Reviews

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.

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