Rating: 
Summary: King's staggering imagination on full display
Review: I am a huge King fan, and a big fan of the DARK TOWER books. Although the books tend to allow the worst of King's writing habits to come into full bloom, all the best of his habits are also allowed to thrive, and pretty much choke out the faults.WOLVES OF CALLA absolutely requires that you have read the other 4 books. You can't dive into this series without it. I suppose reading the four page summary at the beginning gives you the rudimentary plot, but what you miss is all feeling of attachment to the characters, all the EMOTION you have invested in the story. The book is long, and it is as lanquidly paced as the others. King isn't zipping through one plot twist after another. He is slowly building suspense and mystery, as he also slowly grows our committment to seeing these characters through to the end. The travelers are diverted to the village of Calla Bryn Sturgis, to help them out of their troubles with the Wolves...I'll say no more about what that trouble is. We think we're just being diverted from the main track of getting to the tower, but we slowly see that the travelers MUST go through the village to meet key people and learn key things about the two worlds (or are there more?). King devotees will love the references to past books, particularly the enormous importance of Salem's Lot. Also, the Low Men in Yellow Jackets (from Hearts in Atlantis) are featured heavily. In some ways, we are somewhat jarred from enjoying the book but counting the ways King keeps knitting it all together. That's a small problem. On the other hand, his ability to stich all his many worlds from his past many decades of writing into one quilt begins to bring a unity of vision to ALL his work that is admirable. It doesn't all add up (kinda like the conspiracy in X-Files never added up) but it's fun and adds a richness to the overall experience of reading King. The book brilliantly shows King's gift for creating character and mood. Several times throughout the novel, new characters sorta sit down and tell us their life stories. It's a way of stretching the novel...an occasional problem King has with some of his lesser works...books like CUJO which are really novellas he stretches into novels (with CUJO it still works great...with THE DARK HALF...it doesn't). But the thing about the Dark Tower books is this...we WANT the epic scale. It's almost like THE LORD OF THE RINGS books. The backstory and "filler" is what makes it rich and emersive. We don't feel skimped on. I can't wait for the rest of the series. If you haven't tried THE DARK TOWER before, now is the time. It's a towering achievement!
Rating: 
Summary: Still not shooting true...
Review: First the good news: yes, this book is better than the last one. Now the bad: it's still not as good as 'Drawing of the Three' or 'Wastelands'. Wolves of the Calla starts off good. You really think it's gonna get back to what you love about the Dark Tower. But, then it sort of falters a bit, and then kinda ends up in a ditch for awhile. It picks back up towards the end, but nowhere during the story did I feel that rush of excitement that I did when I was reading the first 3 books in the series. I'm really starting to pull back my expectations. By book 3 I would have told anybody this series was pure gold, but now even with a best case scenario (the next 2 books being AMAZING) it will always sag in the middle. Small blemishes on an otherwise wonderful series. Maybe I'm being too harsh. But, the first 3 books were so great. It's a shame. That's not to say that Wolves of the Calla isn't good. It is. But, it's not _great_, and that's disappointing. Overall, if you love the series you have to read this. Even if it was horrible you would have to. But, the story jumped the track with Blaine the Mono and, as of this book, hasn't managed to get back yet. Here's hoping the next two books put us back on the path of the beam. Ka willing.
Rating:
Summary: The Last Gunslinger & His Katet
Review: I thought this book was very good. A good suspenseful tale Along the Path of the Beam and well worth the wait. If I would've had reason to believe I would have to wait another 10-15 years before the next one, then I guess I would've wanted a story that came across as a little more important, as opposed to feeling like this was just a sidebar (despite all the things we discovered.) But since all the other books are done, it gave me the luxury of being able to enjoy this book on it's own merits without feeling frustrated about the series as a whole. Good Read! The only thing I didn't like was the incredibly, disappointingly BAD illustrations from the legendary Bernie Wrightson. What in the world happened, Bernie?! I agreed with another reviewer who said it was like he never even SAW a black woman before. Yikes!
Rating:
Summary: You're missing out if you aren't reading this series!
Review: Stephen King's fans who don't read the Dark Tower series are really missing out. The "Wolves of Calla" is an impressive, well-written, story that raises questions King has been giving us in other works and ties in one of his very first stories in a unique way. The suspense and drama of the books are fantastic, but I think it's the characters that really set this series apart. In "Wolves of the Calla", each member of the ka-tet has agonizing personal choices to make and their decisions, sometimes flawed, sometimes heroic, make this series something beyond classification. This isn't a drawn-out epic fantasy or a gimmicky tie in of other novels. Like "Wizard and the Glass" this novel is memorable both in itself and in what is does for the series storyline. Jake is growing up. The Gunslinger is growing a heart (has been for some time). He's also losing some of his physical abilities, but he's a much more interesting character than when he started out. Susannah's latest personality would defy belief if written by any other writer, but Stephen King handles her masterfully. And Eddie the former junkie is now the one that's desperate to hold the group together. The battle to project a town's children against seemingly unstoppable "wolves" is just one part of the story. The stakes are raised at the conclusion of this installment by a new character with his own stunning background added to mix and Stephen King tantalizes us with the first real glimpse of how this serious might conclude. I hate the spoilers, so that's all I'll say. Don't miss it.
Rating:
Summary: One of the best series ever!
Review: The Dark Tower along with Harry Potter are probably the best series I have ever read (I don't count Lord of the Rings since it wasn't published as a series). Roland and his ka-tet are moving closer and closer to the Tower and in their way they reach Calla where the population has been harassed for a long time by the Wolves. The Wolves come every 25 years or so to take away half of the Calla children. Of course, the gunslinger and his group offer help. I have read some reviews claiming that you can enjoy this book by itself without any need to be a King's fan. While I agree that the book is enjoyable by itself, I also think that you need to read the previous books first if you want to fully understand the story and the complex relationships between the characters and the different worlds. It also helps if you have read other Stephen King books, since there are connections to them as well (clear ones with Salem's Lot and Hearts in Atlantis). I started reading this series about ten years ago and when the last book comes out by the end of 2005 I will probably read the whole series over again. I know that there are some fine points in the plot I am missing by not remembering the starting books all that well. My recommendation is...READ THE WHOLE SERIES! You will not be disappointed.
Rating: 
Summary: Gimmick Infringement!!!
Review: The Rock would say this was gimmick infringement:
Doctor Doom with Light Sabers and Snitches....?
I used to admire King's originality. This book re-treads alot of old stuff. Not sure I liked that.
What is it with authors writing 7-book series like Dark Tower and Harry Potter, having to make each book substantially longer than the last? This book could have been 200 pages shorter.
Rating: 
Summary: Yet Another Miserable Failure in this Drowning Series
Review: Why do I get the feeling that you people will give a positive review to anything that King writes, no matter how painful it is to read. One reviewer hit it right on the head and, what a surprise(!), his review wasn't helpful to any of you. The sassy, street-wise Susannah is a joke of a character. I can say the same for the whiney, exceedingly tedious Eddie. Even Roland is starting to act like these two, with the corny one-liners over and over again. The language used here by the group and the people of Calla Bryn Sturgis is borderline verbicide. Couldn't King think of a dialect a little less annoying? What happened to the morbid, lonesome GUNSLINGER in the first part of the series? These people are supposed to be killers, not a party posse, for crying out loud. People, stop being clones and give this book an honest review. It stinks, almost as bad as "Wizard and Glass", and you know it.
Rating:
Summary: Sum of its parts ...
Review: If you have made it this far in the series, you will likely have a positive review of this book ... and I do, but not without a few comments ... Overall, as with Wizards and Glass, the overall journey progresses, of course, but slowly. The characters have been pretty well developed by now, so there's not much new there ... we know their qualities, and yes, the parts we are bored of. The things I really liked, though, and the things I am looking forward to in SOS and in the final book, are the return to the fantastic world Mr. King has developed. I have always held him in very high esteem for his ability to create complex societies and to make me feel as though I am actually involved. From Castle Rock to Calla Bryn Sturgis and everywhere in between, I look forward to visiting the worlds he creates. More than enjoying this book, I enjoy the series ... and this is not meant to demean the quality of the individual pieces, but the whole is definitely greater than some of its parts. :) I think it is safe to say that I enjoy the world of the Dark Tower for the fantasy of it. I enjoy it for the "insider" feeling when I recognize characters or points from one of the other novels I have worn down. And finally, I enjoy it as a guilty pleasure - my Western shoot-em-up serial opus from my favorite writer.
Rating:
Summary: just too convenient
Review: Even though SK has been saying for years he will tie a lot of his previous work in to the conclusion of the Dark Tower series. It feels just a little to pat in its execution. Things that held no significance in original novels are now cropping up in the DTS as pivotals points. Roland and his Ka-Tet are still the bomb. Susannah has developed a new skill and Eddie is getting more and more like Roland everyday. Jake finds some time to be real little boy but that is shortlived as he is thrust back into his role as a Gunslinger.
Rating:
Summary: STRIKE TWO on the DT series
Review: Started out interesting and fast paced but by page 100 it came to virtual halt. Mr. King forgets to "Show, don't tell" Mr. King should reread and follow his own book "On Writing" After I got to page 100 I started skipping paragraphs then eventually whole pages. Tons of painfully repetitious padding. When a paragraph would suffice SK drags it to 2-4 pages! As an example take a look at Tolkien's The Hobbit (289 pages) and his The Lord of the Ring trilogy (432 pages, 352 pages and 464 pages). Another,. more relevant example The Gunslinger (256 pages), The Drawing of the Three (406 pages), The Waste Lands (448 pages). The first three books of the Dark Tower series are great, to the point and have pace. Wizard and Glass (672 pages) and Wolves of the Calla ( 736 pages) are stagnant and bloated. (...) The character of Susannah still talks like a black street [prostitute], degrading and diminishing her as a serious player. Eddie too is shallow and cheap. Even Roland the Gunslinger himself is made ridiculous by his insistence on ritual and pomp regarding the simplest of things. But oh! do they keep fretting about making this and that in time and even saying "time is short let's get
going!" BUT they don't. They take FOREVER to do anything. The speech patterns and manners of the people of Calla Byrn Srurgis were mind numbing (they take forever to spit out a simple sentence) and redundant. The Gunslingers adopting the Calla's speech patterns and mannerisms was unnatural and even more benumbing. But hey, it sure racks up the page count, right Mr. King? Mr. King is now at full count (to use his baseball lingo). One more strike and the series is OUT and over. We, the once prized, Constant Reader lose. Mr. King wins $$ either way so it doesn't matter to him.....which is glaringly obviouse by his lack of quality these past 10+ years. I hope he takes the time with the last book in the DT series. Even if it takes many years. Think compact, distilled, consise.
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