Michael Corvin

So I have always wondered if anyone feels the same way about this series as I. Most authors including King himself, I breeze right through the book. A page or two a minute. But reading through this series slows my reading to a crawl. Maybe two minutes a page. The copy just seems disjointed and written in a total different style than all his other books. Anyone else feel the same way?

Don't get me wrong, these are some of King's best and I am looking forward to WoC, but I know it will take a while to get though. More than the average book.

JestersTear

Very slow. I also love King's work - The Stand is probably always going to be my favourite.

It took me 5 tries over several years to finally get through the first book of the Dark Tower series, and I really don't have the desire to read the next book.

moorehed

please do not judge the series based on the first book.

i tell people to read the 2nd book first.

Michael Corvin

I agree. I was not a fan of the first at all, until I read the others. Maybe the added material in the new version will fix that problem.

PalmerJoss

The first book was the hardest book to get through even though it is the shortest by far, but I agree with Michael Corvin when he says that the added material to the upcoming version should make it much better.

Atropos

Odd. The first book is by far my favorite of the series.

Different strokes I guess.

jpcamb

Interstingly the first book has been re-tooled and will be re-released in a few days (20th or so of this month IIRC) King felt it was written to long ago and was not in keeping with the other books in the series.

Personally I enjoyed the series very much and remember waiting endlessly for the train ride to end. I'm pretty excited the series will be wrapped up in the next year and a half and am releaved to her King state that he will not retire when the series was done, he was basically misquoted then enjoyed the publicity. Go to Stephenking.com to verify this if you wish.

There is also a cool flash animation for the dark tower narated by king.

Mordred

While I'm not sure the first is my favorite (although it's gotta be pretty close) I remember being very disappointed at how different stylistically "The Drawing of the Three" was when read immediately afterwards. I am interested in seeing how the new version reads.

Josh-da-man

I never really believed King when he said he would retire.

I don't think it's possible for the man not to write, though I could see him slow down a bit.

But beware that Amazom interview... it looks like Stephen King drops a spoiler in it for one of the upcoming DT books.

Thunderball

I really ...

HOLY ****ING **** IT'S ALMOST OVER????????



I've been reading these books since junior high school, I can't believe we're finally getting to the Dark Tower!!!!

Thunderball

I guess I should probably go a little more "in depth" then that, and sicne I can't sleep, well now'd be a good time...

This is probably my all time favorite series. Better then Lord of the Rings. Better then the Wheel of Time. Better Then *.

My friend Ed introduced me to The Gunslinger on one of our trips to the library. His parents were hardcore religous folks, and didn't even allow him to play Mario, so he got his "pretend" fix thru reading.

The first time I read the Gunslinger, I was in total awe. One of my favorite authors writing an old west fantasy novel? How could it be wrong? And it wasn't. As Roland traveled across the pages looking for his Tower, looking for the Man in Black, and stumbling across Jake... I was enthralled... I read this book 10 times before my friend Ed pointed out that there was a 2nd book out ...

The Drawing of the Three. Great story. Great great story. Roland's character has his other side developed, and we meet 4 very interesting characters to boot. Also made me want to eat lobster again... The story was so well done, that I read Gunslinger/Drawing about 3 more times hanging on EVERY word...

The Wastelands. Holy ****! I hated King so much at the end of this book, 3 years before he published the followup...3 years I wanted to know how they fared with Blaine... Another great story. Longer then the first too, not long enough, but longer

Wizard and Glass . I'm reading this for the 2nd time as we speak, and I just realized I have no recollection of how it ends...

When I moved into my new apartment, I had no cable or phone for a week. I read the first two and half books and I'm reading about 50-60 pages a night as I go on trying to get thru the rest of Wizard and Glass so I can be fully ready for Wolves of Calla.

The rumors going around about the fates of the characters, and the secrets of the Tower make me sad, as by now, I've built up Roland in my head so much...if he weren't to make it, or if he were to die before figuring out what it was...I think I may cry...

jpcamb

One of the great things about King is he's always willing to kill of a character for the sake of the story and or to shock you. I'd be bummed if he killed off Roland but he's always said roland might not be the one to finish the quest.

As I write this a fantsy ending to the Dark Tower series and Kings career come to mind: Roland fails in the last minute, the world crumbles on its axis and the story teller is forever silenced....

That said even if King 'quit writing' he'd be putting out books under another name or something.

Thunderball

I agree with you...to a point. His ability of killing a character for the sake of story is good. I have no issues with that at all. I love the fact that he has no problem saying "oops, your'e dead" and whacking a main character...

For some reason, Roland is different, even though I understand the odds of his dying are pretty good(they foreshadown it a lot in Wastelands, with Roland constantly realizing that he's not so much a part of the Ka-tet then a guide...while on Blaine in W&G he also admits to Susannah , that much like the world, he has moved on...)

I'm also torn about the end of this series...like I stated, I've been reading this since like 7th grade, and I can't believe in a few months I'll know the secret of the Dark Tower. I have some guesses about what the Tower will hold, but I'm sure I'm way off base.

I think part of the fun of this series is never knowing quite what'll happen next. Never knowing , always guessing.
So many memorable characters....

Oy! Oy!

Stoolie

You guys have officially made me interested in this series. Thank you.

Josh-da-man

What are the rumors?

Just curious, because for the longest time, I've had a feeling that

Thunderball

Josh : That was all but confirmed in the interview with Amazon. I've had that feeling too..

movie diva

I had a hard time getting thru the first book, so what I did was get it on tape. You have to remember that this is a book that King had been working on in college. But once I started the series I could not put it down.

jpcamb

for those of you who had trouble with the series or don't have time to reread the whloe series before its november release I just found this on Barnes and nobel:
Stephen King's The Dark Tower: A Concordance, Volume 1
Robin Furth, Stephen King (Introduction) Release date of July 2003

The Dark Tower is the backbone of Stephen King's legendary career. Inspired more than thirty years ago by works as diverse as J.R.R. Tolkien's epics, Robert Browning's poetry, and Sergio Leone's Westerns, this is the tale that Stephen King has never abandoned. When he typed the first sentence in 1970, King feared the telling might take several lifetimes, but two thousand pages and four books later, the end is in sight.
Published in anticipation of The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla, A Concordance, Volume I is the definitive guide to the first four books in Stephen King's bestselling epic fantasy series, The Dark Tower. With the hundreds of characters, Mid-World geography, and the High Speech lexicon, this comprehensive handbook is one no Dark Tower fan will want to be without. It is the perfect way in for readers new to the series, or the perfect way back in for longtime fans who read the first four books years ago.

PalmerJoss

I for one believe that not only will Roland NOT make it to the Dark Tower, but I believe that at least one more person will die along the way. Whichever way it goes it will be an emotional ending that cannot come quick enough.

Thunderball

Dont' you feel any regret for having this amazing series ending so soon? I do.. but I also want to see who makes it..

I have a feeling that Jake and Oy are more important then we are lead to believe thus far...

kvrdave

I found all of them great, but will admit that I enjoyed the unabridged audiobooks read by King to be the best.

cupcake jesus

I always thought that



-----

Another reason that the first book seems disjointed is that it was written as a serial (it seems that King forgets this when introducing The Green Mile) for publication in Fantasy and Science Fiction magazine. Great stuff, though.

King also mentioned in an interview given quite a while back that even has a place in the mid- or end-world. Hmm...

Thunderball

I really can't wait for book 5 now. I'm going thru part 4, and I am getting mroe and more excited for a new story...

Ginwen

It took me about three false starts before I finally finished the first book. I liked it, by the time I finished, but it took a few tries--I then raced through the others.

cracksky

I've never been able to get the word: Lobstrosities out of my vocabulary since reading The Drawing of the Three!