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4.12 AVERAGE
4.12 AVERAGE
adventurous
tense
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
A mix
Strong character development:
Complicated
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Complicated
Content Warnings
Graphic: Child death, Death, Gun violence, Blood
Minor: Abortion
19 ve 99'un gizemi...
Kitabı bitireli 1 saat kadar oldu ama hala yapılan göndermeler ve son bölümdeki "ilginç" bağlantıları düşünüyorum. Kafamdaki sorular uzun süre zihnimi meşgul edecek gibi görünüyor. Her zamanki gibi sürükleyici, bir nefeste okunan bir eser olmuş. Yazarın eseri tamamlama sürecinde kitabı bekleyenler iyi sabretmişler dedikten sonra BURADAN SONRASI SPOİLER diyerek devam edeyim.
SPOİLER BAŞLANGICI
19 ve doksan dokuz, sayıların kurguyu getirdiği yer King'in kral değil imparator olduğunu düşündürdü. Nasıl bir zekadır ki bu kadar detayı tek aksama olmaksızın bir araya getirip oya misali işleyebilmiş.
O kapı nasıl açılacak sorusu serinin yeni kitabına başlayana kadar kafamı kurcalar da kurcalar. Ama elimdeki kitabı bitirmeden yeni esere geçmek yok, kendime söz verdim. Ya bitecek, ya bitecek. Millet serinin yeni kitaplarını beklerken yıllarca perişan olmuş ben de azıcık sabredivereyim. :)
Kitabın sonunda her zamanki gibi yazarın notu bölümü var. Esinlendiği insanlar; Kurosawa (yedi samuray), Sergio Leone, Peckinpah, Howard Hawkes ve John Sturgis gibi bambaşka dünyaları bir araya getirmesi de memnuniyet verici. "Muhtemelen Leone olmasaydı yazılamazdı. Ama diğerleri olmasa Leone'nin olup olmayacağı da tartışılır." cümlenin derinliğine bakar mısınız.
Ahh bir de bu kitapta Harry Potter'e snitch aracılığıyla selam çalışması harika bir detaydı. Çok sevdim velhasıl.
SPOİLER SONU
Kitabı bitireli 1 saat kadar oldu ama hala yapılan göndermeler ve son bölümdeki "ilginç" bağlantıları düşünüyorum. Kafamdaki sorular uzun süre zihnimi meşgul edecek gibi görünüyor. Her zamanki gibi sürükleyici, bir nefeste okunan bir eser olmuş. Yazarın eseri tamamlama sürecinde kitabı bekleyenler iyi sabretmişler dedikten sonra BURADAN SONRASI SPOİLER diyerek devam edeyim.
SPOİLER BAŞLANGICI
Spoiler
Son ana kadar Callahan'ın hikayesinin eksiğini sorguladım, şimdi bu adam gerçek mi yoksa kurgunun kurgusu mu? Kurgunun kurgusu kıvamındaki [b:Korku Ağı|18005933|Korku Ağı|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1433312960l/18005933._SX50_.jpg|3048937]'nı okumak şart oldu. Eyy Callahan sen kimsin ya hu? :)19 ve doksan dokuz, sayıların kurguyu getirdiği yer King'in kral değil imparator olduğunu düşündürdü. Nasıl bir zekadır ki bu kadar detayı tek aksama olmaksızın bir araya getirip oya misali işleyebilmiş.
O kapı nasıl açılacak sorusu serinin yeni kitabına başlayana kadar kafamı kurcalar da kurcalar. Ama elimdeki kitabı bitirmeden yeni esere geçmek yok, kendime söz verdim. Ya bitecek, ya bitecek. Millet serinin yeni kitaplarını beklerken yıllarca perişan olmuş ben de azıcık sabredivereyim. :)
Kitabın sonunda her zamanki gibi yazarın notu bölümü var. Esinlendiği insanlar; Kurosawa (yedi samuray), Sergio Leone, Peckinpah, Howard Hawkes ve John Sturgis gibi bambaşka dünyaları bir araya getirmesi de memnuniyet verici. "Muhtemelen Leone olmasaydı yazılamazdı. Ama diğerleri olmasa Leone'nin olup olmayacağı da tartışılır." cümlenin derinliğine bakar mısınız.
Ahh bir de bu kitapta Harry Potter'e snitch aracılığıyla selam çalışması harika bir detaydı. Çok sevdim velhasıl.
SPOİLER SONU
I know I’ve given each book in this series so far 5 stars, but to me they were captivating enough to warrant the rating. What a ride this has been so far, and I was so happy to see a familiar face from the Stephen King universe pop up.
Every time I read a Stephen King's book I remember how fast I can read a book. With all his weirdness this was (yet again) such a nice book to read!
Feels a lot quicker than 931 pages. It's basically a really long re-telling of Seven Samurai (which King acknowledges in his notes) along with a spaghetti western where the town bands together to defeat villains (name escapes me).
3 stars last time, 3 stars upon re-reading. Fun, but nothing very deep, and actually a bit of a departure from the earlier novels, a story in itself (although it does progress, slightly, the story of the Tower and the Beam).
3 stars last time, 3 stars upon re-reading. Fun, but nothing very deep, and actually a bit of a departure from the earlier novels, a story in itself (although it does progress, slightly, the story of the Tower and the Beam).
Initially, I thought this book warranted a three or three and a half star rating. But I think that's just because it felt like this book took forever to read and that's only because I've been distracted by a video game lately and haven't been reading as much. Every time I did take the time to read this book I enjoyed it thoroughly and therefore give it four stars.
I am beyond excited to hear that this series will finally be adapted to the big screen and I can only hope they don't ruin it. This is one of my all time favorite series and hopefully the movies will do it justice.
I am beyond excited to hear that this series will finally be adapted to the big screen and I can only hope they don't ruin it. This is one of my all time favorite series and hopefully the movies will do it justice.
3/5 stars, "liked it" (am I just too nice to give it two stars "it was ok"??)
Kind of feel like 2.5 stars is more appropriate.
This book, more than any of the previous in the series, made me very READY for a break from this saga when I was finished.
In the end, I kind of felt like I spent 600 pages reading slow build up to a final 20 page climax. Which is fine if that's what you want. It just takes a loooong time to get there. And, this story doesn't really feel (of course, I haven't read the future books, so I could be wrong about this) like it was necessary at all to move the larger plot along. It felt like one giant diversion that could be been avoided, or at the very lease, greatly abbreviated.
King's writing is still fun, detailed, and creative. I just felt like there was no way this book needed to be anywhere near as long as it was, and as such, I was tired of it by the end. My least favorite book in the series so far. There were about 30 pages near the end that were gripping, but the rest of the book did not feel that way.
Kind of feel like 2.5 stars is more appropriate.
This book, more than any of the previous in the series, made me very READY for a break from this saga when I was finished.
In the end, I kind of felt like I spent 600 pages reading slow build up to a final 20 page climax. Which is fine if that's what you want. It just takes a loooong time to get there. And, this story doesn't really feel (of course, I haven't read the future books, so I could be wrong about this) like it was necessary at all to move the larger plot along. It felt like one giant diversion that could be been avoided, or at the very lease, greatly abbreviated.
King's writing is still fun, detailed, and creative. I just felt like there was no way this book needed to be anywhere near as long as it was, and as such, I was tired of it by the end. My least favorite book in the series so far. There were about 30 pages near the end that were gripping, but the rest of the book did not feel that way.
I'm new to Stephen King, so the meta stuff so far has been mostly over my head. I've noticed a few homages and more than a few outright references, but if King was calling back to some of his other books I didn't notice. By the end of this one the level of meta-ness in the universe is way too hard to ignore. Coincidences or Ka? For the first half of the book I tried to think it was all coincidences, but that doesn't really add up. So I'll bite, I'll believe that this universe is an amalgamation of whatever Mr. King likes most about his work and others.
One thing that these last two books has impressed me with is the language and the slang that is so effectively introduced. It took a quarter of the book for the characters to start using the local figures of speech. It took me until three quarters, but still, internally I'm saying these weird things. I keep on almost saying "say thank you" instead of "thank you". I want to end sentences with "for the sake of your father", or "remember the face of your father". I'm still thinking "so it is", and that book was a month ago. I honestly want to use words like "sy", "palaver", "cousin" (the verb) and ka. They just feel so right. That's good writing.
One thing that these last two books has impressed me with is the language and the slang that is so effectively introduced. It took a quarter of the book for the characters to start using the local figures of speech. It took me until three quarters, but still, internally I'm saying these weird things. I keep on almost saying "say thank you" instead of "thank you". I want to end sentences with "for the sake of your father", or "remember the face of your father". I'm still thinking "so it is", and that book was a month ago. I honestly want to use words like "sy", "palaver", "cousin" (the verb) and ka. They just feel so right. That's good writing.
adventurous
dark
emotional
funny
hopeful
informative
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Plot
Strong character development:
Yes
Loveable characters:
Complicated
Diverse cast of characters:
Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus:
No
I finished the 5th in the series of The Dark Tower and that was very good; four stars. In that book they had just outwitted and slashed the wolves of the calla, which was the name of the book. The Wolves came to take one of every twin because they use something in the brains of those twins that lets them be sharing their mind Thoughts with each other, to give to prisoners that power The Dark Tower or the taking over of it, something like that.
When the wolves are done with the twins (it takes about a month), they bring them back on a train, and they are mentally disabled.
"Tian therefore plowed with his sister in the traces. No reason not to. Tia was roont, hence good for little else. She was a big girl—the roont ones often grew to prodigious size—and she was willing, Man Jesus love her. The Old Fella had made her a Jesus-tree, what he called a crusie-fix, and she wore it everywhere. It swung back and forth now, thumping against her sweating skin as she pulled."
So when the robot Andy let's Tian know that the wolves are coming in 30 days, he decides he doesn't want them to take one of his two oldest twins. In this town, calla bran mawr, for some reason most women have twins. He calls up a meeting of the town, to let them know that he thinks they should fight against the wolves.
" “Those who were kiddies when the Wolves came last time have grown up since and had kiddies of their own. There’s a fine crop here for those bastards. A fine crop of children.” He paused, giving them a chance to think of the next idea for themselves before speaking it aloud. “If we let it happen,” he said at last. “If we let the Wolves take our children into Thunderclap and then send them back to us roont.” "
The gunSlingers are close to this little village, and when the villagers ask them for help, they're Duty bound to help them. Eddie has a weird idea about the robot that hangs around town
" “You know about these Wolves.” “Oh, yes. I told sai Tian. He was wroth.” Again Eddie detected something like smugness in Andy’s voice . . . but surely that was just the way it struck him, right? A robot—even one that had survived from the old days—couldn’t enjoy the discomforts of humans? Could it?"
"Residents of the Calla realized that children birthed in twos were the exception rather than the rule in other parts of the world and at other times in the past, but in their area of the Grand Crescent it was the singletons, like the Jaffordses’ Aaron, who were the rarities. The great rarities. And, beginning perhaps a hundred and twenty years ago (or mayhap a hundred and fifty; with time the way it was, such things were impossible to pin down with any certainty), the Wolves had begun their raids. They did not come exactly once every generation; that would have been each twenty years or so, and it was longer than that. Still, it was close to that."
"The children, Overholser said, one of each set between the ages of perhaps three and fourteen, were taken east, into the land of Thunderclap. (Slightman the Elder put his arm around his boy’s shoulders during this part of the tale, Eddie noticed.) There they remained for a relatively short period of time—mayhap four weeks, mayhap eight. Then most of them would be returned. The assumption made about those few who did not return was that they had died in the Land of Darkness, that whatever evil rite was performed on them killed a few instead of just ruining them. The ones who came back were at best biddable idiots. A five-year-old would return with all his hard-won talk gone, reduced to nothing but babble and reaching for the things he wanted. Diapers which had been left forgotten two or three years before would go back on and might stay on until such a roont child was ten or even twelve. "
"The roont ones remained childlike in stature as well as in speech and behavior until about the age of sixteen. Then, quite suddenly, most of them sprouted to the size of young giants."
" “Zalman screamed one time for nine days without stopping,” Zalia said. Her voice was expressionless, but Eddie could see the horror in her eyes; he could see it very well. “His cheekbones pushed up. You could see it happening. His forehead curved out and out, and if you held an ear close to it you could hear the skull creaking as it spread. It sounded like a tree-branch under a weight of ice. “Nine days he screamed. Nine. Morning, noon, and in the dead of night. Screaming and screaming. Eyes gushing water. We prayed to all the gods there were that he’d go hoarse—that he’d be stricken dumb, even—but none such happened, say thankee. If we’d had a gun, I believe we would have slew him as he lay on his pallet just to end his pain. As it was, my good old da’ was ready to slit ’een’s thr’ut when it stopped. His bones went on yet awhile—his skellington, do ya—but his head was the worst of it and it finally stopped, tell gods thankya, and Man Jesus too.” "
"Once the growth-spurt was finished, Overholser said, some of them could be put to work. Others—the majority—weren’t able to manage even such rudimentary tasks as pulling stumps or digging postholes. You saw these sitting on the steps of Took’s General Store or sometimes walking across the countryside in gangling groups, young men and women of enormous height, weight, and stupidity, sometimes grinning at each other and babbling, sometimes only goggling up at the sky. They didn’t mate, there was that to be grateful for. While not all of them grew to prodigious size and their mental skills and physical abilities might vary somewhat, there seemed to be one universal: they came back sexually dead."
"When they reached their thirties, the roont twins grew abruptly, shockingly old. Their hair turned white and often fell completely out. Their eyes dimmed. Muscles that had been prodigious (as Tia Jaffords’s and Zalman Hoonik’s were now) went slack and wasted away. Sometimes they died peacefully, in their sleep. More often, their endings weren’t peaceful at all. The sores came, sometimes out on the skin but more often in the stomach or the head. In the brain. All died long before their natural span would have been up, had it not been for the Wolves, and many died as they had grown from the size of normal children to that of giants: screaming in pain."
"The trains which brought the children back were hauled by plain old locomotives (hopefully none of them named Charlie, Eddie thought), driverless and attached to one or perhaps two open flatcars. The children were huddled on these. When they arrived they were usually crying with fear (from sunburns as well, if the weather west of Thunderclap was hot and clear), covered with food and their own drying shit, and dehydrated into the bargain."
There's an adorable little Billy bumbler called oy, who is kind of like a dog but can talk a little bit, Who belongs to jake. On the evening when the Gunslingers introduce themselves to the villagers, oy wins all their love:
"Then Oy rose up on his rear legs, stuck one of them forward, and actually bowed over it. He wavered but kept his balance. His little black paws were held out with the palms up, like Roland’s. There were gasps, laughter, applause. Jake looked thunderstruck. “Oy!” said the bumbler. “Eld! Thankee!” Each word clear. He held the bow a moment longer, then dropped onto all fours and scurried briskly back to Jake’s side. The applause was thunderous. In one brilliant, simple stroke, Roland (for who else, Eddie thought, could have taught the bumbler to do that) had made these people into their friends and admirers."
Eddie has more conversation with Andy the robot, and Andy tells Eddie how he actually feels about the villagers:
" “They heap contumely on my head like hot coals and never do I raise a word o’ protest, let alone a hand. ‘Go here, Andy. Go there, Andy. Stop yer foolish singing, Andy. Stuff yer prattle. Don’t tell us of the future, because we don’t want to hear it.’ So I don’t, except of the Wolves, because they’d hear what makes em sad and I’d tell em, yes I would; to me each tear’s a drop of gold. ‘You’re nobbut a stupid pile of lights n wires,’ they say. ‘Tell us the weather, sing the babby to sleep, then get t’hell out o’ here.’ And I allow it. Foolish Andy am I, every child’s toy and always fair game for a tongue-whipping. But I won’t take a tongue-whipping from you, sai. You hope to have a future in the Calla after the Wolves are done with it for another few years, don’t you?” "
Eddie figures out that Andy is working with the whoever controls the Wolves of Calla, and he figures out a way to dismantle him:
"“Cry your pardon, Eddie of New York, but I see no guns.” “No,” Eddie agreed. “Me either. Actually all I see is a fucking traitor who teaches songs to the kids and then sends them to be—” Andy turned with terrible liquid speed. To Eddie’s ears the hum of the servos in his neck seemed very loud. They were standing less than three feet apart, point-blank range. “May it do ya fine, you stainless-steel bastard,” Eddie said, and fired twice. The reports were deafening in the evening stillness. Andy’s eyes exploded and went dark. Tian cried out. “NO!” Andy screamed in an amplified voice. It was so loud that it made the gunshots seem no more than popping corks by comparison. “NO, MY EYES, I CAN’T SEE, OH NO, VISION ZERO, MY EYES, MY EYES—” The scrawny stainless-steel arms flew up to the shattered sockets, where blue sparks were now jumping erratically. Andy’s legs straightened, and his barrel of a head ripped through the top of the privy’s doorway, throwing chunks of board left and right. “NO, NO, NO, I CAN’T SEE, VISION ZERO, WHAT HAVE YOU DONE TO ME, AMBUSH, ATTACK, I’M BLIND, CODE 7, CODE 7, CODE 7!” “Help me push him, Tian!” Eddie shouted, dropping the gun back into its holster. But Tian was frozen, gawking at the robot (whose head had now vanished inside the broken doorway), and Eddie had no time to wait. He lunged forward and planted his outstretched palms on the plate giving Andy’s name, function, and serial number. The robot was amazingly heavy (Eddie’s first thought was t... " (goodreads cuts off my highlights if they're too long.)
"He pointed east, toward Thunderclap. “Somewhere over there are poor creatures called Breakers. Prisoners. Andy says they’re telepaths and psychokinetics, and although I ken neither word, I know they’re to do with the mind. The Breakers are human, and they eat what we eat to nourish their bodies, but they need other food, special food, to nourish whatever it is that makes them special.” “Brain-food,” Roland said. He remembered that his mother had called fish brain-food. And then, for no reason he could tell, he found himself thinking of Susannah’s nocturnal prowls. Only it wasn’t Susannah who visited that midnight banquet hall; it was Mia. Daughter of none. “Yar, I reckon,” Slightman agreed. “Anyway, it’s something only twins have, something that links them mind-to-mind. And these fellows—not the Wolves, but they who send the Wolves—take it out. When it’s gone, the kids’re idiots. Roont. It’s food, Roland, do ya kennit? That’s why they take em! To feed their goddamned Breakers! Not their bellies or their bodies, but their minds! And I don’t even know what it is they’ve been set to break!” “The two Beams that still hold the Tower,” Roland said. "
The gunslingers, along with many of the town people, managed to defeat the wolves, who are just robots, and when they are hit on their little whirly gigs on top of their heads, they just dissolve, and all that's left are their clothes. The same with their Gray horses.
"
“Six Beams connecting twelve portals,” Jake said. “The twelve portals are at the twelve ends of the earth. Roland, Eddie, and Susannah really started their quest from the Portal of the Bear, and picked me up between there and Lud.” "
" “So we’re on the Beam of the Bear. All the Beams come together at the Dark Tower. Our Beam, on the other side of the Tower . . .?” He looked at Roland for help. Roland, in turn, looked at Eddie Dean. Even now, it seemed, Roland was not done teaching them the Way of Eld. Eddie either didn’t see the look or chose to ignore it, but Roland would not be put off. “Eddie?” he murmured. “We’re on the Path of the Bear, Way of the Turtle,” Eddie said absently. “I don’t know why it would ever matter, since the Tower’s as far as we’re going, but on the other side it’s the Path of the Turtle, Way of the Bear.” And he recited: “See the TURTLE of enormous girth! On his shell he holds the earth, His thought is slow but always kind; He holds us all within his mind.” "
" “On his back the truth is carried, And there are love and duty married. He loves the earth and loves the sea, And even loves a child like me.” "
And on to the last book, something about susanna, who had another woman hidden somewhere inside of her, named mia, who went into labor with a monster baby after the gun fight was over. She escaped through the Standalone door into New York where she had that baby. We will find out what happens when we start the sixth book.
Remember, this is my second time through this series.
This book was a beast to get into. If I weren't so invested in the Dark Tower series, I probably would have quit. It ended up being good - I'd probably give it 3.5 stars - but it just took forever (300-400 pages of its 709-page girth) to get going.
Part of that, I think, is because I literally picked this up the same week Game of Thrones Season 8 was kicking off and a lot of my entertainment time and focus was dedicated to that obsession (reading reviews, blogs, fan theories, etc.). But still - a book should not take 300+ pages to warm up.
On an up note, it ends well and the next book (Song of Susannah) is off with a bang. Have it ready, because you'll want to dive right in immediately after finishing Book 5.
Part of that, I think, is because I literally picked this up the same week Game of Thrones Season 8 was kicking off and a lot of my entertainment time and focus was dedicated to that obsession (reading reviews, blogs, fan theories, etc.). But still - a book should not take 300+ pages to warm up.
On an up note, it ends well and the next book (Song of Susannah) is off with a bang. Have it ready, because you'll want to dive right in immediately after finishing Book 5.