The Dark Tower Thread

[J.]

This thread is for those that have read one of the most compelling stories of our time, Stephen King's The Dark Tower series.

While I freely admit, King is not a very good writer, he is an excellent story-teller.

I just finished the fifth book in the series. For those of you that have read it, WTF????? Those last 8 pages uncovered more questions than the previous 700 pages gave answers!

Since no one has read the final two books in the series, lets speculate! Who do you think the Crimson King really is? I am now wondering if it is Stephen King himself. Anyone got any other ideas? Do you think ROland will actually ever reach the Tower?

Another question I keep wondering about is when the young boy that Ralph Roberts saved in Insomnia will become a key character.

For those of you that haven't joined the journey to The Dark Tower, now is as good a time as any.

I'm off to start at the beginning again....

 

[Black Winter Day]

1) i've read em all. wolves of the calla was probably my least favorite so far, but was still an entertaining read... finished it the day it came out.

2) the last 8 pages of wolves serves 2 purposes: to piss people off with more mysteries and to get you to go back and read salems' lot and other "tie in" books. king is no idiot.

3) the crimson king is the bad guy from zero wing.

4) roland will not make it into the tower. either that, or he comes to a choice between his friends and the quest... and chooses his friendship.

5) ralph roberts HIMSELF will be included in the following books. so will stephen king. so will the kids from "eyes of the dragon".

6) i can't wait for "song of susannah". i'm anxious for that special package she's about to deliver.

7) is it just me, or can any random bum not just wander onto the vacant lot and step on that fuckin rose?

 

[J.]

1) i've read em all. wolves of the calla was probably my least favorite so far, but was still an entertaining read... finished it the day it came out.

you read fast.

2) the last 8 pages of wolves serves 2 purposes: to piss people off with more mysteries and to get you to go back and read salems' lot and other "tie in" books. king is no idiot.

I've read all the tie-in books except Black House, which is the sequel to The Talisman, which I couldn't get into. Hopefully Black House will be a good read without THe Talisman.

I'm still confused about King name-checking himself and his own book. Seriously, what is that all about?

I read Salems Lot years ago. It's good, but not pertinent to The Tower. I'm wondering if the leader in Thunderclap is Barlow.

3) the crimson king is the bad guy from zero wing.

Who? Zero Wing?

4) roland will not make it into the tower. either that, or he comes to a choice between his friends and the quest... and chooses his friendship.

Yeah, that sounds possible. But who knows? All signs say he won't make it. In fact, I'm thinking only Jake will make it to the top.

5) ralph roberts HIMSELF will be included in the following books. so will stephen king. so will the kids from "eyes of the dragon".

I love Ralph ROberts. Insomnia was probably my favorite non-DT book from King. I hope we hear more of the three bald midget doctors. You think King himself will be a character?

6) i can't wait for "song of susannah". i'm anxious for that special package she's about to deliver.

I hope King doesn't make the "chap" part of the ka-tet.

7) is it just me, or can any random bum not just wander onto the vacant lot and step on that fuckin rose?

No. THat's just it. ANyone going near the rose immediately feels good/positive about everything, so no one wants to destroy it.

 

[Black Winter Day]

first of all...
"Who? Zero Wing?"

just watch this. now. http://www.planettribes.com/allyourbase/video.shtml


"You think King himself will be a character?"

i'm 95% sure... go here for any hints/theories/facts. http://www.thedarktower.net/


"I hope King doesn't make the "chap" part of the ka-tet."

i say either this happens or they both die at birth. you know what would be funny? if the baby ended up being invisible like the daddy...


"No. THat's just it. ANyone going near the rose immediately feels good/positive about everything, so no one wants to destroy it."

what about the bums on heroin and coke that are ALREADY feeling the uber-good vibes?

 

[Papa Josh]

I've only read the first 3 Dark Tower books. What was the 4th one called?

I thought Insomnia was boring and found it ironically titled considering reading it made me tired...

I agree with Dreamlord in that King isn't the best writer, skillwise, but his storytelling abilities are phenomenal. I haven't read anything from him in quite some time....

Some of my faves from King include (aside from the well known classics):

Needful Things
Eyes Of The Dragon
The Dark Half
Desperation

But what I really like are the collections of short stories..

Different Seasons
The Bachman Books
Night Shift
Monkey Shine


I was on a big Clive Barker kick for awhile though and hence, haven't touched King. Desperation and Insomnia are probably the most recent for me...

Right now I am immersed in Tolkien's "The Hobbit."

 

[Black Winter Day]

Different Seasons
The Bachman Books
Night Shift
Monkey Shine

"different seasons" is definitely in the running for best collection of stories ever written. "the breathing method" is nothing short of phenomenal.

by the way, that last one is "skeleton crew", but i think romero made the movie "monkey shines" from the story in the book. i could be wrong that it's based on that, though...

 

[J.]

I've only read the first 3 Dark Tower books. What was the 4th one called?

#4 was called Wizard and Glass and is probably is one of the better in the series. My fave is still #3, The Wastelands.

I thought Insomnia was boring and found it ironically titled considering reading it made me tired...

Really? I'll admit the first hundred or so pages are a yawn, but once Ralph Roberts starts getting insomnia, and seeing people's auras and the three bald midget doctors, it gets really interesting. Plus, to get the full Dark Tower story, Insomnia is a must read, as the three bald midget doctors are agents of The Beam.

Some of my faves from King include (aside from the well known classics):

Needful Things
Eyes Of The Dragon
The Dark Half
Desperation

I didn't like THe Dark Half too much. And Desperation was just a typical monster story to me. If you liked Desperation, you'll probably like its companion book, The Regulators, which King wrote under Richard Bachman.

Needful Things ruled. Ees of the Dragon was very entertaining as well. I like the Randall Flagg character and how he's in several King books.

THe Stand is still one of my all time faves.

Different Seasons
The Bachman Books
Night Shift
Monkey Shine

I agree with you and BWD that Different Seasons is one of the best collection books ever written.

The Bachman Books were good as well, especially Rage and The Long Walk.

I was on a big Clive Barker kick for awhile though and hence, haven't touched King. Desperation and Insomnia are probably the most recent for me...

For me, Clive Barker is the complete opposite of King. Barker is by far the better writer, but his story-telling abilities don't match King's. Barker just seems to go off on tangents describing everything in a room or clothes or something.

I've read Imajica, Weaveworld, and The Great and Secret Show and Imajica was by far the best.

 

[Demonspell]

The epilogue of DT5 is clearly intended to build suspense and cause major confusion among the readers...I predict there will be even more overlapping between the worlds, and that either King himself will make another appearance and/or when the Crimson King is finally revealed, it will go against everyone's expectations. As for whether Roland will survive, I'm sure at least one main character will get killed off before the end (I was half expecting it to happen in Wolves).

PS That illustration for the next book looks fucking awesome...and I loved Desperation but hated The Regulators.

 

[J.]

I was kinda expecting someone to die in Wolves also, mainly Susannah. I predict Roland will fall in #6 or the beginning of #7, leaving Eddie in charge. But I still think only Jake will make it to the top of The Tower.

I'm probably completely wrong but it's fun to guess.

Plus, why are we even worried about anyone dying, when they can just pop up inanother world, i.e. Father Callahan and Jake.

 

[Papa Josh]

For me, Clive Barker is the complete opposite of King. Barker is by far the better writer, but his story-telling abilities don't match King's. Barker just seems to go off on tangents describing everything in a room or clothes or something.

I've read Imajica, Weaveworld, and The Great and Secret Show and Imajica was by far the best.

Agreed. Sometimes Barker can actually lose the reader with his vast knowledge of the English vocabulary.. I mean, some of the words he uses... gotta have a thesarus nearby..

But I love Weaveworld, finished Imagica (after like a two year flirt with the book), The Damnation Game, and The Inhuman Condition. The Thief Of Always was an excellent story, but different for Barker. And I own Galilee, but haven't read it yet...

 

[J.]

I've always wanted to read Galilee. Something about the cover just draws me in. The Damnation Game and Sacrament also look/sound good.

 

[Demonspell]

Speaking of art and Clive Barker, his own paintings are quite bizarre and fascinating...you can view them on his official site.

 

[Black Winter Day]

Well, the 7th and final book is out. What are you waiting for, J.?

 

[J.]

dude, it's gonna be a while. I've still got to read the rest of The Talisman, then Black House, then Little Sisters of Eluria, then I'll hit #7

The fiance, though, wants to read it now. She'll start this weekend when I go get it.

I'm so curious as to what happens. Have you already read it or something?

 

[Black Winter Day]

No, I'm too busy this week... probably get around to it by Tuesday or so.

 

[Demonspell]

The final book had somehow managed to escape my awareness until leaving a bookstore yesterday, will purchase it before or during this weekend...all I can tell is that it's much longer than SOS and Michael Whelan is doing the illustrations again...

 

[speed]

Ive read a number of reviews of this final chapter, and they were all quite negative. SOmething like that it took hundreds of pages, and a few books, but there is still no resolution to the story. I chuckled.


If I may be so bold, why do you find King's books to be entertaining. Sorry for being a prick, but for the life of me I cannot understand the appeal of his overly verbose writing, nor the subjects he writes of. We all have our tastes, but some I cant understand, and I need explanation from others. So, if you would be so kind, please explain why you enjoy King?

 

[J.]

Ive read a number of reviews of this final chapter, and they were all quite negative. Something like that it took hundreds of pages, and a few books, but there is still no resolution to the story. I chuckled.

To be honest, this would not surprise me in the least. I was disappointed in Book #6 in that nothing really happened except one major plot turn, which in itself didn't solve anything at all! Book 6 was simply to leave us hanging on for book 7, and nothing more.

I loved books 1-4 with #3 being the best. Book 5 had its moments.

If I may be so bold, why do you find King's books to be entertaining. Sorry for being a prick, but for the life of me I cannot understand the appeal of his overly verbose writing, nor the subjects he writes of. We all have our tastes, but some I cant understand, and I need explanation from others. So, if you would be so kind, please explain why you enjoy King?

Personally, I do find a lot of his books to be quite boring. THe Tommyknockers, The Talisman, Rose Madder, Desperation, and The Regulators are some examples of his books that I struggled through.

But when King is on, he is on. The Stand, The Dark Tower Series, Insomnia, Different Seasons, Four Past Midnight, The Green Mile are all fantastic books. Granted, it takes his stories a long, long time to get going. But once you reach the meat of the story, it doesn't let up until the last page.

One book that I'm on the fence with is It. The story was really good, and the book explains a lot more about the origins of It than the movie does, but damn it had a lot of dragging parts, which I guess I should expect with a book over 1000 pages long.

I've never had a problem with his writing style. QUite frankly he's not a very good writer, but a fantastic story teller. He does go into vast detail on occasion, and this is where he loses me.

 

[Black Winter Day]

Wow. The Talisman is my absolute favorite King book, as well as several others I know who've read it.

Strangely enough, there are just as many who loathe it and absolutely cound not get through it.

I dunnno.

 

[J.]

I'm around page 300 (out of 768) and I'm just going sub-chapter by sub-chapter. Nothing really engrossing has happened yet. Right now, Jack and WOlf are just hitchhiking along some road heading west. I'm determined to read it, though, so I fully understand Black House.