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beethatasitmay's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
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? It's complicated
5.0
zoth's review
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
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
5.0
skritex's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
tense
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Loveable characters? Yes
5.0
rwatkins's review against another edition
4.0
I really liked it. Overall: 4/5 (20.5/25)
A great ending to a long and thought-provoking epic fantasy series that raises questions about the concepts of time, space and reality. Like the other books in this series, it is an adventure story about the journey, with this one requiring an extra bit of patience. The characters, setting and themes are still as strong as always in a King novel. But let's face it, if you've read the other 6 or 7 books, then you're likely gonna read the ending no matter what this review says.
Minor Spoilers Below.
Plot: 4/5
This is the end of an epic adventure, but still heavily focused on the adventuring. The opening resolves the conflicts in the previous book's cliffhanger. The journey continues up until the very end, where the dark tower looms. There is another authorial insert, which didn't add anything to the plot for me personally, and felt more of a distraction. After 8 books, I was getting impatient at times with the journey itself feeling too extended.
The first half of the book has its own crescendo. I enjoyed the opening and most of what was done with the Devar-Toi section. I also liked the ending. Not as I expected, but I appreciated what King did and found it satisfying.
Characters: 4/5
The main ka-tet character work is strong as ever and returning characters were great.
New characters were a bit weaker, without clear motivations or dimensions. They served plot purposes but didn't feel dynamic enough themselves, which is something King typically does very well, very quickly, even with large casts. Mrs. Tassenbaum and Patrick Danville felt pretty flat. Joe Collins and Mordred were more interesting.
There are heavy character moments that landed strongly for me. These all involved the ka-tet so much time has been spent with, and nothing felt forced or out-of-place.
Setting: 5/5
New locations visited are all fantastic. The Blue Heaven portions with the Devar-Toi and the compound there, the surrounding Thunderclap, all great. The scene under the castle felt like running through a subway, with fun claustrophobic vibes and all. The scarlet field is beautiful. The dark tower itself I liked, too, though it may not be appealing to every reader.
Style: 3.5/5
The opening and ending were awesome. Some choices in between I am less enthusiastic about.
The cliffhanger needed to be resolved at the start and King wastes no time here, rewarding his patient readers well. The ending goes in a different direction than I was hoping for, but not in an undermining or bad way, and it was unexpected but still enjoyable.
The middle, the adventure/journey portion, was slow at times, with side-missions that interfere with the pacing. The tape-recordings didn't hold my attention or add enough to the established story. I didn't enjoy the authorial insert the second time any more than the first, despite appreciating the consequences. It's just an uncommon writing tool that rarely works for me. The trek through snow and town - this journey has been long enough already and I found myself getting impatient with new obstacles and characters being introduced so late in the series, with no time for me to grow to care about them. They felt more like stalling tactics than important additions to the story. Being so close to the end, I just wasn't interested in learning how to make my own deer-hide jacket.
Maybe the ending is so fulfilling because of that wait, the long journey, but certain parts were less interesting than others, and I felt that more in this book than the others in the series.
Themes: 4/5
As things wrap-up, not a lot of new questions are provoked. Time, distance, and reality all get played with once more. The power in art is literal. Finding joy in the journey, accepting fate versus hope for change are all new messages delivered here.
It's not King's best thematic work, but still better than in most other fantasy books.
A great ending to a long and thought-provoking epic fantasy series that raises questions about the concepts of time, space and reality. Like the other books in this series, it is an adventure story about the journey, with this one requiring an extra bit of patience. The characters, setting and themes are still as strong as always in a King novel. But let's face it, if you've read the other 6 or 7 books, then you're likely gonna read the ending no matter what this review says.
Minor Spoilers Below.
Plot: 4/5
This is the end of an epic adventure, but still heavily focused on the adventuring. The opening resolves the conflicts in the previous book's cliffhanger. The journey continues up until the very end, where the dark tower looms. There is another authorial insert, which didn't add anything to the plot for me personally, and felt more of a distraction. After 8 books, I was getting impatient at times with the journey itself feeling too extended.
The first half of the book has its own crescendo. I enjoyed the opening and most of what was done with the Devar-Toi section. I also liked the ending. Not as I expected, but I appreciated what King did and found it satisfying.
Characters: 4/5
The main ka-tet character work is strong as ever and returning characters were great.
New characters were a bit weaker, without clear motivations or dimensions. They served plot purposes but didn't feel dynamic enough themselves, which is something King typically does very well, very quickly, even with large casts. Mrs. Tassenbaum and Patrick Danville felt pretty flat. Joe Collins and Mordred were more interesting.
There are heavy character moments that landed strongly for me. These all involved the ka-tet so much time has been spent with, and nothing felt forced or out-of-place.
Setting: 5/5
New locations visited are all fantastic. The Blue Heaven portions with the Devar-Toi and the compound there, the surrounding Thunderclap, all great. The scene under the castle felt like running through a subway, with fun claustrophobic vibes and all. The scarlet field is beautiful. The dark tower itself I liked, too, though it may not be appealing to every reader.
Style: 3.5/5
The opening and ending were awesome. Some choices in between I am less enthusiastic about.
The cliffhanger needed to be resolved at the start and King wastes no time here, rewarding his patient readers well. The ending goes in a different direction than I was hoping for, but not in an undermining or bad way, and it was unexpected but still enjoyable.
The middle, the adventure/journey portion, was slow at times, with side-missions that interfere with the pacing. The tape-recordings didn't hold my attention or add enough to the established story. I didn't enjoy the authorial insert the second time any more than the first, despite appreciating the consequences. It's just an uncommon writing tool that rarely works for me. The trek through snow and town - this journey has been long enough already and I found myself getting impatient with new obstacles and characters being introduced so late in the series, with no time for me to grow to care about them. They felt more like stalling tactics than important additions to the story. Being so close to the end, I just wasn't interested in learning how to make my own deer-hide jacket.
Maybe the ending is so fulfilling because of that wait, the long journey, but certain parts were less interesting than others, and I felt that more in this book than the others in the series.
Themes: 4/5
As things wrap-up, not a lot of new questions are provoked. Time, distance, and reality all get played with once more. The power in art is literal. Finding joy in the journey, accepting fate versus hope for change are all new messages delivered here.
It's not King's best thematic work, but still better than in most other fantasy books.
alykat_reads's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
emotional
mysterious
sad
medium-paced
4.5
Personally, I'm really glad that I didn't read spoilers or any reviews of this before finishing the book. And because of that, I'll be hiding everything in spoilers. Read at your own risk.
Wow. It's been a journey, that's for sure. This wasn't my favorite book of the entire series, and perhaps because it was the last and knowing nothing else was coming after this, I felt some plot points and some of the writing just wasn't as good as others in the series. A few convenient circumstances is alright, but it felt like there were too many.
It really wouldn't be a King novel without a few of my favorites dying and/or being killed off, and that always gets the emotions going. Or making references to many of his other works (shoutout to Insomnia for being the first King book I ever read, and am looking forward to re-reading again at some point).
Taking into account the entire series.. It's about 5,000 pages. Is there ever going to be a satisfactory for all ending to a series that big? No. I've definitely been a person that has really not liked a book due to ambiguous / 'unfinished' ending. I don't necessarily think that this felt unfinished to me, but can totally see how others would see it that way; anticlimactic would probably be a better term. But as he writes, it's not about the ending, it's about the journey. And it's a long journey that I greatly enjoyed. Perhaps that part in the book made me more apt to accept the anticlimactic ending. Idk. I'm definitely a biased Constant Reader, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
It really wouldn't be a King novel without a few of my favorites dying and/or being killed off, and that always gets the emotions going. Or making references to many of his other works (shoutout to Insomnia for being the first King book I ever read, and am looking forward to re-reading again at some point).
Taking into account the entire series.. It's about 5,000 pages. Is there ever going to be a satisfactory for all ending to a series that big? No. I've definitely been a person that has really not liked a book due to ambiguous / 'unfinished' ending. I don't necessarily think that this felt unfinished to me, but can totally see how others would see it that way; anticlimactic would probably be a better term. But as he writes, it's not about the ending, it's about the journey. And it's a long journey that I greatly enjoyed. Perhaps that part in the book made me more apt to accept the anticlimactic ending. Idk. I'm definitely a biased Constant Reader, so take what I say with a grain of salt.
wakejyles's review against another edition
5.0
Ooof, man what to even say here. Took me almost a year and a half to get through this entire series and now that I’m finished it’s almost as if I’ve lost a friend (kind of dramatic I know). Without getting into any spoilers, I’ll just say that I thought this was a perfect way to end such an epic series. It’s bleak, tragic, and so violent, but still carries some hope with it all the way through. Loved it.
tomgenue's review against another edition
adventurous
dark
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? No
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.25
ianacook's review against another edition
3.0
Better than the last several in the series, but still a bit of a disappointment after all that came before it.
Overall, the series really should have been a trilogy at the absolute most, quite probably less.
Overall, the series really should have been a trilogy at the absolute most, quite probably less.
gassyhaggis's review against another edition
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
sad
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? It's complicated
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
- Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes
4.5
moonsea97's review against another edition
3.0
Story: 0.5
Characters: 0.5
Pacing: 0.5
Writing: 0.5
Impact: 1
OVERALL: 3/5 (C)
Characters: 0.5
Pacing: 0.5
Writing: 0.5
Impact: 1
OVERALL: 3/5 (C)