Rob's Rumpus Room

The Dark Tower

From strong beginnings came a weak middle. From a weak middle came a strong ending. There be spoilers here.

King did a great job with this story. One of the best opening lines in any book in my opinion "The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed". I felt the stories strong, the characters fun, and the world intriguing. 2 things bother me about the series
1. Wizard and Glass
Ya lost me with Oz.

2. The final book, suddenly is narrated. We switch perspectives and story telling methods suddenly which I felt interfered with the actual story.

"Look here, no no , there. That's important, my narration is godlike. Mark this moment and mark it well, I want to include some really un-necessary attention here."

Somehow the very ending with Roland and the tower hit me hard with De' Ja Vu. I don't know when or where but I've seen that whole spiralling shrinking staircase before.

I have to say, minus wizard and glass, this is one of my top series.

LotR
Chronicles of Prydain
Chronicles of Narnia
The Dark Tower
Ender's Game (ok, until super bean)
Incarnations of Immortality

being some of the top selections.

Posted by Rob at October 22, 2004 08:45 PM