Filmmaker

Allow me to begin by saying, yes, I realize a similar poll to this was conducted less than a year ago, but I would like to re-envision that poll with a few missing entries. I am currently involved with reading this entire series all the way through without interruption and, sweet damn, is it like letting an ADHD kid loose in a candy store! I started a couple of years back with ROSE MADDER, DESPERATION, THE REGULATORS, and HEARTS IN ATLANTIS (all DT-related)*, then starting just over a year ago and leading up until now, I've read THE TALISMAN, BLACK HOUSE, THE EYES OF THE DRAGON, and INSOMNIA (again, all DT-related), then "Everything's Eventual" (DT-related short story), "The Little Sisters of Eluria", THE DARK TOWER I: THE GUNSLINGER--Revised and Expanded (I'd read the original edit three times before, but this was my first try of the revamped version), and just finished THE DARK TOWER II: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE not 30 minutes ago (for the second time). Starting this evening, I will be at last delving into a section of the DARK TOWER series I've never read before, not counting "Little Sisters" (namely, THE WASTE LANDS), and I'm so jazzed about this series, I'm curious if people think the best is yet to come, or if I've already passed the pinnacle of this saga. The last poll showed Volume IV (WIZARD AND GLASS) as the clear winner (which blew my mind--that was always the one I've heard from fans as being the hardest to get through because it pauses the main action of the storyline for approx. 400 pages to go back to the days of the gunslinger's youth, before his world moved on). Frankly, that concerns me, because I haven't been as interested in the glimpses I've thus far been provided into Roland's past as much as I have been compelled by his present. So please, give me your thoughts and, if WIZARD AND GLASS again smashes the competition, give me some insight into why that book should be so looked forward to, rather than mildly dreaded...

* = I read the now-DT-related SALEM'S LOT years ago, in the '80s.

Mordred

Wizard and Glass hands down... although the first three are all very very good.

Yes the main action is paused, but the diversion is such an engrossing adventure with some of the best characters of the series that it's well worth it. I remember when I finished reading that section and was joltingly reminded that what I was reading wasn't the main storyline at all that I realized how completely Roland's story and grabbed a hold of me. If you want to understand the man, you need to understand where he came from.

MBoyd

I like DT2. I read it in 1988 after spending a $100 for the HC. (I know, I got raped) The reason i like it the best is there was still such a mystery to the series at that time. It was great fun imagining what would happen in the forthcoming volumes and also picking out references to other books. DT 3 and 4 didn't live up to my expectations. Actually I feel that way about all of King's books in the 1990s and I quit reading him with the Regulators. I have read DT 5 and 6 and enjoyed them for what they were but had low expectations going in. I know what happens pretty much in DT 7 and will read it soon.

Stoney

Definitely Wizard and Glass. The first three are fantastic, but the fourth knocks it out of the park. I enjoyed reading 5-7, but reading 1-4 absolutely knocked my socks off. Right up there with the first time I read Lord of the Rings.

grunter

Oh cripes - ANYTHING BUT "WIZARDS AND GLASS!"

One long, incredibly tedious 300 page completely telegraphed set-up for a few pages of "climax" that was utterly unsatisfying. Plus a patented "robotic" King love story strapped on, to boot.

JAA

Agreed . . . W&G is easily my favorite in the series. That said, I very much enjoyed each of the first four books. However, you may count me as one that was very disappointed with the final three.

travlr

Drawing Of The Three is my favorite of the series. Just the way King introduced the other players in the coming story really had an effect on me. I also find the love hate relationship people have with Wizard and Glass amusing. We learned more about what makes Roland tick in that book then any other.

Drop

Every book in this series I've been weary about reading. I get so engrossed in the book, and then find out the next one goes in a different direction, and I think I'm going to hate it. So far(I've finished book 5) I've enjoyed the series. Of course I'm worried about book 6, and I think this is legit worrying, no one has much good to say about it. Watch me wind up liking it.

I voted for Drawing of the Three, but Wizard and Glass is at least just as good. Depending on my mood I like it better. Everyone already covered why it is so great.

Filmmaker

The emphasis for people liking WIZARD AND GLASS seems to be discovering the details that went into making Roland the man he is, but I still remain worried because I've discovered there's one aspect to THE DARK TOWER series that I find even more engrossing than Roland himself, and that's his world, the one which has moved on, and appears alternately, and sometimes simultaneously, to be an entirely alien world and/or our own world in some creepily surreal distant future/past. The idea of spending 400+ pages back when Roland's world was one of "love and light", an environment that reminds me more of, say, King Arthur and the Knights of the Roundtable than THE GOOD THE BAD AND THE UGLY, is a hard one for me to get enthused about.

Geofferson

I think you're talking about Wolves of the Calla.

As for me, I voted The Drawing of the Three. Wizards and Glass was great, but not my favorite.

Filmmaker

(wonders why even people who consider WIZARD AND GLASS to be one the better entries don't realize that it's WIZARD singular, not WIZARDS plural)

Xander

Close call between Drawing of the Three and the Wastelands for me. Loved both a lot. One drew me into the world of the Black Tower, but the other really got me hooked on the series. I ended up voting for the Wastelands.

Ginwen

I picked Drawing of the Three, but it's kind of arbitrary since I could've picked just about any of the earlier books. I picked it because I really had to force myself to finish the Gunslinger, but once I started reading Drawing of the Three I was hooked.

Philzilla

voted for Drawing of the Three but could have gone with The Wastelands

Stephen King truly hears the song of the turtle but after meh...

Drop

I felt the same way. But you have the wrong idea about what W&G is about. It is not King Arthur at all, it couldn't be farther from. Most of the backstory takes place outside Gilead. It is much more Sergio Leone. Also, not only do you learn more about Roland, but his world is also given more depth.

Look, if you liked King's non-horror stories, like The Body, Shawshank, Green Mile, etc., than you should like W&G. It is Roland's coming of age tale, and it is told wonderfully. I did not want to leave this backstory, I enjoyed it that much.

edit: Now I wish I could change my vote to W&G.

Filmmaker

Drop, thanks for the insight--it's good to hear. Keep in mind that the "King Arthur" feel I theorized was forthcoming is based on the flashbacks provided in Books I and II. Roland's world before the books' present seems very reminiscent of EYES OF THE DRAGON, which isn't bad in and of itself, but again, I am entralled by the creepiness and surreality of the world that has moved on, so I've been concerned about being stuck in a story full of sunshine and green grass. I'm happy to see I may have pleasant surprises ahead...

Mordred

I think my favorite parts of the series were also about the ways that the world has moved on. That said the world in W&G still has moved on, or at least is in the process of it. There is some technology and there's some radiation. It's very much like a spaghetti western set 200 years after a nuclear holocaust. I don't think you have anything to be worried about.

Filmmaker

Cool! You guys are really helping me look forward to WIZARD AND GLASS now!

Phoenixignition

Wizard and Glass. For me, it was the epitome of what the DT world was like. Truthfully, the finale of the series was a bit of a let down for me. It seemed like the last two books were just meandering all over the place and didnt really have a purpose. Wolves of the Calla was cool, and some parts of 6 and 7, but none of them came close to Wizard and Glass. It was more than just furthering the story, it opened up Rolands world and all the small nuances and details that King tends to either skip over or mention once and then you never hear anything else about it. If i had to rank them I would go:

1st: Wizard and Glass
2nd: Little Sisters of Eluria
3rd: Talisman/Other Dt related books.

lopper

I'm really surprised at how many people are saying W&G is thier favorite in the series. In the end I really enjoyed the hell out of the book, but it really is a bit long and tedious at times. Plus, it totally stops the main story dead in its tracks just as I was really getting into it.


Personally, The Drawing of the Three was hands down my favorite in the series. I remember reading the entire book on one cool and rainy Sunday last January -- just me laying on the couch listening to the raindrops and reading a fucking radical book. What an awesome day that was.

I didn't realize that there were so many DT related books of King's out there. I'll have to pick those up pretty soon and give 'em a read.

The Antipodean

I think I enjoyed "The Dark Tower" the most. It might have seemed anticlimactic to some, but really was a powerful ending for me.

Drop

That's refreshing to hear Sierra. It seems everyone is down on the last two books. I atleast want to look forward to reading them, but it's hard when you hear rotten things.

Stoney

There's a lot of good stuff about book 7, but there's a lot of bad stuff too. Really bad stuff. It felt to me like it existed in a different world than books 1-4. Not necesarily a bad thing, but I wasn't ready to leave yet.

Xander

I liked all the books. The last two didn't really move in the direction I thought they would, and there was a plot device that I didn't really care for . But they had a lot of cool stuff in them, and the ending really grew on me. I wasn't sure I liked it at first, but the more I reflect on it, the more I like it.

kvrdave

W&G for me. I really enjoyed stuff popping up in other books a well, but wouldn't call them a favorite of the series. Drawing of the Three is a very close second.