Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)

Rating:
Summary: Some tales are better left unfinished.
Review: The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla is not a colossal disappointment, but it is fundamentally unsatisfying. The first three Dark Tower books were lean and delicious. The fourth and, now, the fifth are bloated and bland.

I remember Mr King's afterword in Wizard and Glass, in which he said he finally had to force himself to sit down and 'just *write* the thing'. Now, as another reviewer has noted, he feels he has to finish the series out of obligation, so he has again forced himself to bang out the last three books rapid-fire in order to have done with it, rather than because the tales need to be told. He said before he wrote the Dark Tower books so slowly because he could not force himself to write them; they just 'came'; they just wrote themselves. Starting with Wizard and Glass, he abandoned that thinking, so he's on autopilot, and it shows. I have always said I must see the end of The Dark Tower, but if Mr King does not know how to end it, it would be better left unfinished with the last book in the series he wrote with real feeling and the need to tell a tale: The Waste Lands.

The story is the basic plot of Wizard and Glass again, only this time with no framing story and a shockingly boring trip to New York or three. That is, Roland and his friends arrive at a sleepy farming and ranching town about to be attacked by outside forces. The ka-tet dicker and dither about as a showdown slowly (oh, how slowly) approaches, just as Roland and his compatriots did in Mejis.

Father Callahan appears (this is no spoiler as King gave it away both in other Dark Tower books and on his web site), but why? Nothing that happens to him once he leaves 'Salem's Lot is interesting (another mystery Mr King should have left unsolved), and his simultaneously silly and boring backstory eats up a large part of the book. As far as his role in the story, well, I for one would not have noticed it were Callahan by his behaviour. This characters acts nothing like the broken priest who took the bus to Chicago after taking a vampire's communion. And the book doesn't even include that classic line from Barlow ('Now, false priest, take *my* communion!') Alain's fate is revealed in a blink-and-you'll-miss-it flashback. I shall not tell you exactly what it was, but suffice to say it was substantially less interesting than what I had come up with, and I expect better from Mr King.

The revelation about the nature of the Wolves is delayed purely for cheap suspense and hardly awe-inspiring when it is revealed. In fact, it's downright tame.

As another reviewer noted (and the same is true of Wizard and Glass), at the conclusion of this book the ka-tet have barely moved an inch on their long journey to the Tower. The journey now seems to take place between novels, and the novels are written about isolated incidents that occur along the way. Wolves of the Calla is a sideshow, an event Mr King or perhaps another author could have written about as a corollary to the main tale once The Dark Tower is complete.

This book is not mediocre King. It is simply mediocre.

Rating:
Summary: Exactly what I hoped for, and more
Review: It seems to me that almost every time I get "hooked" on a series, especially one that lasts as long as this one has, I am almost always disappointed finally. This book has not disappointed me, although I admit I would keep reading the series even if it did (for a sense of completion, at least). This is probably King's "magnum opus"-- the writing which I believe he must feel defines his career and guarantees him a place in literary history. I can say that I haven't loved every one of his books--but I have loved every one of them in this series-- including this one.

Like the "third from the end" book it is, it does NOT answer any final questions. It's a stepping stone to an end, one that I still cannot predict (that makes me happy). I am anxious to move along on the beam to the next story, the next waystation with the ka-tet. But for now, I rest satisfied that this book was worth reading.

The book ties contemporary literature and more of King's work into Roland's world, delightfully so in many spots. The places where King most artfully mixes a popular culture reference of some sort are the ones that make me look most forward to the next books-- I want to know where he's going with this trend, because for now, I don't see it. There is enough "backstory" so that if it's been a while since you read the last books in the series, you don't have to go back (although it's a pleasure to do so). But you won't be lost wondering "when did that happen?" and yet you won't be frustrated reading TOO MUCH recap (which happens in a lot of series books, too.)

The illustrations were an interesting touch I didn't remember from the past books till I looked at them again-- I'm not exactly sure what their purpose is, but I am not against them. I would and will read this book again-- and I am glad that King has finally come to the beginning of the end in the series upon which I have followed him over 20 years (since I was barely Jake's age, myself!).

Rating:
Summary: Equal to the previous...
Review: I will not reiterate what so many have said before...but as a big fan of 'Salems Lot (my absolute FAVORITE Stephen King novel) I was thrilled to see Father Callahan and hear of his travels and travails - I think he fit in well with the other members of Roland's band.

I have listened to each of the Dark Tower books on audio before reading them, and this one made me keep listening, even more than my previous favorite "Drawing Of The Three". Everything is beginning to come together, and I cannot wait to see how it all ends up.

...as an afterthought...I loved Oy even more in this book than the ones before!

Rating:
Summary: Another piece of the story...
Review: I liked this book. I read it in less than 2 weeks (and that's fast for me. I am a slow reader. I like to take in what I can) It's not my favorite of them all, but I still thought it was good. Read it with an open mind. I think a lot of people are missing the point about the ending. Study the reactions of the characters. I don't want to spoil the ending, so that's all I will say. I would like to know if other people saw what I did on those last pages. This book makes you think about all the other pieces and try to put them all together.

Rating:
Summary: Another fine addition to the Dark Tower Series
Review: 'Wolves of Calla' is not the best book in the Dark Tower series, but it is still a great read. Stephen King once again takes Roland and his ka-tet farther into the waste lands towards the ultimate goal, being the dark tower. While there were admittedly slow parts(which knock off one star) in this 700 page read, the book is still hard to put down. As an admitted fan of the Dark Tower Series, I found this book to be a fitting addition and well worth the wait. Dispite the short foreword, this book really would be more enjoyable to someone who has read the first four parts of the series prior to reading 'Wolves of Calla'. The foreword is more of a refresher then it is a discription of the past books. While someone could possibly pick up this book and read it without reading the first four, I do believe it would lessen the reading experience. If you are a follower of the Dark Tower series, you owe it to yourself to get your hands of 'Wolves of Calla'. You won't be disappointed.

Rating:
Summary: Awesome!!!
Review: Having read every word Stephen King ever published, and having waited with no small measure of impatience for this new installment to publish, I was extremely satisfied with Book V. I like the addition of Callahan and look forward to what happens to our Ka-TET in "Susannah". My only gripe (and it's a small one) is that the fight with the Wolves seemed to be too easy and over too quickly for something that has terrorized the Calla for so long. But that doesn't take away from a truly great story that leaves you wishing it was next year already and Book VI was out.

Rating:
Summary: You can feel the series coiling to strike
Review: You already love the Dark Tower saga, or you wouldn't be here reading the reviews. You don't want to have the plot given away, you just want to know - does it stack up? Is it worthy of what went before?

The answers are yes, and probably. When King began this project, he knew that his muse was drawing him into it, knew that he would be taking the unearthly, doomed but defiant mood of Browning's "Childe Roland" and that in the figure of Roland the Gunslinger, he would be wedding it to the American version of the knight errant. But he didn't know the shape of the plot, or even if it would all lose direction and fizzle out. He was still groping his way forward, trusting his instincts, until book four. The venture dug deeper than his usual fare, but it also felt picaresque, improvisational, sometimes quirkily imagistic.

This volume makes it clear that he knows where he's going, and means to arrive there smooth and clean. There's a single clear narrative, with none of the sense of flailing around that troubled some of the earlier volumes. The wild west atmosphere has - temporarily, one hopes - gained ascendancy over Browning's edge-of-the-world eeriness. But that suits this rustic leg of the quest just fine. (I regret to report that the science fiction trappings that entered the story with Blaine the Train grow a little thicker, which also thins out the Dark Tower flavor a bit.)

But even as Roland's Magnificent Five (counting Jake's billy bumbler) adopt a town in trouble, prepare to face down the terrorizing gang, and add a country priest to bring the company's number to six, large forces are moving under the surface. These are both the forces within Roland's universe, which has been designed to encompass all universes, and the forces driving King's own creativity.

My feeling reading this instalment was, that King isn't just being cute bringing in characters and motifs from his other novels - that country priest from 'Salem's lot, and the low men in yellow coats, among others. Knowing for sure now how Roland's story will come out, he is feeling out the subconscious affinities these other stories always did have with the Dark Tower, which has after all grown up right alongside them. And the interconnection the Dark Tower forms among multiple worlds has something to do with the interconnection art makes (and King's art in particular has made) with multiple realities: fictions and legends and personal pasts.

I strongly suspect King knows just what he's up to. He intends the next two books to round off his career; and among other things he is now writing a story about the nature of stories. That accounts for the twists near the end that some reviewers are objecting to. In other hands, such nesting could become a tiresome post-modern trick. But post-modernists don't care much for stories; King does, and my money says he's going to do something different and interesting with the theme.

In the meantime this segment, with its little detour from the path of the beam, moves fluidly and grippingly, and is satisfying in its own right.

Rating:
Summary: Wonderfull
Review: I got this book because i love the Dark Tower Quest. The books Time line is a lot shorter than the other books. it takes place over 30 - 35 days .It also gives a little more insite. There are cluse form other books that link to this one. Like the Black House,The Talisman,and a few others . I think this book is in keeping with the Tower Quest. I cant wait For the next one tilted Song of Susannah.It should come out around may or 2004.

Rating:
Summary: The BEST yet. EXCELLENT!!
Review: This one is worth the wait. The best book of the series yet. It has everything you could want, action, adventure, love, and mystery. Be sure to read the others first to get the full flavor of the story. Without that you won't appreciate the characters nor the overwhelming amount of story that exists to make this series the best any writer has every come up with.

Very addictive read. I had it finished in about 4 days.

Rating:
Summary: Only one complaint
Review: King's work is predictably brilliant, compelling, and inexorable as the ka-tet moves toward apotheosis and the last defense or liberation of That which is the Dark Tower. This series is King's redemption, containing the grandeur, patience, and master craftsmanship so often lacking from his lesser works, a testament to him as an artist. On it I will cast no aspersion, and recommend it without reservation as a book one must read simply because it is.

To be perfectly honest, my one complaint is the book itself - the physical book. A particularly shoddy grade of ink mars its construction, which rubs off easily onto the fingers and is difficult to remove with mere soap and water. Forgive me if I observe that books should color the mind, not the hand. It was worth the inconvenience, but honestly, what a stupid way to manufacture such a story!