Some thoughts from my journey to The Dark Tower (as I said earlier, I read this series maybe a decade ago.)
The Gunslinger: So hard to evaluate this. There is some good stuff, I really enjoy when Roland is in Tull. The rest is a bit of a snooze.
The Drawing of the Three: I remembered the drawing of Eddie being one of my favorite King sections in any book/series, and reading this again did not change that opinion. Once he is drawn I found the parts with Susanna and Jack Mort less interesting.
The Waste Lands: I had very little memory of this book, and reading it again, understand why. Very little of it is memorable. Jack was my least favorite member of the Ka-tet, and committing so much time to his drawing after the majority of the preceding book was devoted to the drawing of Eddie and Susanna felt like a bit of a waste. The second half of the book was a chore to get through. Once Gasher took Jake, it was me just thinking SAVE HIM ALREADY AND MOVE ON! I didn't care about the Grays, the Pubes, or River Crossing, or any of it.
I recall Wizard and Glass was a tremendous experience (and I don't use that word often when talking about a book) and I want to go in to that one after a little break.
For me, each time I run through it, I come up with almost the exact opposite view
. Outside of Eddie's drawing (and Eddie's character in general as I love him almost as much as I love Larry Underwood), Drawing is a bit of a snooze for me. The constant trips back and forth across the beach make me weary (maybe that's what King was going for) and Suzannah's drawing is a bit drawn-out (pun intended).
Wastelands is my second favorite volume of the story (behind Wolves). River Crossing is one of my favorite parts of the story (Talitha giving Roland the cross gets me every time) and the journey through Lud to Blaine's Cradle paints a general post-humanity picture that's quite gripping for me. Oy cements himself as one of my favorites in this volume as well and makes what happens to him later a tough swallow for me personally.
Wizard and Glass is a strange one for me... the beginning and ending are very memorable for me, as is the younger Roland's entrance into Susan's world (the name of the town escapes me...). However, the middle portion of the volume (from the initial fight at the tavern to Roland's encounter with the snake lets say) bores me greatly. King saves this by having the final battles build and finish in a very satisfying way, but that volume is a slog for me. Funny how different we all are.
I was immensely satisfied with the ending of the story (an unpopular opinion I think) as I didn't really see any way for King to end it other than the way he did. It made sense to me.
As to what I'm reading/listening to, Audible tells me that HPL (Necronomicon), Brian Lumley (Necroscope), and Haidt & Lukianoff (Coddling of the American Mind) are my top three currently. I'm seeming to have an issue letting go of HPL... he's scratching my fiction itch right now and has been for about two years.
Topic: The Currently Reading Thread v. A Clash of Kings (Read 291267 times)
