The Dark Tower series book Thread

[Stoney Mason]

I've decided to work my way through the series. I've read pretty much all of King except for the recent stuff. I actually started reading this when they originally came out. I got up the 3rd or 4th book I think and I was enjoying it but got busy life wise and didn't continue. So much time has passed that I've forgotten most of everything so I just started from the beginning again. Just like the first time I sort of didn't care for the first book that much but the second book is a big improvement. I'm about halfway through it currently. Since this is an ego thread I'll post my thoughts as I continue along.

[Human Snorenado]

Please, please don't.  That way lies severe and utter disappointment.  The first 3 books are very good, the 4th has it's moments and the 5th on are King at his meandering, self-indulgent worst.  They shit all over the promise from the early part of the series.

[Mupepe]

Yesssss.  I never got past the 4th book. I heard the rest were shit but I wanted to read them anyways so I've been reading the first again on my lunch break

[Phoenix Dark]

I'm going to try it eventually, but I've heard so many bad things about the later books in the series.

[Stoney Mason]

Please, please don't.  That way lies severe and utter disappointment.  The first 3 books are very good, the 4th has it's moments and the 5th on are King at his meandering, self-indulgent worst.  They shit all over the promise from the early part of the series.

I'm too much of a King fanboy to not do it. But I hear you.

I will say sometimes my taste sway from the conventional opinion on things. Not because I'm trying to be a contrarion but just because that's the way my tastes are. So maybe I will like the later stuff but then maybe I will hate it and the conventional opinion will also be my opinion.

Like I said both times I didn't care for the first book. Or maybe that's too strong but I had to force myself to finish them as I thought the initial book was too artsy and pretentious and the second book is where action and interesting things actually start to happen.

[Stoney Mason]

How many books are there in the series?

According to wikipedia

The Dark Tower: The Gunslinger (1982)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)—Locus Award nominee, 1998[3]
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)—Locus Award nominee, 2004[4]
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)—Locus Award nominee, 2005[5]
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)—British Fantasy Award winner, 2005[5]
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)

[Human Snorenado]

Stoney- I'm kind of w/ you on the early books; didn't think the first was all that and found the 2nd and 3rd to be really well written and full of great stuff.

That said, the latter books are another entry in the ever-growing catalog that for me should be self-evident:  if you are an artist, do all of your most important stuff when you're young and hungry, because when you get old your output is gonna suck.

[fistfulofmetal]

when i think of the series i am reminded of the "ps3 vs. 360 vs. wii" parody graph where the ps3 line is suddenly goes up and is winning and cuts to a pic of a crazy dude squiggling the line all over the place.

that's stephen king writing the dark tower series

[Stoney Mason]

Finished up The Drawing of Three. Enjoyable although I forgot about how bad Stephen King is at doing ethnic dialogue. Some of the Odetta/Detta dialogue is just cringworthy. The audio book reader doesn't help it either.


Also I was more aware of how much he is just making it up (the story and plot I mean) as he goes along than I was when I read it as a kid.

[BlueTsunami]

Finished up The Drawing of Three. Enjoyable although I forgot about how bad Stephen King is at doing ethnic dialogue. Some of the Odetta/Detta dialogue is just cringworthy. The audio book reader doesn't help it either.

It gets worse.

And the series generally drops in quality after Wolves of Calla. Wizard and Glass is still an absolute gem.

[Joe Molotov]

I guess it's just as well that Wizard and Glass is as far as I made it. Made it about a 100 pages into Wolves of Calla and then lost interest.

[chronovore]

I guess I'm happy I still have Wizard and Glass ahead of me. I think I've got Wolves of the Calla unread as well.

I liked the first book, but it didn't deliver what I expected. The 2nd and 3rd ones did, but I don't remember anything other than Blane the Mono, and Roland possessing a guy who has to fight his way out of a bad drug deal, naked. Blane was scary as hell at the time.

[Stoney Mason]

Finished the Wastelands. While there are some cheesy elements that I had forgotten about when I was younger I still enjoyed it overall and still feel that each book has been an improvement over the last. I have a feeling this is where I stopped last time because I can't remember how the

spoiler (click to show/hide)

Blaine the train

[close]

situation resolves itself.

[chronovore]

"mono"