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Author: Stephen King

Category: Fiction – Fantasy

All of the prior books amount to this, the final, epic story that concludes the Dark Tower Series and as any ending to a grand story, there are going to be people that love it to death and others that do not. For the most part I am one of the former and not the latter, but that is not to say that I have issue with some of the ways Mr. King chose to end the story, not least of which is the concept of Deux Ex Machina which the author himself is fully aware of and embraces. You might call it a set up and part of the story, I still think he needed a little help getting out of the massive tale he had built. On the positive side? It works.

This book is thrilling and exciting in its own King-ish way, taking us beyond the lands of Thunderclap into Fedic and pitting Roland’s ka-tet against the minions of the Crimson King. Starting off in New York, where the prior story left us, the group is finally re-united with a new problem they must face; one that is chasing them and not afraid to take them on. With Mordred on their tail and the Taheen and Can Toi ahead of them, the gunslingers have their hands full with danger, where they are faced with the decision to free the Breakers that are taking down the second to last beam, or kill them along with their captors.

What starts as a raid eventually culminates in the potential disbanding of the famed ka-tet, a tale that seems like deja-vous for the gunslinger that seems to carry death for those he loves as a curse. Roland struggles to fight off this curse while never looking back on his way to the Dark Tower where he will finally face his destiny and fight his way to the top of the Tower.

In a story with far too many potential spoilers, I can not exactly go into details without ruining the book for many of you. Suffice it to say that it is a good story, it is exciting and sad, tragic and lovely and it serves as a good finish to one of the most enthralling series I have ever read. However, I do have a couple of problems with the way Stephen King dealt with Jake Chambers, the Man in Black and with the way Patrick Danville becomes such a pivotal character when he is not introduced until the final third of the last book. When you have characters like Eddie, Susannah and Jake at the side of your gunslinger, I can not help but wonder if King really ran himself into a block wall and found no other way to blow it than this one. This is not to say the end is a bad one, in fact, I think the end was pretty damn perfect and he handles Eddie with amazing, heartfelt emotion. Susannah also is handled respectfully, but Jake once more gets the shaft–get it? The shaft?–which feels more like a slap in the face when Patrick comes into the picture. I will not go into details but if you disagree with me in this one, I would love to hear it. Aside from that, the only other problem I have with this is the Wizard’s Rainbow, or rather the glass from book four and black thirteen from books five and six and the way they are handled…or not handled as might be the case.

This is not a perfect ending and there is a number of things I would have changed and if I stick to it this harshly it is only because this story is so awesome I would love to see it polished. But King had his say and as he has made is explicitly clear he is not going to change a damned thing, which is fine but I do think a few ends could have been tied better and Jake could have been spared another let down. Outside of that, this book is pretty damned awesome.

Rating:
Comments: Not to sound like a whiner but please take into account that there are a number of amazing things in this story which I can NOT talk about. It is a good book. Read it. Enjoy it. Witness the genius that is this epic and know that you will likely end up reading it again in the future. It is definitely worth it. And now I look wait with baited breath for the movies and TV series which should be going into production shortly.