The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
by Stephen King
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Book Summary Information
Author: Stephen KingEdition: Mass Market Paperback
Audio: English (Unknown); English (Original Language); English (Published)
Published: 2006-08-22
ISBN: 1416524525
Number of pages: 1072
Publisher: Pocket Books
Product features:
- ISBN13: 9781416524526
- Condition: New
- Notes: BRAND NEW FROM PUBLISHER! 100% Satisfaction Guarantee. Tracking provided on most orders. Buy with Confidence! Millions of books sold!
Book Reviews of The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
Book Review: Beyond my wildest expectations...
Summary: 2 Stars
I just finished reading the Dark Tower series. I have been enjoying reading everyone else's reviews for the past couple days (although I am nowhere near close to reading them all) and I feel that I am now finally ready to add my own two cents. A lot of what I have to say has probably been covered before, but I do feel I have a couple new points and in any case I feel the need to vent. Of course there will be spoilers; I think that anyone who comes to this message board will probably be helpless to avoid them. I know I avoided reading what everyone else thought of the book before I was done- I wanted that much to be surprised by the ending that I had waited so long for! Now I wish I had just come on here first. I would have been saved a lot of disappointment.
When I first finished the book, I hated the ending. Absolutely hated it. If I wouldn't have rented it from the library, I probably would have done something destructive to it! Now I think the concept behind the ending at least had potential. But it was so confusing. What exactly did Roland do wrong, that he had to be punished in such a way? I could maybe understand if the Tower sent him back because he needed to do it over and over until he got some aspect of himself right, like he needed to love more, or something. But to send him back because he didn't have some ridiculous horn-key, and then NOT to send him back to the moment he could have picked the horn up and been given the choice to take it or not all over again? Why send him back, and imply that it's because he didn't have some key, but then send him back to the beginning of the series with the key on his belt? And it doesn't make sense that the Tower was punishing him for saving it, and that it would put itself in danger again by doing so! Was it punishing Roland for being so obsessed with it?? What was Roland supposed to do instead, quit without visiting it? Quit after he saved the beams? I thought the beams were secondary to the Tower, not the main driving force behind it!
As for the Tower itself... What a disappointment! So he gets there, and it's this shrine dedicated to his life?? I guess I could understand if maybe the contents of the rooms changed based on who was entering it, but that obviously wasn't the case because the Crimson King had shredded some of his baby clothes on the second floor before he went off on the balcony. (More on him in a minute.) It was all but promised in earlier references that the Tower was the center of all universes, right? The linchpin holding everything together? And different worlds were represented on different levels? And that harp thing that was in Blaine the Mono was played on the Upper Levels? And whoever had access to the room on the top floor could, if not rule the universe, then at least find a way to fix it? Did I miss something or what?? In the end, Roland was not allowed to rule the tower because he left some horn behind years and years ago??
As for the Crimson King... Why did the Tower open its door to him in the first place? And why not let him climb all the way to the top? Obviously the Dark Tower had its own way of taking care of unwanted intruders (which it apparently considered Roland). Did it trap CK on the balcony instead so Roland could kill him? Oh, wait, Roland didn't kill him anyway, nevermind. Why all this hoopla about Roland being the only one to get to the top, if the only thing waiting at the top was punishment? Why the cheap ending with the Crimson King? How disappointing! I was expecting a palaver, at least on the same level as Roland's palaver with Walter at the end of the first novel! So, after all this lead up to the Crimson King as this uber-villain in so many novels, we don't even get any more backstory on him? On what his motivations are? If he was just some silly old man on a balcony with sneetches, and he was throwing the sneetches at Roland anyway, and Roland could shoot the sneetches so easily anyway, why bother hiding behind that pyramid? Why not use his ability to plan a super awesome attack, that we have seen him demonstrate so many times before? (And WHY WAS THE ONLY ONE ALLOWED TO FINISH THE JOURNEY WITH HIM A HALF-WIT INTRODUCED MOST OF THE WAY THROUGH THE LAST NOVEL??) CK most definitely deserved a more exciting death than what he got. And I was thinking it was going to be so interesting, because Roland couldn't just shoot him to kill him because he was already dead anyway!
And don't even get me started on the ridiculousness that is Mordred! That whole thing was too much! Ok, I could see how he came into existence, I guess, because both Roland and Susannah got raped by those demons in different situations, so I can see how they would have Roland's sperm sample or whatever, but why use Susannah in that storyline at all? Why give Mia her own body only right before she gave birth, and part of a body in NYC? Why not either make Mia a real flesh and blood character, pregnant with Roland's child via the demon-rape, or have her be a spirit sharing/possessing Susannah's body and protecting the child? And why would Mordred be a spider? Why?? Where in the world did that come from? The Crimson King wasn't a spider, nor were any of the other characters that apparently had a piece of Mordred's lineage. Mordred wasn't even part demon, since Mia wasn't exactly a demon, just some kind of lonely spirit, and the demons that had a part in the conception were actually infertile. Mordred could really have been just cut out of the series altogether and no one would have been the wiser! Then, more time could have been spent adding other characters into the plot, like the ones from Black House and etc. that were promised but never delivered! Not to mention if Mordred was never introduced, then we could have had a real final showdown between Walter and Roland!
As for Susannah ditching out at the end... Come on. Given a choice between risking her life for the Tower (which she had been doing ALL THIS TIME) and possibly dying and being with Eddie in death, OR staying alive and being with some alternate version of Eddie and Jake, she chooses the latter?? Really?? And why, in this alternate reality, were Eddie and Jake brothers?? If they were together in some version of 1987, and Jake was 12 in some version of 1977, then in 1987 he would have been 22, and why not just make him and Eddie best friends or something? I didn't think times and places of birth (not to mention family structure) could be changed just because it's an alternate reality... Things like that are supposed to stay constant, aren't they?
In conclusion (because this has been quite the long rant) why exactly is Roland given friends, only to have them constantly die? If I remember correctly, only one death actually occurred because Roland chose the Tower, and that was when he was given the choice between saving Jake and following Walter. All the other deaths were not even necessarily due to Roland at all. (Although it WOULD have been nice to have more details about what happened on Jericho Hill.) He didn't ASK for a new ka-tet, but he was given one anyway. And, had he had his own way, he would have died the second time instead of Jake. So, if there was some kind of lesson to be learned there, it would seem that he did learn it. So really, what the f?
I was willing to deal with a lot in my pursuit of the Dark Tower. I put up with the ridiculous references to the Wizard of Oz (what was WITH THAT??), references to Harry Potter and etc. I put up with the awful Calla-speak that just would not go away. I even put up with Stephen King as a character. This horrible end, though, I just cannot excuse. Don't get me wrong, I did enjoy some parts like the battle of Algul Siento, but some of it was downright insulting. Literally. Some of it was literally insults being hurled at me by Stephen King writing in first person! Ok, Mr. King, don't worry, I will never make the mistake of reading your books or caring about your characters again. Nevermind the fact that you were once one of my favorite authors. While I think there is more to be said on the subject of the Dark Tower (an apology to your fans would suffice), don't worry, I'll leave you and your family alone. I won't write to you. You made it abundantly clear that you are not interested in my feedback, or even interested in having me as a fan. So congratulations, you lost one more annoying admirer, and may it do ya freaking fine.
Summary of The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
Creating "true narrative magic" (The Washington Post) at every revelatory turn, Stephen King surpasses all expectation in the stunning final volume of his seven-part epic masterwork. Entwining stories and worlds from a vast and complex canvas, here is the conclusion readers have long awaited -- breath-takingly imaginative, boldly visionary, and wholly entertaining.Roland Deschain and his ka-tet have journeyed together and apart, scattered far and wide across multilayered worlds of wheres and whens. The destinies of Roland, Susannah, Jake, Father Callahan, Oy, and Eddie are bound in the Dark Tower itself, which now pulls them ever closer to their own endings and beginnings . . . and into a maelstrom of emotion, violence, and discovery.
At one point in this final book of the Dark Tower series, the character Stephen King (added to the plot in Song of Susannah) looks back at the preceding pages and says "when this last book is published, the readers are going to be just wild." And he's not kidding.
After a journey through seven books and over 20 years, King's Constant Readers finally have the conclusion they've been both eagerly awaiting and silently dreading. The tension in the Dark Tower series has built steadily from the beginning and, like in the best of King's novels, explodes into a violent, heart-tugging climax as Roland and his ka-tet finally near their goal. The body count in The Dark Tower is high. The gunslingers come out shooting and face a host of enemies, including low men, mutants, vampires, Roland's hideous quasi-offspring Mordred, and the fearsome Crimson King himself. King pushes the gross-out factor at times--Roland's lesson on tanning (no, not sun tanning) is brutal--but the magic of the series remains strong and readers will feel the pull of the Tower as strongly as ever as the story draws to a close. During this sentimental journey, King ties up loose ends left hanging from the 15 non-series novels and stories that are deeply entwined in the fabric of Mid-World through characters like Randall Flagg (The Stand and others) or Father Callahan ('Salem's Lot). When it finally arrives, the long awaited conclusion will leave King's myriad fans satisfied but wishing there were still more to come.
In King's memoir On Writing, he tells of an old woman who wrote him after reading the early books in the Dark Tower series. She was dying, she said, and didn't expect to see the end of Roland's quest. Could King tell her? Does he reach the Tower? Does he save it? Sadly, King said he did not know himself, that the story was creating itself as it went along. Wherever that woman is now (the clearing at the end of the path, perhaps?), let's hope she has a copy of The Dark Tower. Surely she would agree it's been worth the wait. --Benjamin Reese
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