Stephen King's The Dark Tower...

[Darren MacLennan]

Overall, I thought that the second one was the best. Subsequent books suffered from King feeling that he had to run through different genres, with extremely uneven results. The third played to King's strengths - enigmatic settings combined with the sharp edges of New York.

-Darren MacLennan

[ShannonA]

Oh, I adored those books. They really turned me on to King, who I hadn't read for years previous.

I think I liked the 4th best, with all its history, and allowing you to really see where Roland was coming from, but the 2nd through 4th were all quite strong, and it was definitely in that second one that I started seeing the potential.

[Aoibhill]

I've borrowed the first 3 or 4 of these from a friend, but they're still just sitting on my shelf. Can you guys sell me on them enough to get me to pick the first one up? I'm sure they'll be great once I get started, but my attention span has waned...

[ShannonA]

I unfortunately find the first one troublesome. Some people adore it, but I found it slow and plodding ... which isn't really a great sell.

But starting with the second book King starts to meld together a practically gothic western with weirdness that ties together through several of his other books. You'll find references to The Stand and several of his lesser known books scattered throughout, which is delightful.

However, I think the books really do well in:
1) Their grand vision of a world winding down.
2) Their superb characterization, especially of Roland.
3) The fact that they really aren't bound by any genre convention, and thus despite the fact that they're western and fantasy and science-fiction they still have a sort of naive and new beauty to them.

[ubermonkey]

I really enjoyed The Gunslinger, it made me appreciate what a talented writer King really is.

I've not, however, had the urge to pick up any of the later books.

[Elizabeth Brooks]

I've recently become re-interested in Stephen King, after years and years of not really paying attention.

This is on my list of series to check out, when I get around to it.

[Stephenls]

I enjoyed it up to about halfway through Wizard and Glass. I've tried twice to get through that one -- no luck.

But those first three. Mang. Wow.

[Anaka]

I started reading the Dark Tower comic, which seems like really a nice introduction to the series for someone with no prior knowledge of it, like me. :)

[Pillsy]

I thought the first book was the best of them. It did something unique and interesting in the way that it blended pulp Sword and Sorcery with pulp Westerns, and I don't think any of the subsequent books recaptured that flavor, or the sense of mystery and dread that King evoked in The Gunslinger.

[Pillsy]

I enjoyed it up to about halfway through Wizard and Glass. I've tried twice to get through that one -- no luck.

But those first three. Mang. Wow.
You know, I would skip to the end. I rather enjoyed it, but the middle section of the book about Young Roland and his buddies isn't particularly crucial to the later developments in the series. Books 5, 6 and 7 are all flawed, but they're still worthwhile and the actual conclusion is IMO incredible.

[ShannonA]

Books 5, 6 and 7 are all flawed, but they're still worthwhile and the actual conclusion is IMO incredible.

Yep, it's unfortunate that King's brush with mortality so changed the direction of the later books. They were OK, but felt quite different than what came before.

For those who have read some or all of the Dark Tower books, you can rate them here:
http://index.xenagia.net/display-series.phtml?seriesid=24

[Ineti]

I liked the first book well enough, but The Drawing of the Three is a book I'll read again and again, it's just so good. I didn't enjoy the third book all that much, but I really dug the whole Western vibe in Wizard and Glass.

And while I have the last three books in the series, I just haven't gotten around to reading them yet.

[Soul Of Lost]

Personally, I loved the first four.

The fifth started good, but after finding out what the wolves actually where, and the subsequent of writing himself in basically as God really killed the last books. The end, where Roland is the last of his group, picks up his deus ex machina, all the way up to getitng into the tower, was dull, weak, and disappointing. Now, the very last chapter, about what Roland experienced in the Tower, I actually liked.

I've sold my books off though, the hardback collector's edtions I would have never bought for anything else.

Stephen King was good, alas his accident injuried more than his leg.

[Tresean]

I've read all the way through five. I have been searching for six, but can not find it at all. >< I've started reading the Tower series back in like...03? My older brother, who is a Stephen King fanatic, got me started.

As for the books themselves, the first one is a good and quick read. Easily done in an afternoon. The second is where the world is actually developed more, the complex life that lives in the world and whatnot are shown and the way he is able to jump from time to time really blew my mind as a reader. The third book, which dealt with a lot more personality then the others so far, (such as the Tick-tock man, Gnasher, and the introduction of Blaine) as well as the developing characters of Jake, Roland, Eddie and Susannah. Four is vital to me, (note that this is my opinion) because it shows exactly how Roland came to be how he was when we pick up with him in the first book. The story of him and his buddies and the maiden was fantastic for me and I enjoyed the fourth book immensely. Add in the fact that the setting in which the stories are being told, the lonesome highway with its dead cars and warbling noise and the shimmering palace yonder ways....it is just a great read. Five was a surprise for me. Admittedly, not the best of the series, but not bad. I didn't exactly disagree with all that happened, but I do think that King wrote in a way to allow natural human actions to take precedence. I.e.- the gunslingers develop relationships with the people they run into. Jake and the other young kid, Susannah and the women, Roland with the priest. (can't remember Eddie -.- Sorry!)

All in all, I'll say I've read books 1-5 a total of 4 times a piece. I keep reading them, saying I'll get my hands on books 6 & 7, and that I'm 'refreshing' my memory on the minute details of the story...but never do. I guess I'll have to break down one day and order from Amazon. :P

P.S. - Sorry for such a long post! *embarrassed shuffle* :o


--Tre

[Brad Ellison]

I've borrowed the first 3 or 4 of these from a friend, but they're still just sitting on my shelf. Can you guys sell me on them enough to get me to pick the first one up? I'm sure they'll be great once I get started, but my attention span has waned...

Imagine Lord of the Rings and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly combined. The hero is Aragorn, as played by Clint Eastwood's Man With No Name. His weapons are the .45 revolvers passed down to him from his father, guns cast from the steel of Excalibur. He travels through post-apocalyptic wastelands, New York City in various decades, mutant-infested wastelands, ruined cities and even stranger places. His companions are a young boy, a wheelchair-bound civil-rights activist from the sixties, and a smart-mouthed heroin addict from the eighties. There's magic, wonder, horror, zombies, robots, psychotic artificial intelligences, outlaws, mafiosi and an army of Doombots with lightsabers and golden snitches.