0
Review of The Drawing of Three
By: Stephen King
If “The Gunslinger” is the prologue, then “The Drawing of Three” is when the real story begins. Roland wakes up on a beach right after his encounter with The Man in Black. He must find the 3 doors and the 3 beings, The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows, the Pusher/Death. First, he comes to New York City in the 80s (I think) and meets junkie Eddie Dean. The second door leads to the 50s (again, I think) where he meets Susannah a wheel chair bound black woman who has a dual personality. The trio travels together on this beach in search of the third door with one of Susannah’s personalities fighting them the whole way.
If you know anything about Stephen King then you can guess that Eddie Dean probably has a bit in common with the author. He is a character I got frustrated with and I confess I couldn’t relate to his problems. Though, I understood his love and loyalty to his older brother Henry, even if he didn’t deserve it. Luckily, my sister does deserve my love and loyalty unlike Henry Dean. Eddie’s drug addiction makes him paranoid, anxious, and temperamental. The situation Roland, and partially his brother, puts him in makes his moodiness worse. He was hard for me to like but as the story progresses I liked him more. I enjoyed Susannah more as a character especially with her going back and forth with her personalities, even though one of the personalities is hateful and down right mean. Her monstrous personality is more compelling with her hatefulness, paranoia, and she proves herself to be incredibly smart but using her smarts for more selfish reasons. Both of them are sympathetic, but Eddie had a choice while what happened to Susannah that caused her two personalities was not something she chose. The lobstrosities are creepy and ugly to imagine as we anticipate when they’re going to come and attack the trio. The relationship between this trio is compelling to read as they have a love/hate feeling towards each other. Eddie resents that Roland has dragged him along on this dangerous mission and finds the Gunslinger to be a hypocrite, because he believes Roland is a Junkie for the Tower. He also has fallen for Susannah and hates Roland for putting her in danger as well. The endless beach that King describes adds to the tension as we don’t know when it will stop and they’ll get to their destination. It is an uncomfortable situation for all and emotions are high. Roland accepts and knows more than the others and he won’t show emotion as he doesn’t question anything. He is that person that says it’s all meant to be and that frustrates Eddie. The juxtaposition of our world and versus this part of Roland’s is interesting and highlights how bizarre his world is compare to ours. He fascinated by things we take for granted and things that are common sense to us is bewildering for him. He notices how much paper we use and he cannot believe it as paper in his world is rare and a valuable commodity. He is amused by the drug store and has mixed feelings about our food. His outsider perspective allows him to see more clearly like with Eddie and his addiction. I vaguely remember loving the “The Waste Lands’, the third book in the series, so I cannot wait to start it.
By: Stephen King
If “The Gunslinger” is the prologue, then “The Drawing of Three” is when the real story begins. Roland wakes up on a beach right after his encounter with The Man in Black. He must find the 3 doors and the 3 beings, The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows, the Pusher/Death. First, he comes to New York City in the 80s (I think) and meets junkie Eddie Dean. The second door leads to the 50s (again, I think) where he meets Susannah a wheel chair bound black woman who has a dual personality. The trio travels together on this beach in search of the third door with one of Susannah’s personalities fighting them the whole way.
If you know anything about Stephen King then you can guess that Eddie Dean probably has a bit in common with the author. He is a character I got frustrated with and I confess I couldn’t relate to his problems. Though, I understood his love and loyalty to his older brother Henry, even if he didn’t deserve it. Luckily, my sister does deserve my love and loyalty unlike Henry Dean. Eddie’s drug addiction makes him paranoid, anxious, and temperamental. The situation Roland, and partially his brother, puts him in makes his moodiness worse. He was hard for me to like but as the story progresses I liked him more. I enjoyed Susannah more as a character especially with her going back and forth with her personalities, even though one of the personalities is hateful and down right mean. Her monstrous personality is more compelling with her hatefulness, paranoia, and she proves herself to be incredibly smart but using her smarts for more selfish reasons. Both of them are sympathetic, but Eddie had a choice while what happened to Susannah that caused her two personalities was not something she chose. The lobstrosities are creepy and ugly to imagine as we anticipate when they’re going to come and attack the trio. The relationship between this trio is compelling to read as they have a love/hate feeling towards each other. Eddie resents that Roland has dragged him along on this dangerous mission and finds the Gunslinger to be a hypocrite, because he believes Roland is a Junkie for the Tower. He also has fallen for Susannah and hates Roland for putting her in danger as well. The endless beach that King describes adds to the tension as we don’t know when it will stop and they’ll get to their destination. It is an uncomfortable situation for all and emotions are high. Roland accepts and knows more than the others and he won’t show emotion as he doesn’t question anything. He is that person that says it’s all meant to be and that frustrates Eddie. The juxtaposition of our world and versus this part of Roland’s is interesting and highlights how bizarre his world is compare to ours. He fascinated by things we take for granted and things that are common sense to us is bewildering for him. He notices how much paper we use and he cannot believe it as paper in his world is rare and a valuable commodity. He is amused by the drug store and has mixed feelings about our food. His outsider perspective allows him to see more clearly like with Eddie and his addiction. I vaguely remember loving the “The Waste Lands’, the third book in the series, so I cannot wait to start it.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Racial slurs, Drug abuse, Gun violence, Hate crime, and Racism
luciawolfie's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
3.5
In this book the POV is switched between characters... a lot, slowing down the action in doing so. And while in some parts it is an effective tool to increase suspense, like in the plane scene, making it feel claustrophobic in a way, in some others it just frustrates the reader, like in the shot-out with the drug dealers. In that specific case, the POV changed every few lines from one character to another, and each new change begun with repeating the events we learnt about from the previous voice. It slowed down what was supposed to be an action packed scene, not in a good adrenaline-infused-slow-motion, but in a "will you get on with it already?". In the latter chapters I find that this problem is not so prevalent, probably because there are less characters to switch but also because the author does not repeat the same info while switching from one voice to another anymore.
Another reason why I felt a bit weird about this book is why the character of Odetta/Detta. It is just weird to me. I am by no means an expert on Dissociative Disorders, but the way she is presented... it does not sit right. It is like a stereotype of Jekyll and Hyde but because she is a woman we have to add a Madonna-whore complex. The way she is sexualized is also a classic instance of Men-writing-women. The description is just weird... and kinda fetishizing her dark skin as well. And why was the n-word discussion necessary in the least?
I am very disappointed because otherwise I really enjoyed the book.
Another reason why I felt a bit weird about this book is
I am very disappointed because otherwise I really enjoyed the book.
Content Warnings
Graphic: Ableism, Sexism, Racism, Racial slurs, Physical abuse, Murder, Mental illness, Medical trauma, Medical content, Kidnapping, Injury/Injury detail, Hate crime, Gun violence, Grief, Gaslighting, Drug use, Drug abuse, Death, Blood, Alcohol, Addiction, Sexual content, and Stalking
snowhite197's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
funny
hopeful
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
Content Warnings
Graphic: Addiction, Blood, Drug abuse, Fire/Fire injury, Gore, Gun violence, Injury/Injury detail, Medical content, Medical trauma, Mental illness, Murder, Racial slurs, Racism, Schizophrenia/Psychosis , Torture, and Violence