Best Dark Tower book

[peteOcha]

It shouldn't say "spoiler". "CLICK ME CLICK ME!!!!!!!!" would be more appropriate.

[RJK1981]

I need to stay away from this thread if I ever want to read the series. I'm seeing too much about it here. And I can't help but hit "show" when I see spoliers. Like a lil tot wanting a cookie, I have to do it.

lol, I do the exact same thing with every spoiler tag I see here

[theenormityofitall]

lol yeah I know. I can't help myself.

[srboone]

Early on I used the spoiler within the spoiler technique, to give you a chance, but...

[theenormityofitall]

I need to stay away from this thread if I ever want to read the series. I'm seeing too much about it here. And I can't help but hit "show" when I see spoliers. Like a lil tot wanting a cookie, I have to do it.

[srboone]

Finished Wizard and Glass. Here's why I don't think it is the best DT book:

Spoiler!

1. While the references to The Wizard of Oz work within the parameters of the DT series, it displays a lack of imagination on King's part.

2. The transitions from journey to tale and journey again is awkward; the narrative voice does not change. It is quite jarring in fact and makes for an uncomfortable reading experience.

3. Roland, in the end, is a very unreliable narrator. When Eddie asks Roland how he can know the four corners of the story he is telling, Roland replies, "Is that really what you want to ask, Eddie?" While Eddie says "No," the reader is screaming "Yes! Yes! Yes!" While it is explained later that Maerlyn's Grapefuit showed him the things that he couldn't possibly have known otherwise, Roland admits that he had to guess at some of it. Also, the Grapefruit was shown to have lied to him before. The unreliable narrator is not in itself a bad thing in literature, but given the totality of the W&G reading expereince, it works against the novel.

It must be said that W&G is an important installment of the DT series; if Roland regaining his humanity is the key to solving the riddle of the DT, Roland must come to terms with his past. It's obvious that he has not, so the ending of the series should have been no surprise.

I still think The Drawing of the Three is the best of the series. Narratively it flows better and is better conceived. It is also more exciting with no lulls in action. Part of this comes from the fact that King's early fiction is forward-thinking while his later fiction deals with remembering things that have happened before. I have a preference for his early works (of which TDot3 would be a part--W&G definitely falls in the latter category.)

[srboone]

Another meditation on my current journey across Mid-World (I'm halfway thru W&G):

Spoiler!

In The Drawing of the Three, Roland figures that the third he drew was Susannah Dean. But in the Argument to Wizard and Glass, King states that Jack Mort was supposed to be the third, but Roland applied his will to ka and killed Mort in the subway where Odetta Holmes lost her legs.

As we are reminded throughout the DT series, ka will have it's way, regardless of how we try to thwart it. In this case, ka willed that Roland would draw three and supplied Jake as the third since Roland prevented him from dying when he was in Mort's body.

Maybe ka has a sense of honor and doesn't like having to find another to accomplish what needs to be done. Perhaps ka's indignation at Roland's actions caused it to decree that Roland should go through his journey again.

..........

Maybe not.

People smarter than me have probably already posed this and I'm just coming late to the party...

[srboone]

I found something in Wizard and Glass that I probably knew that I had forgotten or maybe just never thought about before.

Spoiler!

Last chance for those of you who have not read The DT series...

Spoiler!

Ok...

The world of The Stand that Roland and his ka-tet stumble into along I-70 is from 1986--not Eddie Dean's 1986--but 1986. The original version of The Stand took place in 1980, the C&UC version in 1990. So the C&UC version stands alone, not as a revision of the orginal. Pretty shitty and "thinny" explanation of the half-assed attempt to update it for a new generation (the remnants of the original that mark a stark contrast to the updated portions of the 1990's version are a result of a thinny), but it is acceptable (barely) since time runs differently in the "other worlds than these."

***I guess that means that the original version is for his fans who have read the DT series and the 1990 version is for those who are curious about The Stand, but don't want to get involved in the mytholgy he's created.

The C&UC version of The Stand is still my least favorite King book. (But that's another thread...)

[srboone]

Man, aren't you lucky I'm in the Nederland (Colorado) public library at the moment and my (PC) time's running out....Have to keep it short....

sk

Ka.

[frik51]

No debate. Hands down. Undeniable. Without a doubt.

Of course, in the lecture hall of my mind, no one else is allowed to speak...

Man, aren't you lucky I'm in the Nederland (Colorado) public library at the moment and my (PC) time's running out....Have to keep it short....

sk

[jhanic]

If you decide to start with the DT series and have trouble with volume 1, The Gunslinger, drop it temporarily and start book 2, then go back to book 1. This works for lots of people. Sisters of Eluria can be read anywhere among the first four books.

John

[srboone]

No debate. Hands down. Undeniable. Without a doubt.

Of course, in the lecture hall of my mind, no one else is allowed to speak...

[Tito_Villa]

Either way, It's time for The Drawing of the Three--the best of the DT books!!!

Debateable :P

[srboone]

Finished Little Sisters of Eluria. If I had not read the DT series before, I would probably say wait to read it after Wizard and Glass (that's the first book to really detail the calendar of Mid-World, the festivals, etc.) But waiting til after DT5 might be appropriate, that way you've encountered some of the other characters mentioned.

Either way, It's time for The Drawing of the Three--the best of the DT books!!!

[Tito_Villa]

Grant will be doing a Limited edition run and scribner will be releasing a hardcover