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Summary: Travel through "Wizard and Glass" back to the Dark Tower.
Review: I have just recently started reading Stephen King books, and I do have to say the Dark Tower series is my favorite. The first Stephen King novel I started with was "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon". I picked it up at a Krogers not sure why it must have been "Ka". A friend of mine trecommened the Dark Tower series, shortly after I finished "The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon", started reading it as soon as possible. The series is by far one of the best series that I have read, and it doesn't stop with the forth book the "Wizard and Glass". Basically anyone who has started the series and wants to continue should read this book without question, but for those who haven't ,go ahead and buy it, start from the beginning with "The Gunslinger". For those of you returning to the series. The book starts off where the "The Waste Lands" left off and then into the past of Roland. It tells about his "Ka-tet" with his friends Cuthbert and Alain and thier adventures as Gunslingers. This book is a must read for all returning readers of The Dark Tower series. I highly recomend "The Wizard and Glass" to all readers of the Dark Tower series.
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Summary: The Push Toward the Beginning
Review: Here, Constant Reader, Stephen King reels out a tale of some scope and depth. We take up the trip with the riddling, insane Blaine, defeat the homicidal train only to lurch to a stop in THE STAND'S SuperFlu devestated Kansas. Roland bony persona takes on some flesh however in a marathon 500+ page visit to Giliead and beyond. We finally get to see his faithful Alain, and the somewhat bent Cuthbert in the seams of a great, carefully orchestrated introduction to the past of Roland the Gunslinger. There are introductions to bedevilments and romance, enchantments and tragedies , standoffs and desperate manuevers that only Stephen King could pull off and tie up in a Story line that he has chosen to cut up in such weird and far between episodes. I love those ruby slippers for Oy. I'll say I like it, and I want more of it. Did you say three more books, Mr. King ? Stay out of the road, and let Roland come winding his horn one of these days.
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Summary: The Dark Tower Series
Review: The whole series of Dark Tower books are absolutely exceptional.
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Summary: Wizard and Glass
Review: The Dark Tower series just gets better and better! This is the fourth and my personal favorite of the outstanding achievement which us fans call The Dark Tower series! This addition to the epic tale is truly captivating! While the first three books in the Dark Tower series only hinted at certain things in Roland's past, 4/5 of this book is based in it! This story focuses on Roland's first, and maybe only love and the events that happen to them and Roland's comrades, Alain and Cuthbert. Filled with magick and mystery, this a truly enchanting tale and is one of my favorite books by King! If you've read any of the previous three in The Dark Tower series, of course this is a must! If you haven't read any in The Dark Tower series, you must! I stand by my opinion that The Dark Tower series is Stephen King's greatest achievement!
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Summary: Stunning! The Best of all Already Great Series
Review: Yes, I'm sure that some Dark Tower readers may disagree with the call that this is the best of the group(not to say that the other three haven't also been outstanding), but having just finished this book, I feel that there is something to say about the wonder of W&G. Wizard and Glass was surprising in its scope and power. King has created worlds and characters so unique and compelling that the stories pull the reader even deeper. For those new to the series, start from book one and DO START! King's Dark Tower series is the most interesting and original story out there. My wife asked me the other day to describe it, and my jaw hit the floor. How to describe this series? The difficulty comes from the fact that it is so lyrical, allegorical, and to a degree poetic. The stories mean different things to different people. In W&G, King leaves off from the outstanding cliffhanger in Waste Lands. Blaine, the suicidal train from hell, has challenged our heroes: Riddle or die. Even after the layoff of years (and countless horror books in between), King picks off exactly where he left off! Unbelievable, but true. The first hundred or so pages are riveting and tense as Roland et al try to riddle their way out of this mess. After this scene, King starts off on a flashback of Roland. At first, I was a little put off by this. My adrenaline was still rushing from the scene with Blaine and I thought that the flashback was going to be a waste. Long filler without much relevance to the quest for the Dark Tower. How wrong was I. King delivers a very simple love story with such power that I found myself thinking about the story even when I wasn't reading it. In the flashback, we meet several characters in Roland's life and learn a lot about our favorite gunslinger. Prior to this book, Roland was already one of the most interesting characters in fantasy, but this book really fleshed out his personna and gives meaning to his quest for the Dark Tower. In fact, we learn a lot about his current quest for the Dark Tower (such as his reasons for seeking out the Dark Tower), some of the villians, past and future, in these worlds, and we also get a chance to look into Roland's soul. For those of you still debating whether to pick up this book and read the series, read the other reviews. There is something about these books that even the doubters admit is rare and haunting. Roland, an almost tragic figure, leading a rag tag group of people, each of whom are misfits and outcasts from different times. On a mysterious quest to find the mythical Dark Tower and to discover something about themselves as well. All led through the tapestry of King's immagination. Even if you do not like any of King's other books, read this series. It is different from anything else King has done. Heck, its different from anything else period! The images in this book scream to be visualized. In some other books, the author describes an object without drawing the reader into the mood of the scene. King is way different. He gives us some bizarre and terrifying scenes that became even stranger when I took a moment to visualize it. While you are reading those reviews, I'll be here fondly remembering the story of Roland and Susan, and Roland's friends Cuthbert and Alain, of the Big Coffin Hunters, and the Witch woman Rhea. And please don't wake me until book five comes out.
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Summary: An Outstanding New Chapter Of An Epic Story
Review: I can't get over how good this book was. I have enjoyed the other installments in The Dark Tower Series, but they did not prepare me for this book. Wizard and Glass picks up where The Wastelands left off and it doesn't miss a beat. When I began to realize that King was going to spend the majority of Wizard and Glass telling us about Roland's back story I started to get disappointed. That feeling quickly dissapeared. Wizard and Glass stands as a great story on it's own, one that can be enjoyed without having read the three previous novels in the series. If you haven't started The Dark Tower Series yet, do yourself a favor and start now. You will be in for quite a treat.
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Summary: Comparison
Review: Instead of writing yet another review, I thought I would ask a question: Does anyone see this story (the whole Dark Tower series) as comparable to the Lord of the Rings by Tolkien. And if so... which is better? Granted, this series is not completed yet, but thus far, I think the Dark Tower series bests LOTR as the best story ever told.
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Summary: Entering the Emerald City
Review: In all honesty, I felt that this book was too short. Sure, it was about 650 pages long, but considering that the first book was written in the 1970s, one never knows how long the wait will be. Wizard continues right where Wastelands left off, with Blaine the Pain/Train taking the ka-tet to, of all places, Kansas. But rather than being the Kansas of Eddie's or Susannah's or Jake's life, it focuses on a different reality: one where the Kansas City Monarchs play baseball, where people drive Takuro Spirits...and where more than 95% of the world has been destroyed by a killer plague. It is the world of The Stand, an even longer King epic that stands alone, but is a good companion for the interim between this novel and the next. Then the flashback begins. On the way to investigate a strange glass building, Roland of Gilead tells his tale. He is 14 again, and his story is one of action, romance, and tragedy. He and a group of friends are sent to find a glass globe in a little outlying city called Mejis, but Roland finds more than that: he finds Susan Delgado, his first and (assumedly) only love. The story of his loving her her, saving the globe, and the final desperate escape into the box canyon take up most of the book. It is easy to forget (and I did several times) that it's all in the past, that his friends can't die because they matter later, that Roland cannot die because he is telling the tale...that he cannot have married Susan because she was carrying his child, and he has no child. Then we return to the maybe-Kansas. Aside from a missing munchkin or two, this evolves into a creative copy of The Wizard of Oz. But the wizard is evil this time, and his initials are R.F. But he does nothing to harm the group, only shows them another missing moment and vanishes, leaving nothing but a warning note. "Renounce the Tower," it says, "And have a _great_ day!" I can only hope that he reappears in a later book...and hopefully that book will come very, very soon!
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Summary: -
Review: King's looks like he's falling into what many successful writers do: they don't push their writing as hard. But the power of Roland of Gilead's story won't allow him to ruin it. The intro and end are frayed, but don't miss the magical meat in the middle.
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Summary: Took me awhile...
Review: When I started reading the Dark Tower series, I was really into it. It was awesome. Number I,II,III. Amazing. Then I get to Wizard and Glass. I was so into the story that was going on, I didn't care what the main character's past was. The flashbook is at least 8/10's of the book. It took me awhile to get past the begining of the flashback, then it just comes out INCREDIBLE. The book is great. I just think the flashback is a little too long. Good Job King!
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