Poll: The man in black fled across the desert...
- Thread starter Arsen
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Care to enlighten the uninitiated? Not everyone in the world is familiar with your favorite literary material, I'm afraid. Someone please attach an explanation as to what these books are. A series, I'm assuming?
Care to enlighten the uninitiated? Not everyone in the world is familiar with your favorite literary material, I'm afraid. Someone please attach an explanation as to what these books are. A series, I'm assuming?
These are the Steven King "Dark Tower" series. They're dense, self-referential fantasy novels. I'm of mixed opinion of them. On the one hand, I read them all, on the other, they didn't really stick with me, and I don't have many fond memories of the series (which is really bad considering how many pages of the stuff I read). It was like Steven King was trying to tie all his works together in some meta-fiction, to mixed results. Asimov did the same thing near the end of his life, and the result was equally dense.
I disagree, I found it to be the most compelling, intelligent, and profound journey I have ever seen inside of fiction. So many ideas in that series have been done before but Stephen King practically reinvented fantasy with the first two books alone.Dr Faust said:
I think the Walkin' Dude was at his best in The Stand
Actually, I feel that that book is one of King's Best works
Actually, I feel that that book is one of King's Best works
I agree. The first two books were great fantasy. I must admit I own two of the series in hardback. Perhaps I misspoke when I called them dense. My primary complaint was that he tied so many of his other works back to the Dark Tower that it, at times, seemed forced.Arsen said:
I loved The Talisman, and I could see parts of that story in the journey of Roland. The sequel Black House took the characters from Talisman and tied them inextricably to the Dark Tower saga. I felt that The Talisman, The Stand, and the rest of the works stood well on their own and that by extending their narratives to include the Dark Tower, King took away a little of what made those stories special. I felt Jack Sawyer got really undercut by this, and it seemed to me that many of King's antagonists were changed to suit the Dark Tower (in a way that reminded me a bit of Kingdom Hearts changing Disney villains).
I really like Steven King's work, but I felt some parts of the Dark Tower did a disservice to other parts of King's library.
OP in future please put more thought into your threads. I think I've heard of the Dark Tower... None of the rest look familiar at all.
I disagree. If you've read the book(s), then that line should ring through & you'll know EXACTLY what the thread is about. It's a bit like someone titling a thread "Don't Panic!" for a Hitchiker's guide to the Galaxy related thread.LooK iTz Jinjo said:
My experience of the series was a bit of a love/hate thing.
I read the Gunslinger when it first appeared in the UK back in 1984, and enjoyed it. I then had to wait on average 5-6 years for the next four books in the series. By that time Wolves of the Calla came out, I was 33 and my reading tastes changed, but I kinda stuck with it despite worrying about what Stephen King was playing at.
The next year, the final two books came out. I really felt that the story had taken a turn for the worse. It all felt rushed, predictable, and seemed to pish all over the fact that I had spent 2/3rds of my life waiting for the moment when I would finally read the conclusion. I know many life-long fans felt the same.
It's like Stephen King just thought "Fuck it! Let's put loads of references to my other books in, even include myself & my accident in there, kill off some of the popular characters and end the whole thing in the easiest, most formulaic & unsatisfying way possible! I just want rid of it!"
I loved the Wastelands, where the ka-tet started on the path of the beam. There were some fantastic moments there, like the rescue of Jake from the monster house, the rose, and the riddles of Blaine. It was a killer of a cliffhanger, and left me waiting 7 years for the resolution.
Wizard & Glass was also great. It was, however, a bit of a standalone story that sort of just stuck any progress for the journey.
After that, Wolves of the Calla pandered to the wishes of the fans by bringing Father Callahan in from Salems Lot, and the first bits of chucking in a Stephen King book within a Stephen King book made me feel a bit worried that King was beginning to lose the plot...literally.
The next two books in the series were so bad, I felt really cheated. They had some absolutely great moments in there, but the overall plot was ruined. 3 Kings? The world Trade Centre? The spider-thing from 'IT' (or one just like it) being born for no reason?
And finally, the half-baked end that rendered all the build-up of Roland's past life in Gilead completely worthless. If King had to do something, why not reward the patient reader with a proper resolution. I don't buy into the fact that King makes an apology within the very novel that he's writing about the end, and that there is no alternative ending. There are plenty. Even Roland dying, having defeated the crimson king, would have been a better ending. - No. My opinion is that the last books of the Dark Tower were rushed, and badly thought out, written by a man who was bored with the whole thing, and just wanted to get rid of it.