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The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3)

The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower, Book 3)

List Price: $7.99
Your Price: $7.19
Product Info Reviews

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Rating: 4 stars
Summary: The Best Dark Tower Book of the First 3
Review: I loved the first book "The Gunslinger" cause even though a large portion was our lone hero Roland of Gilead,the last gunslinger roaming through the desert.Then the second book has
Roland meeting two people from different worlds and times.
These people were:Junkie Eddie Dean from New York.
Odetta Holmes and Detta Walker,twist is,Odetta Holmes has a split personality disorder and no legs.But after Detta was ridden of for good Odetta became Susannah.But now onto my review.
We begin in a forest while Roland attempts to teach Susannah to shoot.Being as how I started the book over six months ago and finished about two days ago presents a problem cause I don't know what Eddie's doing. Before we begin the suspenseful fight with a mechanical bear we are introduced for the second time to young Jake Chambers who made his first appearance in the first dark tower book. In the first book Roland sacraficed young Jake for the tower. But now in a diffrent reality Jake is having vivid dreams of Roland and the tower. Now I don't know how to give you any more of a plot summary without ruining the entire book. But like the last two dark tower books,Stephen King has his really high points,high points,and extremly low points.King skips low all together. The story will sometimes just drag,but Stephen King makes up for it cause when the dragging is done.Out comes something out of nowhere like the character of Gasher that just blows it right out of the water.Blaine the Train/Mono is one of King's greatest creations,the creature is so advanced and entertaining I hope King will use Blaine for a future book.Maybe even in a small cameo-like thing. I'm in the middle of
"Wizard & Glass" and am eagerly anticipating the finale of the books.I heard "Song of Susannah" was terrible but i'm still happy to know that the journey is coming to an end. King is making a "Lord of the Rings" for generation X. B+.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Something for Everyone
Review: The enjoyment of this book/series truly depends on your personal interests in reading, so I have seperated my review into different categories relating to the audiences that it might appeal to.

Traditional Stephen King Fans:
This isn't the standard horror that most associate with Stephen King. It's a much broader book, with a strong base in fantasy. If you're looking for a good scare, you won't find it here, but will still be able to enjoy the familar style of writing you come to expect from King.

Fantasy Reader:
Most fans of fantasy find this to be very enjoyable, but will also notice a bit of a departure from fantasy in the classical sense. It's not a book that's filled with your standard princes, dragons, or sorcery, but contains many parallel elements. The worlds in this book dip in and out of our own, creating a deep mystery sub-theme. Definitely Fan-fic material.

Stephen King Fantasy fans:
In a nutshell, this is your book. The series is by far the best in King's arsenal of fantasy novels, and you will not be able to let go of the characters whom you'll get to know so well. Don't worry, you'll be a Tower Junkie in no time.

General Public:
Very, very interesting. The books are rich with plot, and the inclusion of the characters' personal histories adds to the empathy that you will inevitably feel for them. My only note of caution is that this series is a bit hard to get into. However, if you can hold out to the end of the first book, the feeling fades and there's no letting go.

((Extended Note: Another perk with this series is how most all of King's more prominent books have worked their way into the storyline, some more than others. For instance, there are strong links to Salem's Lot and Bag of Bones, and anyone who has read such can easily see and appreciate the connections.))

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Very mediocre
Review: I still love Roland and Jake, but Eddie and Susannah are annoying, stereotypical and shallow. It's like- Susannah is black, a woman AND disabled, so of course she's perfect, oh, and she and Eddie love one another so they must be deep, sensitive people. Also, King's influences were a little too blatant- Eliot's Wasteland was almost pushed onto the reader, and the riddle game was a Tolkien copy.

And the cliffhanger? How do you THINK it's going to be resolved? Is anyone really worried that the first sentence of the next book is going to be, "Blaine the mono would have smiled, had he a mouth, as he correctly answered the last riddle, seconds before hurling Roland and his party to their deaths. The end."

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Mr. King has done it again!
Review: I think I need to get the next book, this was hard to put down! He brings you into the world of The Gunslinger, and wont let you leave until you finish the book! This is a must have for your personal library! It gets your heart pounding! I also recommend

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Far from a "Waste"
Review: Stephen King hits his stride in "The Waste Lands," the third volume of his epic dark fantasy Dark Tower series. Now that the quest is underway, King's world of cyborg bears, insane trains and sex-addict demons coalesces into a tight, engrossing story.

Newlyweds Susannah (formerly Odetta/Detta) and Eddie Dean are rapidly becoming expert gunslingers, even proving themselves as Susannah guns down cyborg bear Shardik, and Eddie takes out robots. But Roland is having problems. Since he saved the life of eleven-year-old Jake in the previous book, he remembers two realities -- one where he saved Jake, and one where he let him die. Now that paradox is slowly driving him insane -- and worse, in his own world, Jake is also going mad.

They find a doorway to Jake's world, but it's guarded by a malevolent demon. Susannah manages to trap the demon (by having sex with it) as Eddie barely manages to draw Jake into Mid-World. Now they are a "ka-tet," or a group brought together by destiny. But the ka-tet has barely formed before it's threatened, by a mysterious figure that is following them at a distance -- and an insane train that traps them on its suicide run....

In "The Gunslinger" and "Drawing of the Three," King spent his time establishing the main quest and the lead characters. Now he's got those in the bag, and the story revs up as Roland and Co. set off to find the Dark Tower rather than just talking about it. It feels like the series had finally hit its stride.

The world that has "moved on" is not a nice place -- just about everything is dangerous, bleak or at least rough-edged. But King manages to keep the weirder elements -- like the cyborg animals or the riddling train -- from seeming silly. His writing is not usually good in the technical sense, but it excels at having atmosphere and lots of gruesome slam-bang action.

Roland remains the rough cowboy with a hidden heart of gold and a tragic past. His bond with lonely Jake is a particularly touching detail. Eddie becomes a bit annoying at times with all his wisecracking, but he has a past almost as hard as Roland's. Susannah is perhaps the most interesting of all -- two opposing personalities merged into one. And don't forget Oy the faithful billybumbler, a sort of dog-like creature.

Ending on a pulse-pounding cliffhanger, "The Waste Lands" is a smooth and thoroughly engaging dark fantasy. The pinnacle of the Dark Tower series so far.


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