Rating: 
Summary: Towering success
Review: Let's get this out of the way first: If you've not read the previous four books in Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, you can stop right here. This book isn't for you. While the story itself is strong, the characters and references to the backstory likely will elicit a good deal of frustration and head-scratching. You'd be well-served by going back and reading the first four books of the series.That being said, "Tower" fans undoubtedly will be pleased with this, the fifth book in King's genre-bending magnum opus. On the heels of a sometimes disappointing Book IV ("Wizard and Glass," which was essentially 672 pages of flashback and so, by its very nature, did little to advance the overall plot), "The Wolves of the Calla" refreshingly finds Roland Deschain and his ka-tet moving forward in their quest for the tower. King is a lot of things, but above all he is a fantastic story-teller, and "Wolves of the Calla" stands testament to that. From the very first sentence, he reels the reader in with his magnificent feel for the language and his always-present humor. (Check out his Web site for a look at the prologue. You'll be sold immediately.) He goes on to spin what ends up being a gripping tale that offers a few answers about our adventurers but, in true "Tower" form, brings up even more questions. It's worth noting that "Calla" also finds King reintroducing characters from some of his other stories, most notably Father Callahan from "'Salem's Lot." It's not the first time he's done so in the series (and in other books), but it certainly represents one of the more prominent roles played by a former character. One has to wonder if it is a result of literary inspiration or shameless self-marketing. (Whatever the case, it got me to pick up "'Salem's Lot," which was a great read in itself. So even in the worst-case scenario, everybody wins.) At 700-plus pages, "The Wolves of the Calla" isn't a quick read, and at times it gets bogged down in detail (in particular where Father Callahan's tale is concerned). And King's tower-related symbolism often seems a bit abstruse. But the strength of the story, and of that of the overall series, easily overcomes such shortcomings, adding yet another sucess to Sai Stephen's impressive body of work.
Rating: 
Summary: What is he thinking?
Review: I am a big fan of the Dark Tower series but this book really stumbles from start to finish. The 1st 3 books in the series closely followed the progress of the gunslingers and advanced the story at an entertaining pace ("The Waste Lands" being the best of those). Then came "Wizard and Glass" which did nothing for the series as it was a 600+ page tangent into a back story that really slogged on and on. While I'm sure that King will reference the specifics of that story mercilessly, it slowed down the amazing pace of the story of the quest for the Dark Tower. And now we have "The Wolves of Calla" which brings the whole thing to a screeching halt. This book could be a stand-alone story in itself because it bears little resemblance to the other Dark Tower novels (except for the characters). While this could be a good approach for a 7-novel series in order to keep things fresh, King piles on many of the worst attributes of his writing style that make this story very irritating. The novel's characters talk in the very annoying Calla dialect from start to finish, and I had trouble believing that the main characters would so completely change their way of speaking ("thankya big-big!") in a matter of a few days. The ridiculous portrayal of Eddie Dean's "mean-streets", New York-guy attitude is really cranked up here, and I just wanted to skip all passages involving him. Susannah and Jake are fairly interesting in this book because their personal stories do in fact advance. The Father Callahan story is utterly preposterous and whole-heartedly uninteresting. I didn't personally find that subplot to be too long, just not very good. Since this book is nothing but a subplot, I guess that Callahan's story is a subplot within a subplot. Viola! A new literary genre is born! It sometimes seems like, while writing, Stephen King commits to paper the first thing that comes to his mind, which eventually makes it into the final published version. Certain things that he writes make no sense, and he often hints that some items will be explained later but they never are. In my opinion, "The Wolves of Calla" is by far the worst in the series. I will read them all, but I really hope that the next one is better. A couple of other quick observations...
* Stephen King has said in many interviews that this series will be "over 10,000 pages long". For 7 books that is about 1428 pages each on the average. Since the 1st 5 total about 3000 pages, I can only conclude that the last 2 books will each be 3500 pages in length.
* Detroit does not border Lake Michigan. But the cop-out explanation is that it DOES border Lake Michigan in one of King's 18 million universes!
* Does it seem like he is struggling very hard to connect this series to many of his past stand-alone books? I don't know if anyone agrees with me, but that approach is really robbing the magic away from these older books by over-explaining.
* My predictions -- Cujo and Gage Creed are characters in book 6. Jack Torrance makes an appearance by book#7!
(That's good because I've been wondering what Cujo has been up to lately).
* Did you buy the 1st four illustrated volumes in the large softcover versions like I did (about $15 each)? Now they switch to a $27 hardcover and aren't selling the softcovers to go with the rest of the collection. Of course, you can now BUY the older books in the hardcover. A shamless money-grubbing strategy to say the least.
Rating: 
Summary: Not Much to See on this Part of the Journey
Review: This book took me over a month to read - not because I'm a slow reader, but the story didn't catch my attention and I found myself often setting the book down to do other things. As a fan of the Dark Tower books, I see the series as a long journey. Wolves is like driving in the Arizona desert, not much to see, but you have to get through it to arrive at your destination. The settings of the story, Calla and New York, didn't spark my imagination like I had hoped in a "fantasy" novel. The author didn't either have the time or energy to introduce an intriguing setting in Wolves. I also felt this way with the re-introduction of Susannah's schizophrenia. Old and/or tired territory was being covered in Wolves, including the plot of gunslingers saving a small town. I read Wolves because I'm a fan, but didn't enjoy it as I had the other books. As a passenger on the Dark Tower train, this leg of the journey was of a featureless landscape. "Are we there yet?"
Rating: 
Summary: A bright star in the Dark Tower series
Review: Yes, Stephen King has done it again! He has provided us with another gripping, incredible book. This book is so wonderful, it is hard to put down. I read the entire novel in 3 days..and then, I was wanting more! I can not wait until the next novel in this series. I was not the least bit disturbed by Stephen King showing up in the novel, at the end. Although, I hope that he does not become a main character in the next novel. I also hope that the characters stay "real" and are not the product of Stephen King's character's imagination. Now, THAT would be disappointing. If anyone has any hesitation about buying this book, don't hesitate BUT I strongly suggest that you buy and read the other books in this series, starting from the beginning. If you don't, you will be confused. I am a hopeless Dark Tower junkie! If you start reading this series, chances are you will be too! I am definately following along the path of the beam to the very end. I wonder where King will take us?
Rating:
Summary: An amazing novel
Review: The Dark Tower Series is easily some of the best fiction I have read. Stephen King has created a parralell world with admirable people. Roland Deshain is an incredible character. He knows much about his world, yet realizes he can't know everything. He has achieved an almost superhero status in my mind, but yet he may be destroyed by the aging of his body. Eddie is another character that I like. He has overcome an addiction and is in complete control of himself. He can think for himself and does not fear what he can not affect. King has created a world full a vivid characters, and the Wolves of the Calla has added even more. What Happens? We learn a little more about Roland's past and the end of his orginal ka-tet with Alain and Cuthbert. We also learn a little bit more about Roland's world and it's decay. There is major character development with the four major characters, and a priest is introduced. This novel ends with a twist I could never have expected, and I can only wonder what King plans to do with it. But the majority of the novel deals with the town of Calla Byrn Sturgis. This town is plauged by wolves that still children. The seek aid and succor from Roland and his Gunslingers. I highly recommend this novel and Salem's lot. I haven't read Salem's Lot yet, but I am going to buy Salem's Lot soon.
Rating:
Summary: Very enjoyable.
Review: The Dark Tower fans will not be dissapointed....except for the ending maybe. When you get to the end, you will see. I'm not exactly sure how I feel about it yet and probably won't until the next novel in the series is published. If you haven't read the Dark Tower series, you are missing out. If you have read the previous novels, then this review really won't do any good because you already know how good the series is and practically nothing will prevent you from finishing it. A very enjoyable read. King is Candy for the brain but we all need sweets in our lives....
Rating:
Summary: 1/7th of the Greatest Epic story ever created
Review: My wife introduced me to Stephen King in 2002. I had always avoided reading his books, because frankly I did not think I would enjoy a "Horror Novel" I liked some of his "Creepshow" movies as a kid, but that was as close as I ever got to reading his stories. She explained that I might like one of his books called "The Stand", and so I began my journey, discovering along the way that I would never classify him as a Horror Novelist, it is much too limiting, his scope is wide. I have poured through a dozen of his works since, all prearranged by my wife, to feed me bits and pieces of Kings overall masterpiece. The DT series being the heart and soul of a vast majority of his work. In any case, this is sounding like a "read Stephen King" review rather than a read the Calla one, but in a way, I would recommend other books first, because they make this one so rich. Afer all if you have read all of Kings stuff, why are you reading a review, you know you'll like it. If you haven't read DT I to IV read them in order, but grab the recently rewritten Gunslinger novel, it is better than ever. I know it is a big investment of time to start the series, but It has been one of my favorite experiences of all time, ranking right up there with The Lord of the Rings, and Star Wars. The Calla is a great story, it really builds the characters you have already met, and introduces some great new ones. Some questions are answered, and yet more are asked, and finally like any good DT book, it leaves you drooling for book VI. Now when can I pre order VI from Amazon?
Rating:
Summary: That car knocked the old King loose thank God
Review: I've read damn near every Stephen King story around, and the Dark Tower is easily my favorite. The weaving in and out of his other books that this series has done should eventually be look upon as one of the great literary achievents. Yes, King isnt Ulysses but he isn't Encyclopedia Brown either, the guy has writing chops. Anyway, as for Wolves of the Calla, I just finished it today after toilet-reading it for about 2 months. I must say i was pleasantly suprised and very satisfied. I'd gotten a little worried because King had really started this "maturity" vibe in a lot of books around the mid-90's. I noticed with Insomnia he started kinda tackling getting old and more serious looks at love and that went right up through his accident. Wizard and Glass was the peak manifestation of that. It wasn't terrible, but it was like a giant, "oh i remember young love" mind-dump for a thousand pages. I was bored, which was double disappointing considering it followed the Waste Lands the most exciting book in the series and I waited 10 years nearly for it. Anyways, this time i really talk about WotC. It was a really great book. I never found the plot tedious or the Calla boring. The only really slow parts were the beginnings of Callahan's story because I knew it was going to lead to something huge (and it does) and I had 500 pages to wade through to get there. I think some people dont realize that the slow build in the book is almost certainly a design. Everything that had to come about in order for them to face down the wolves was important to the broader implications of Ka and the Dark Tower story as a whole. Plus I think it further fleshes out just how iconic and complete a hero Roland is. (as a cynical person, I hope this builds to him ultimately failing as a hero to achieve whatever he means to achieve at the Tower) But anyways, i was really shocked how many reviews actually said Wizard and Glass was their favorite book so maybe I'm way outside the mainstream and this is just me spitting into the wind. If you liked the first 3 books, then this is exactly in that same vein. Connections with other books, extensive deepenings of the plot, and some great questions are raised for the final two books. oh and the best part? when your reading it, you know you wont have to wait a damn decade to get to the next book. GOD BLESS YOU STEPHEN KING!
Rating:
Summary: Raves for the Master Storyteller
Review: I received this as a Christmas present, but patiently put it aside until I finished the book I was currently reading. It was hard to do, since I wanted to see how Roland and his "ka-tet" were doing. I've read through some of the other reviews and all I really have to say is one: Big Deal. So Stephen King puts himself in the book. It doesn't take away from the story one iota. And two: yeah, ok, so it's long. What Stephen King book isn't? Some say it was the worse of the whole series. Excuse me? The Gunslinger (Book one) put me to sleep. The only reason I read it is because I actually started the series with "The Drawing of the Three." And if you don't read the first book, "The Wastelands" makes little sense. Anyway, I loved the book and I'm anxiously awaiting book 6. You know darned well it will just as good and worth the wait.
Rating:
Summary: "Wolves" of the Calla?
Review: You'd better put this one in the bathroom or you'll never get any work done..... however you will find that you're actually paying more daily visits to the john than normal. Seriously, it sucks you in with typical King expertise and then holds you there through the bloody climax. My only regret is that the "Wolves" weren't human. I felt that for all the suffering they had brought about, the vengence would've been sweeter if they had been. There's always something special about a gunslinger in a showdown against really wicked, "deserve to die" bad guys, and here you have Roland and his Ka-Tet in just that sort of situation but in this case the "deaths" aren't the normal kind...... In all fairness to Roland and the others....the "Wolves"....all 61 of them....were pretty intimidating.
| 
