The Dark Tower Book 7: The Dark Tower by Stephen King
I reached the Dark Tower! It’s been a long time a-coming, but I have finally reached the end of Stephen King’s epic fantasy series The Dark Tower.
I began reading the books back in May 2011 in a readalong with Teresa and Jenny at ShelfLove. It was to have been a monthly readalong, but I only managed the first four then, adding the next two at roughly six monthly intervals, and the last a couple of months later. That totals 4111 pages of sometimes very small print, and I’ve loved it, and what is clear from Stephen King’s notes that accompany the volumes, so did he.
He wrote the seven books over a period of 34 years, starting in 1970; turning out the first four steadily through the years up to 1997, then the final three in a splurge over two years ending in 2004.
This epic saga is truly genre-bending. Starting off very much a Western, before descending into SF and Horror with monsters aplenty, but also containing elements of high and dark fantasy and, most surprisingly, the Arthurian chivalry of medieval knights – although when you find out that King’s inspiration was Robert Browning’s poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came, it makes sense – the poem is included in volume VII as an appendix.
As it’s a complex saga you have to begin at the beginning. Here are the links to my posts on the previous six volumes, so you can start at the appropriate point for you. Although I’ve finished the main series, I now have a new volume to read – The Wind Through the Keyhole, published in 2012, which sits between Vols 4 & 5.
- Vol 1:The Gunslinger
- Vol 2:The Drawing of the Three
- Vol 3:The Waste Lands
- Vol 4:Wizard and Glass
- Vol 5:Wolves of the Calla
- Vol 6:Song of Susannah
Now for what I thought of the last book …
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The final volume is where it gets really personal. Stephen King fans will know that the author was almost killed by an out of control driver whilst out walking near his home back in 1999.
In Song of Susannah, King introduced himself as a character and Eddie and Roland went through a door to visit him to get him to help them. In The Dark Tower, they realise that he hasn’t done what he was meant to, and that the end of their story may not get to be written, so Roland and Jake go back…
He (Jake) opened his eyes. ‘The writer? King? Why are you mad at him?’
Roland sighed and cast away the smoldering butt of his cigarette; Jake had already finished with his. ‘Because we have two jobs to do where we should have only one. Having to do the second one is sai King’s fault. He knew what he was supposed to do, and I think on some level he knew that doing it would keep him safe. But he was afraid. He was tired.’ Roland’s upper lip curled. ‘Now his irons are in the fire, and we have to pull them out. It’s going to cost us, and probably a-dearly.’
Jake and Roland have to stop King being killed in a potentially fatal car accident. It appears to happen exactly as it did in real life, except that Jake and Roland are present. Even the guy driving the car with the distracting dog has the same name as the real driver of the car that nearly killed King. King’s treatment of himself is again, largely uncomplimentary.
I’m not going to expound on the plot except to say that it ties up many ends, brings in even more references to King’s other works, and is full of drama in Roland’s relentless quest.
As to Roland – Does he ever reach the top of the Dark Tower?
I can’t tell you, but I certainly didn’t predict the ending! (8.5/10)
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Source: Own copy.