The Dark Tower, (PtVI), Song of Susannah, book review. (Stephen King)

Well I'll be honest, I'm not really sure what happens in half of this book, the Susannah/Mia half, because when you're with her you're with Odetta Holmes (Detta/Det) and Mia - daughter of none mother of one - because they're all one person, even if they want different things! Of course this gets a little confusing from time to time, especially when they're talking to each other (which is constant) and arguing over who does what.

Susannah/Mia's baby is on its way and whilst the Calla are celebrating the destruction of the Wolves at the end of book five, she has snuck off with Black Thirteen (one of many glass orbs that have been in existence and exerted the Crimson King's bidding for a very long time - Lord of the Rings esk. The very same orb that controlled Rhea of the Coos who betrayed Roland's first and only true love, Susan Delgado in book IV of the series - of which Black Thirteen is the worst of course) and gone through the door in the cave from The Calla in Mid-World, to our world and New York.

The entire book takes place over a single day, with Susannah/Mia being in a park, finding a bewitched turtle trinket, which she uses to persuade people to do her biding - book hotel rooms, sing her songs, taxi her around town - all whilst visiting the Dogan in her mind (this being a room full of panels [I had film-set power station with banks of lights and dials in my mind when I read this] where she is able to control her unborn child's arrival, the pain she feels and weather the baby is asleep or not).

Confused yet?

Inter-spliced with this you have Eddie, Roland, Jake and Father Callahan (of Salam's Lot fame). The latter two are supposed to go to a small Maine town and track down the author of Salem's Lot (guess who) and find out how Callahan became a character in his fictional book when what happened in Salem's Lot was real - the low men, the vampires, all of it - but the door switches them around so Jake and Callahan end up in New York in search of Susannah/Mia, whilst Eddie and Roland find themselves looking for the author - who is of course the author of this book!

Still not confused?

When Eddie and Roland arrive in their 1999 all hell breaks loose and for me, this was the best bit of the book, the part I wanted more of. 'Gunslingers deal in lead' they say, which Andolini and his goons (low life Mafioso types who Eddie and Roland have already killed in the future back in book two) soon find out to their disadvantage when they ambush them - having been tipped off by Mia when she arrived - and the resulting gun battle and subsequent fifty pages or so disappears in a blur.

Where was I?

Oh yeah, so, back to New York with Jake and Callahan, hot on the trail of a very pregnant Susannah/Mia who's heading off to the Low Men to have her baby and . . . 

It ends. That's it.

The book just ends. Susannah/Mia are in the very depths of a downtown skyscraper surrounded by the Crimson King's henchmen (and chimeras) Mia finally realising that she will have no hold over her baby after its born (the child is Roland's by the way, by default - long story) with Jake and Callahan outside, ready to burst in and then . . . that's it!

The last twenty or so pages are a collection of diary entries by the fictional Stephen King about how the area that he lives in is the epicentre of strange sightings of people who may have travelled between worlds (known as Walk-ins) through doors not to dissimilar to those Roland, Eddie, Jake, Callahan and Susannah/Mia have used, and ends with him (the fictional him remember) reported as being killed by a van whilst out walking!!!

I'm so confused that a star rating will have to wait. That's not to say I didn't enjoy the book - it wasn't Kafka - and some of it was all that I love about King but, overall . . . well, maybe I'll know when I've read book seven.

 

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The Dark Tower, (PtVI), Wizard and Glass, book review. (Stephen King)

WOW, wow and er . . . okay then!

In this, the fourth part of Roland's quest for the dark tower, we are treated to possibly the longest flashback in any book I've ever read, and it is here that the wows are aimed. The rest of the book doesn't really move the story on that much hence the er, but it does deal with Blane the Mono from book three - rather poorly in my opinion - as if the author ran out of really tough riddles to fool the Mono and had to result to stupidity. Then there's the Wizard of Oz style ending where our quintet tackle the Emerald City and get back on the beam, but you can ignore all that really because the bones of this book are in the six hundred plus pages of flashback, in Mejis, when Roland was a child and fell in love and . . .

There are gun-toting cowboys guarding oil derricks and tankers full of the black stuff hauled by oxen. There is the witch, Rhea of the Coos, who is bewitched by the wizard's glass and sees all. There is Roland and his ka-tet, Cuthbert, and Alain, who have been sent to the outer reaches of Mid-World on the pretence of counting anything that can be counted, when really they have been sent away to protect them from trouble back home. Then there is Susan Delgado, the most beautiful maiden in all of Mid-World and it doesn't take long for her and Roland to become entwined in a love affair, an affair that will bring death and dishonour to many and haunt Roland for the rest of his days.

As Blood Moon gives way to the Kissing Moon and the world spins, Roland and his ka-tet begin counting, but it isn't long before the suspicions of the sheriff and his lawmen are raised. There is a standoff, which goes in the ka-tet's favour, Rhea sees Susan losing something that had been promised to the Mayor, and there is a suspicious amount of activity in the woods where the crude oil still flows.

Asides from the beginning, where Eddie beats Blane with a riddle that isn't a riddle, you just fall into the narrative and can't wait to get to the Reaping fair. There are a lot of characters in this book but they all differ in ways that keeps the reader entertained and never confused. There is death, dishonour, love, fear, and pain, but the writing is some of the author’s very best so as you speed through the near nine hundred pages, you too fall in love with Susan, fear for Roland, wonder at Alain and Cuthbert's abilities, all whilst wondering how they will ever get the better of the sheriff and his men and survive.

If a book can have you on the edge of your seat, this one can. If a book can have you gasping, biting your nails in anticipation and leave you feeling completely empty, this one can and if it wasn't for the lacklustre beginning and okay ending, it would have been another five star Stephen King classic, as it is though I'll give this one four and a half stars.

The Dark Tower, (PtIII), The Waste Lands, book review. (Stephen King)

So, book three in the series, and this one feels a little disjointed, like a play of three acts: a beginning, a middle and an end, all good, but the intervals, the bathroom breaks if you like, are a bit lacking.

Let me explain.

Act one is about a giant cyborg bear that guards the beam, (one of twelve beams that lead to the Dark Tower), and when I say giant, I mean absolutely massive. The pace, the near death experience of Eddie and Susannah, (Susannah finally becoming a gunslinger), all has you on the edge of your seat, as does act two.

Act two is where Jake is rescued from New York again, and the connection he has with Roland and his ka-tet in Mid-World, is inescapable. As Jake edges his way through the city, getting ever closer to where he thinks he needs to be, Roland, Eddie and Susannah get ready for his arrival, and it's here that things get a bit slow; or is it just that when Jake enters a derelict house, and Susannah enters a stone circle in Mid-World - letting the Demon that resides there possess her - that the writing is sooooooo crazy good, that everything else seems dull?

Possibly!

Act three, the end of the book, where our five travellers - Jake's made it through from New York and has found a friend in a Billy Bumbler, (small furry raccoon like animal with limited vocabulary) - find themselves at Lud, a city not to dissimilar to New York, but one that has suffered from hundreds, maybe thousands of years of neglect.

Act three is good, not quite the best bit in my opinion, that's Jake in the derelict house, but I think the reason for this is found on the back cover: 'Set in a world of extraordinary circumstance', it reads, and at times, even though I know I'm reading a book of fiction, it feels like some parts are just there to plug the gaps rather than enhance the story. I suppose you could level this criticism at a lot of Stephen King novels, it can almost be a part of why we enjoy reading them so much, but here, it felt contrived.

The ending of course, isn't really an ending, because this is only book three in the series, but their run through Lud and their escape from the city on Blain the Mono, is fast paced and action packed enough to make you jump straight into book four.

Overall then, not as good as book two, but with moments of pure genius, three and half stars.

The Dark Tower, (PtII), The Drawing of the Three, book review. (Stephen King)

So, the gunslinger, Roland Deschain, has survived the desert and parlayed with the Man in Black, but seeing the birth of the universe has taken its toll. (Book 1: The Gunslinger. Blog post: 22/10/17).

He lies on a beach, exhausted; days, weeks, years, millennia might have passed, he doesn't know, but when ancient lobster like creatures come with the tide and take his figures, he knows it's bad, and as their poison creeps slowly through his body, he knows it could be the end.

In desperation, he crawls along the deserted beach, and on encountering his first door, he steps across that threshold and becomes: Eddie Dean - drug addict, petty criminal, bad seed - flying back to America with thousands of dollars of Class-A drugs strapped to his body. After Eddie is acquired by the FBI, released and then picked up by the mob, (the drugs having mysteriously disappeared), there's a fantastic shootout with the drug boss and his goons, which for me, is one of the highlight of the book, but, all is not well, Eddie needs a fix. No longer being in New York, (he is in Roland's world now), his drugs are somewhat harder to come by, but what lengths will he go to, to get them?

Door two, and a disabled schizophrenic. Odetta and Detta Holmes, have occupied the same space for years, each with little idea that the other exists, and what a ride. 1960's New York, thief, wheelchair bound, (she was pushed beneath a train by the man who killed Jake in book one), and with serious attitude, and, as soon as she's in Roland's world, she's of murderous intent.

Behind the third and final door, Roland becomes the man who pushed Jake and Odetta to their fates, but with Roland at the helm, Jake survives, which is really weird.

They enter a gun shop to replenish Roland's stocks, and then a pharmacy for the drugs that Roland hopes will cure the lobstrosity infection, and again, this part of the book is exceptional, but has he done enough? Will the drugs work? Or will Odetta/Detta and Eddie kill him first?

All in all, this book is about a journey along a beach, but what Roland encounters as he crawls and walks, the issues the author puts in his way, a disabled schizophrenic being just the tip of the iceberg, makes for a thoroughly entertaining journey.

In isolation, I'd say this is very nearly a five star book, but, as it is part of a series, I'm going with four and a half stars for the time being.
Book three, The Waste Lands, awaits.

The Dark Tower, (Pt1), The Gunslinger, book review. (Stephen King)

So, the beginning – the beginning of the longest story I am ever likely to read!

As Roland Deschain, the last Gunslinger, follows the man in black: death, preacher, shaman, et-al, across unyielding desert, for a purpose we don’t yet know, he meets a corn farmer and we learn about Roland's escape from Tull, (the last town before the world turns to dust). Thirty-nine dead and hardly a scratch!

Then, he meets Jake at a Way Station, and as the desert morphs into mountains and Jake becomes companion, we learn that the man in black killed Jake in modern day New York, brought him here: to use him, weaken the Gunslinger’s hand, give Roland something to care about, something to lose.

On entering the mountains, Roland must face the Oracle, an ancient malevolent force that will not give something for nothing, but the Gunslinger needs answers, he needs all the help he can get, and like the gunfight in Tull, I particularly liked this part. It is slightly surreal, which is the point, and feels like one of the older parts of the book; more honest, less polished maybe.

Before finally settling Ka with the man in black, Roland must let Jake go (for the good of the quest for the Tower), but will he let the boy die a second time? Will he let the slow mutants take him? Does he have a choice?

There are elements to this book that are classic King, but there are parts that feel alien, as if they were written by another author, which is somewhat explained in the introduction and forward of this revised edition. The author was only nineteen when he first started to garnish the idea for this novel, some thirty year before this edition was published.

A short novel then, (it is only a beginning after all) and a slightly surreal one, but with the battle in Tull, the Oracle in the mountain, the slow mutants and the almost biblical showdown with the man in black, a rather good introduction to the quest for The Dark Tower.

Four stars.

Desperation, book review. King returns to his roots.

This is what Stephen King was, or maybe is, known for; horror!

The characters are fantastic, all with their own back story to add depth, and when you start falling for one, or routing for another, he snatches them away from you with little regard.

The ancient evil that is wrecking lives and killing Desperation, is humanised and managed with great skill, and then, there's God.

Just like the ancient evil, God is expressed through a human, an eleven year old boy, David; who, in spite of the adult egos, his father and mother, a raving cop, he becomes the main character of sorts.

The story follows an ever decreasing band of survivors around a small, deserted and isolated town, as they try desperately to find a place to hide, a way to escape and some sort of redemption.
The sense of loneliness increases with every life lost and the fear ramps up with every horrific demise. 

Not five stars because 'IT' is better, but a solid four stars and one of the quickest 700+ page books I've read.

My love for this author, knows no end. (I just wish he hadn't written Pet Cemetery)