Rating: 
Summary: Far better than The Gunslinger
Review: Don't give up on this series just because you hated the Gunslinger. This book is FAR better.
Rating:
Summary: Good
Review: As I see it, this was a spectacular book. It carries the story of Roland the Gunslinger to a whole different level. the loneliness of the beach is compelling and wonderful to imagine. But for me, the characters are what make this a fantastic story. Eddie is a fabulous character. I fell in love with him completely. The trouble he is in, the trouble he causes, and the turmoil he goes through is fantastic. I also love the interaction between roland and eddie. odetta/detta is likewise an interesting character, although she intrigued me less than eddie. but all in all, the most intriguing parts of this story are Roland and this search for the Dark Tower
Rating: 
Summary: My favorite dark tower book...so far
Review: I've read part 1,2, and in the middle of part 3 and I found part 2 to be the most enjoyable so far.
Rating:
Summary: King is the King
Review: The Drawing of the Three was simply superb. The initial beach scene was done quite painstakingly (if you want to, you can count how many times you fall asleep duirng a page; my record is 5), but thankfully, the story quickly picked up from there. First ten pages aside, the plot is interesting and surprisingly insightful.
Rating:
Summary: Now that's some epic Stephen King
Review: I have read about 15 novels by Mr King, and this has got place in my top 3 or 4. The entire Dark Tower series is brilliant. But where the Gunslinger is a worthy introduction, and the Wastelands a wild stop on the way, The Drawing of the Three and in my humble opinion, Wizard and Glass are the absolute standouts. Roland's first interactions with our world run the gamut from funny to thought-provoking to scary, and each of the new characters are impressive and likeable. This book is not to be missed. And while you're at it, read the other three and wait with breath as baited as the rest of us for #5.
Rating:
Summary: A non stop roller coaster of action and suspense!
Review: This book is without a doubt the best and most interesting of the series. The lobstrosities part was simply hillarious, as was the eddie dean part. You really start to worry about Roland when he is sick. The plot grabs you and dosent let go untill you finish the last page. I read it in two days, the fastest I have ever read any book. Great!
Rating:
Summary: Finally the series gets going.
Review: I picked this one up having heard it was better than the first one (actually it could hardly be worse), and I was pleasantly surprised. Unlike "Gunslinger" this one had a real plot, continuity, background, pacing, action, and characters we actually LEARN something about. Roland's conflict coming to terms with present-day life was entertaining and well-written. Overall the pacing is still a little slow, but if everything continues to improve like this, the rest of the series should be absolutely fantastic.
Rating:
Summary: Masterful. Beautifully written.
Review: A big improvemnet from "The Gunslinger". Very fast paced and very suspensful. I fell in love with Odetta Holmes, then hated Detta Walker. I enjoyed the dialouge of Eddie Dean, and admired Roland. A great book and highly recomendable.
Rating: 
Summary: A Lobstrosity
Review: So, 300 pages in and what's happened? The hero is STILL walking along a beach, looking for yet ANOTHER door, STILL accompanied by two people, one of whom is in a wheelchair, legless, who spends the time hurling insults, and the beach has STILL got big lobsters. Oh, and the hero isn't feeling very well.... AGAIN. Honestly, if anyone calls this book exciting or interesting, they really need to get a life. Its clear that King wrote this book in-between his more serious stuff, so as to give his mind a rest and to relax. In a way its a shame, because there are some good ideas here, the ability to enter someone's mind in the twentieth century for instance but mercilessly, we return time and again to the beach, the lobsters, the legless black woman hurling insults.....I nearly stopped reading after 300 pages because I simply couldn't carry on reading the same thing time and again, and if I was King, I'd have added an apology at the end of the book - an apology for wasting peoples time. So two stars, one for the good start when the hero first enters a mind through a door, and one for the last chapter. But thank goodness the book ends. Lets hope the next in the series has more then one good idea/moment, and it happens over more than one chapter near the beginning. Its a flaw with King, he'll come up with a brilliant idea and then totally disregard the possibilities. On behalf of the general public Mr King, we're not asking for consistent brilliance, all we ask is value for money.
Rating:
Summary: it's getting better!
Review: Wow, fantastic. if you've read "The Gunslinger" and then gave up, then i encourage you to read this, the second volume. It is SO much better than the first! With "The Gunslinger" you could tell it was written while King was still in college because it was pretty rough around the edges and (forgive me for saying this about a SK story), a little boring. But "The Drawing Of The Three", in which Roland must pass through three doorways to 1980's America, is riveting, fast-paced,emotional, and yes, humorous. Some parts where Roland is trying to get used to our world are very funny (the "tooter-fish popkin" incident springs to mind). The 450 pages just fly past, but it gives some indication of the epic saga that King is creating, since even at the end of Volume II, we are still near the start of the journey. I only hope that once Roland reaches his Dark Tower (if he ever does?), the tale doesn't fizz out. All in all, this book offers much more bang for your buck than The Gunslinger, because it's twice as long, written twice as good, and there's twice as much action :)
|
