The Dark Tower (Dark Tower VII)
by Stephen King
864 pages
Publisher: Donald M. Grant/Scribner
ISBN 1880418622
I have finished the “Magnum Opus” of Mr King and I am glad I spent the time in midworld.
This is the final installment of the 7 book series by Stephen King. The book itself is quite the quest and following the style of the last book, this one is as much about Roland as it is about Stephen King himself.
There are spoilers..lots of them
I liked the book. No series is going to answer every question or 100% satisfy you. And I am glad for that too. If you know every piece of the story ahead of time, and mysteries do not remain – really why bother. I think this book , and series, can be looked at in 2 way. And my pal Jason was the one who really let me in on this thought first; the story is about Roland and then there is everything else.
If looking at the story of Roland – it is redeeming, exciting and the level of sacrifice and difficulty was mesmerising and overwhelming at times, as it was for Stephen King. He has well documented – in nearly every volume as a matter of fact – the difficulty of writing Roland’s story. The character of Roland and the scribe of Stephen King, who appears as a character, have their fates intertwined in a way that is both destiny driven and even physically tied together. I found this tie both interesting and slightly disappointing. The reason for the disappointment was basic: Stephen King almost always has a character that is a writer in his works, and this became no different. I thought this was ok, but just seemed to short change the Dark tower series because it seemed to come closer to his other works. It is not like his others, per se – more later on that. The fate of the characters even brings about the end of other major characters.
The other half of this 2 part look is looking at “everybody else” and the ends of some of these characters, some of which we have spent 7 volumes with, is disappointing and at time comes across of having loose ends and no means to truly solve them. The one that really bothered me was the end of Walter, or Flagg (as some may know). It was a bail out. I wanted and waited for the final fight – the confrontation – heck! I wanted a stand-off in the “OK Corral” – theme music even! And we get none of that. That was a let down. The other was the Susannah story line. Her “dream” and multiverse (thank you Michael Moorcock) views were interesting but at the end, when she exits it makes most of her commitment to the quest be secondary. It seems odd that she sacrifices so much and goes so far only to leave. Of course, I thought the exit tool was logical but the way it was created was at first interesting but I wanted more depth to the character that created the exit and helped Roland defeat the Crimson King.
I also found the death of Jake interesting. I am not sure it was great but it is for sure symbolic. The first thing about it is his death in saving Stephen King, which brings us back to the character of Jake as a whole. He is the most complex and interesting character besides Roland in my opinion. His relationship with Roland, his multiple deaths, and his fact that he saved Roland in the first book, and thus Stephen King.
I found the world, or multiverse, that he created very interesting. It basically suggests that many of his works are tied into this world, even more with that last three books of the series.
Another thing that has come out of the Dark Tower series, is that Stephen King has shown the tie in to his other works, and there are lots. I have gone and “read” ‘Salem’s Lot since then and the story of Father Callahan . from Wolves of The Calla, is much more compelling now. And some of the tie-ins are minimal and others more. It is brought up directly in this work, with Insomnia being presented directly to Roland. I think the tie in is cool, I think the level of meta-fiction it the work at times bogs down the quest. As I said – 2 views, the Roland view and “everything else”.
One big thing that came out of this is my admittance that I am a Stephen King fan. It is over, I have taken the blue pill and it is all downhill from there. As a result I have bookmooched many works of his. And will be diving in to the pool.
