Finally reading THE DARK TOWER

I don’t know what the consensus about King inserting himself into the story is, but I actually really liked it… it just works in this batshit crazy series

Also I am very glad I read Salem’s Lot before Wolves of the Calla…

it is far and away my least favourite Dark Tower book. I have so, so, so many issues with it, primarily due to the very clear and marked change in authorial voice. It doesn't feel at all like the King who wrote the first four books, and that shift in voice just rubs me raw. And yes, I do hate the meta-ness of the series from this point forward -- it felt like a bridge too far and I feel like it never happens if King doesn't get in than accident. So I consider 5, 6 and large swaths of 7 to be incidental and entirely dependent on King's recovery, rather than a natural progression of the story.

I am still reeling from Oy’s death. I really wanted him to make it. Eddie and Jake dying were sad, but Oy was just too much.

I don’t have a concrete opinion about the ending yet, but after just reading a few theories briefly I know this question is going to keep me up at night. One idea I liked was that the tower was in the need of a new protector / God, and the multiple endless quests Roland goes on are to condition him to be worthy of fulfilling that role… or something like that.

Dandelo is the same species as Pennywise, right? That whole sequence was great at any rate.

What does the ending mean for Susannah and Eddie/Jake Torren? Is that timeline reset? Does the reset apply to every world, or just the world with the tower? So many questions…

I do not like how Walter / the man in black died. Not at all. This is definitely my biggest complaint. Ugh… I wanted one last showdown between him and Roland. It makes him feel so unimportant within the grand scope of the story. I also wish Sheemie had either lived, or more significance was given to his death.

especially the bit about Susannah. I hadn’t considered that, but it totally makes sense. TBH I completely forgot about the impaled billy-bumbler. But I still wish Oy went through that goddamn door with Susannah! You almost made me tear up at work by rereading that line about Oy’s heart…

Okay so to get my nitpicks out of the way: I personally found Part Four (the Roland/Susanna mini-saga) to be a strange step-down in storytelling from the rest of the novel. It was fine; I LOVED the three Stephen Kings scene as well as the description of endless cold nights slowly driving Susannah mad as the journey goes on (also the IT nod was fun), but it felt more in line with the episodic setpieces in The Gunslinger. I guess this makes sense structurally, since we all know where things conclude, but I was honestly a little perplexed at how flat and uninspired some of those sequences seemed in comparison to the unhinged brilliance I read in the first two-thirds of the book. I was CERTAIN The Dark Tower was going to overtake The Waste Lands by mid-point, but once I read that section I started thinking, "Hmm. Maybe not." But that's okay because Part Five and more importantly the Epilogue/Coda were pitch-perfect.

My second critique relates to Mordred, who I actually really enjoyed as a character (his birth is one of the highlights of the whole series), and I especially loved the irony of his relative irrelevance at the end (the much-heralded spawn of the devil slowly dying from exposure before he can even enter the game, etc). I didn't even mind Mordred killing Flagg. I personally wouldn't have done it, and I can see it being a real annoyance to readers since it commits the cardinal storytelling sin of icing your main Big Bad in a shallow attempt to prop up your NEW Big Bad, but it didn't irk me. No, my issue with Mordred is that his function in the story becomes quite repetitive. He's introduced very early on and then spends the rest of the book following their trail, eating the people they encounter... and nothing else. I think King should've added a mid-book encounter between Mordred and Roland, or maybe another member of the ka-tet. Either Mordred attacks the group earlier on, or better yet Roland goes out into the desert to palaver with him. That would've totally fixed my issues with his arc.

And now for the good stuff, which is pretty much the entire rest of the book: The first half feels like a mile-a-minute rollercoaster ride jam-packed with exhilarating action and euphoric triumph. The entire Algul Siento subplot is one of my favorite stretches of the series... and then shit hits the fan and things are never the same again. I knew Eddie was going to die (I still sobbed). I had NO IDEA ABOUT JAKE!!! I swear, that shock death was more disarming than all the twists, all the weddings, trials by combat, and Night Watch stabbings of A Song and Ice and Fire combined. I literally burst out laughing; I simply couldn't process the BALLS of using his original Christ-sacrifice substitute (Jake Chambers, J.C.) to save his own life in the real world. It's so recklessly brilliant I couldn't believe it. That choice (along with all the other uber-meta moments in the last two books) is probably my favorite part of The Dark Tower story as a whole. This whole series to me is a celebration of the art of storytelling and unbridled creativity in general. I think literalizing those subtextual themes into the main plot is downright genius, and it allows Roland's quest to breach the constrictions of fiction and exist within the reader's very reality. It's so achingly beautiful and inspiring.

And finally, I absolutely loved how King hammers home the selfishness inherent in Roland's quest. Everything the ka-tet needed to accomplish they succeeded in halfway through via the attack on Algul Siento. Their whole purpose was to save the Beam, they succeed like badasses, and then fucking Roland STILL refuses to end his quest for the Tower, knowing full well it could put all of existence at risk. And because of that, he (and the reader) must pay the price. The last third of the book felt like a funeral procession, and it was so disheartening but so PERFECT that King should decide to compose the last stretch of his magnum opus in the key of tragedy. I cried SO HARD for Oy. I absolutely lost it when Roland thinks, "I only kill my family." I even cried when Roland begs Susannah to stay. My interpretation of the ending is not that Roland should choose to renounce the Tower in order to save Jake (since in doing so he would allow the Breakers to continue their evil work on the Beams). No, in my eyes Roland should have quit after liberating Algul Siento, saving the lazy writer's life, and ensuring the success of the Tet Corporation. Ka grants the tet another life together as a reward for their struggle, and Roland should've gone with Susannah through the door. If he did, he could've lived a happy life with his true family. And instead, he's cursed to repeat his vain quest over and over again until he learns his lesson, which he never will. I mean, it couldn't be more perfect.