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4.15 AVERAGE
4.15 AVERAGE
One of my favourite books in the Dark Tower series, quite different to typical Stephen King books (if there is such as thing).
adventurous
dark
tense
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
Not me once again contracting Fall in Love with a Minor Character Disease™️. Yes I’m looking at you, sai Reynolds. Whenever a character is described as a pretty boy with lazy good humor and is a deadly villain??? I’m locked the fuck in. But alas, he was a minor character.
And the Bar Scene?? Hello?? Utterly chef’s kiss. The tension, the humor, the stakes. One of the best—and most fun—scenes I’ve read in a long, long time.
I also much prefer Roland’s ka-tet with Cuthbert and Alain to his present day ka-tet (I just cannot bring myself to care about Eddie and Susannah, I’m sorry…Jake and Oy though, they’re precious). Cuthbert is another character archetype that I simply love. Humorous and teasing and earnest and doing everything with a flair. An instant favorite for me. Again, just wish they got a little more page time?? Crazy thing to say with this book being over 600 pages long. But while I did enjoy the romance, I wish the focus was more on Roland’s ka-tet vs. the big coffin hunters, and the game of cat and mouse they play. Hence the 4 star rating. This book was so close to being perfect for me, but it just missed the mark by a hair
In all seriousness, W&G is what I wish the rest of this series was: a western fantasy. This was what I loved about book 1, this is what I *wished* books 2 and 3 were. And bonus points for Mr. King doing romantasy wayyyyy before the tiktok girlies. I would read a million and more western romance fantasies. Ugh I just wish the rest of the series was in this same vein because I’d be gobbling it up and it’d be cemented as an all-time fave. Alas, alas…
Worst book in the series so far. Liked the ending to the adventure with Blaine and arrival in Kansas. Blending with Oz was fun too. Yet several hundred long drawn out pages of this book dealt with Roland's past. A past that we had picked up enough on in the previous novels. A past that gained nothing (actually lost some of its allure via enigma revealed) and that was so horribly predictable, I cursed myself for reading each page religiously. Thankfully, King is a master storyteller which made the experience bearable. If he didn't tell a good tale and have some decent parts outside of Roland's past this would have been a total flop.
This book was enthralling and frustrating in all the best ways, that damn cöos was possibly one of the most hateable characters I've ever read, and the last book had Blaine!
By far the best in the series. I love a backstory and in this book Roland tells the tale of his past.
Gripping and well written with a bitter-sweet ending.
Gripping and well written with a bitter-sweet ending.
3 1/2
Fantastic ending. It just dragged through the hundreds-page long backstory for me.
Fantastic ending. It just dragged through the hundreds-page long backstory for me.
Absolutely the BEST of the series!!! LOVED, LOVED, LOVED IT!!!
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
tense
slow-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
In an earlier review I wrote for Mervyn Peake's "Titus Groan", I spoke of a so-called "mountain of originality"; the slopes being the least original works, and the summit being works of art that are wholly original (or as close as you can get) and have no comparable peers. They are the things unlike any other, defying genre, expectations, or both.
Add the Dark Tower series to that list.
Stephen King's genre bending, mind twisting, multiverse connecting take on fantasy continues with "Wizard and Glass", the fourth book in the series. The previous one, "The Waste Lands", ended on a pretty big cliffhanger and this book picks right up immediately after. Depending on your personal taste you may or may not like how King handled the getting out of that situation, but nevertheless Blaine the Mono is not a very big part of this book. Instead we go back, as Roland has occasion to tell us of his younger days...
This is really a story within a story. The large majority of the book is not actually concerned with the questors for the Dark Tower that we know; instead it is one giant flashback about Roland's first love, Susan Delgado, and the events surrounding how he and his friends Cuthbert and Alain came to be in that place. This move has also been pretty divisive. Some people will hate that the main story just comes to a crashing halt for a couple hundred pages, while others will relish in the opportunity to get more backstory on Roland. This book is pretty much one 900 page side quest. I can see how someone following the books at the time of their publication would be more than annoyed with this; to wait years since "The Waste Lands" only to have the new book barely move the story along sounds incredibly frustrating.
Of course, this is Stephen King, so it's pretty well done. This side story is as engaging and well written as the main one, and I never once minded for a second being pulled away from the quest for the tower. The character of Susan Delgado is incredibly well realized, like all the other characters, and the relationship between her and Roland is believable and real. Everything from the suspense and the stakes to the slide towards the inevitable death you know is coming is incredibly well executed. It's hard to tell a story that we know the ending to. We know all along that Susan Delgado has to die; that's not a spoiler, it's just what we know going in, but watching how it happened was heart-wrenching all the same. Charyou Tree.
The Dark Tower series is on a serious roll. I don't know yet if I like this one more that "The Waste Lands", but it looks like it only gets better from here. Regardless of what you think about the giant flashback, "Wizard and Glass" fleshes out the world in a way that has me totally hooked now. I'm on the path of the beam, heading towards the Dark Tower, and the clearing at the end of the path
Add the Dark Tower series to that list.
Stephen King's genre bending, mind twisting, multiverse connecting take on fantasy continues with "Wizard and Glass", the fourth book in the series. The previous one, "The Waste Lands", ended on a pretty big cliffhanger and this book picks right up immediately after. Depending on your personal taste you may or may not like how King handled the getting out of that situation, but nevertheless Blaine the Mono is not a very big part of this book. Instead we go back, as Roland has occasion to tell us of his younger days...
This is really a story within a story. The large majority of the book is not actually concerned with the questors for the Dark Tower that we know; instead it is one giant flashback about Roland's first love, Susan Delgado, and the events surrounding how he and his friends Cuthbert and Alain came to be in that place. This move has also been pretty divisive. Some people will hate that the main story just comes to a crashing halt for a couple hundred pages, while others will relish in the opportunity to get more backstory on Roland. This book is pretty much one 900 page side quest. I can see how someone following the books at the time of their publication would be more than annoyed with this; to wait years since "The Waste Lands" only to have the new book barely move the story along sounds incredibly frustrating.
Of course, this is Stephen King, so it's pretty well done. This side story is as engaging and well written as the main one, and I never once minded for a second being pulled away from the quest for the tower. The character of Susan Delgado is incredibly well realized, like all the other characters, and the relationship between her and Roland is believable and real. Everything from the suspense and the stakes to the slide towards the inevitable death you know is coming is incredibly well executed. It's hard to tell a story that we know the ending to. We know all along that Susan Delgado has to die; that's not a spoiler, it's just what we know going in, but watching how it happened was heart-wrenching all the same. Charyou Tree.
The Dark Tower series is on a serious roll. I don't know yet if I like this one more that "The Waste Lands", but it looks like it only gets better from here. Regardless of what you think about the giant flashback, "Wizard and Glass" fleshes out the world in a way that has me totally hooked now. I'm on the path of the beam, heading towards the Dark Tower, and the clearing at the end of the path