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A review by ojtheviking
Song of Susannah by Stephen King, Darrel Anderson
5.0
4.7 rounded up.
The quest for the Tower draws near a conclusion, as I have now read the penultimate volume - and enjoyed it!
One could say that this volume is split into two main narratives, as our main characters are separated from each other. Or, rather, Roland and his crew are separated from Susannah Dean. The previous book, Volume V: Wolves of the Calla, left us with a slight cliffhanger regarding Susannah's whereabouts, and so one of the narratives in this volume shows us where she went and what she is up to, while the other portion shows us how the others attempting to find and rescue her.
I was pleased to see this volume spend such a fair portion focusing on Susannah, as she's become one of my favorite characters throughout this series. Frankly, in my opinion, she is one of the characters that has had the most development overall in the series, and certainly in the last couple of volumes, after the introduction of the Mia persona.
I feel like this latest development also retrospectively gives more purpose to a moment in an earlier novel; a moment that could come across as borderline gratuitous then and there due to the circumstances. (Not that I'm generally a prude otherwise) That moment is now shown to have led to consequences that directly impact the main storyline in a way that ups the stakes for everyone involved.
As for the second narrative involving the rest of Roland's gang, there was another element introduced in the previous volume that made me curious as to how this would be utilized as the story progresses. One could argue that Stephen King has often borrowed from his own life whenever he is writing about a character whose profession happens to be that of an author. Whether it's the alcoholism of Jack Torrance in The Shining, or the paranoia of Paul Sheldon being trapped with a deranged fan, it's not too far-fetched to assume that King has implemented a few of his own flaws and fears in such stories.
However, in the Dark Tower series, he has now literally introduced himself as an actual character, albeit with some alternate history behind him; let's just say that the real-life accident that King was actually in had a different outcome in the Dark Tower's version of his life.
In one of the King-related Facebook groups I'm a member of, I saw some reference to this fact in a comment, which had me a little bit worried, because the person who wrote the comment felt that Stephen King writing himself into the story was such a ridiculous inclusion that they lost interest in reading. However, while I'll still hold off on making too much of a statement until I have read the next and final volume, to see how involved the fictional King is in the rest of the story, it wasn't that bad in my opinion, at least for now. There was a chance it could have come across as far more narcissistic, especially due to the implications of how King is connected to the entire story, but I felt that it was a fairly humble, partly tongue-in-cheek approach.
Compared to a couple of the previous volumes, as well as the next one, Volume VI was also a bit on the shorter side, clocking in at 434 pages. That wasn't really a bad thing to me. It kept the narrative - or, narratives - more focused. Because when it comes to Stephen King's writing, his digressions can often go either way. Some moments really paint a picture and expand the world-building, while others feel like ramblings put in almost for the sake of padding. With this volume being somewhat more compact, there wasn't that much of a risk of the latter.
With that said, now that I finally find myself about to take on the final main volume in this epic series (with only the follow-up/prequel story called The Wind Through the Keyhole after that), I absolutely don't mind that the next book is the longest part of the Dark Tower series. The grand finale! (...although I have heard some warnings about said finale, but I'll refrain from judgment until I have actually read it myself)
The quest for the Tower draws near a conclusion, as I have now read the penultimate volume - and enjoyed it!
One could say that this volume is split into two main narratives, as our main characters are separated from each other. Or, rather, Roland and his crew are separated from Susannah Dean. The previous book, Volume V: Wolves of the Calla, left us with a slight cliffhanger regarding Susannah's whereabouts, and so one of the narratives in this volume shows us where she went and what she is up to, while the other portion shows us how the others attempting to find and rescue her.
I was pleased to see this volume spend such a fair portion focusing on Susannah, as she's become one of my favorite characters throughout this series. Frankly, in my opinion, she is one of the characters that has had the most development overall in the series, and certainly in the last couple of volumes, after the introduction of the Mia persona.
I feel like this latest development also retrospectively gives more purpose to a moment in an earlier novel; a moment that could come across as borderline gratuitous then and there due to the circumstances. (Not that I'm generally a prude otherwise) That moment is now shown to have led to consequences that directly impact the main storyline in a way that ups the stakes for everyone involved.
As for the second narrative involving the rest of Roland's gang, there was another element introduced in the previous volume that made me curious as to how this would be utilized as the story progresses. One could argue that Stephen King has often borrowed from his own life whenever he is writing about a character whose profession happens to be that of an author. Whether it's the alcoholism of Jack Torrance in The Shining, or the paranoia of Paul Sheldon being trapped with a deranged fan, it's not too far-fetched to assume that King has implemented a few of his own flaws and fears in such stories.
However, in the Dark Tower series, he has now literally introduced himself as an actual character, albeit with some alternate history behind him; let's just say that the real-life accident that King was actually in had a different outcome in the Dark Tower's version of his life.
In one of the King-related Facebook groups I'm a member of, I saw some reference to this fact in a comment, which had me a little bit worried, because the person who wrote the comment felt that Stephen King writing himself into the story was such a ridiculous inclusion that they lost interest in reading. However, while I'll still hold off on making too much of a statement until I have read the next and final volume, to see how involved the fictional King is in the rest of the story, it wasn't that bad in my opinion, at least for now. There was a chance it could have come across as far more narcissistic, especially due to the implications of how King is connected to the entire story, but I felt that it was a fairly humble, partly tongue-in-cheek approach.
Compared to a couple of the previous volumes, as well as the next one, Volume VI was also a bit on the shorter side, clocking in at 434 pages. That wasn't really a bad thing to me. It kept the narrative - or, narratives - more focused. Because when it comes to Stephen King's writing, his digressions can often go either way. Some moments really paint a picture and expand the world-building, while others feel like ramblings put in almost for the sake of padding. With this volume being somewhat more compact, there wasn't that much of a risk of the latter.
With that said, now that I finally find myself about to take on the final main volume in this epic series (with only the follow-up/prequel story called The Wind Through the Keyhole after that), I absolutely don't mind that the next book is the longest part of the Dark Tower series. The grand finale! (...although I have heard some warnings about said finale, but I'll refrain from judgment until I have actually read it myself)