Rating: Summary: Journeys Review: Stephen King has picked up the threads of the previous Dark Tower novels, and begun deftly weaving his spell once more.
Wizard and Glass continues to follow Roland and his friends on their quest for the Tower. In the previous novels, the path our adventurers followed often took strange and wondrous turns - and Wizard and Glass is no exception. In order to move forward, Roland must delve into the past which haunts him, and share his memories with his fellow travelers. It's a cathartic experience - one that serves to bind the ka-tet even closer as they move once more along the path to the Tower.
King shows one of his strengths by refusing to make us ride the story-telling bullet train. Instead, he takes us down back roads and scenic routes, and reminds us once more that the pleasure is not in the destination, but in the journey we take to reach it.
Rating: Summary: it started great... Review: I spent 50 bucks on this book and I can't say I am disapointed but...the start was great, classic and the idea of all of King's worlds being brought together through the tower is great but then Roland goes into his story and the whole book drags. I really couldn't feel anything for these characters of Susan and Alain and Cuthbert and even young Roland the way I could for Susanah, Eddie and Jake(and Oy). King takes about 500 pages to tell us what we could already guess at
Rating: Summary: Well worth the wait! Review: I have been angry at S.K. for years. Where is it! Why do you make me wait while you publish novel after novel...
To me, it was worth the wait, Better this carefully thought-out story than a quick run for the $.
It seems clear to me that at this point the story is in control, not S.K.
This one will truly write itself, however many years it takes. Pray for S.K.'s good health.
In the end, it will be his most memorable work, and I think, his favorite.
How many years 'till my next fix??
Rating: Summary: We waited 5 years for this? Review: I have been an avid reader of Stephen King since the beginning. I have read the Gunslinger Series a dozen times. And while Wizard's and Glass answers several questions from the earlier books. Stephen King uses 500 pages to answer what could have been answer in 200 to 250. By the end of the book I had lost interest in what was going on or even cared. Mr. King seems to have gotten away from what made the gunslinger series so good and just started rambling on as he did in desperation and the regulators. I hope it is not another five years for the next one and I hope he gets back on track with Roland, Eddie, Suzanne, Jake and Oy. Don't get me wrong I still want to learn more about Cuthburt and Alain but not a whole book of it
Rating: Summary: He leaves us wanting more.....again! Review: Well, Mr. King has given us another Dark Tower book. As he himself said in his comments, this one has been way too long in coming, with his readers "practically howling" wanting more of this intriguing and gripping tale. This series is unlike anything else King has done, and has turned me into a tower junkie. This installment gives us much-needed insight into some background in Roland's life. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, with many questions answered and many more placed firmly in my mind as I wait for the months (years) to pass before we can continue our journey to the dark tower. It is like a sweet torture, and King keeps me begging for more
Rating: Summary: A Monster of a Book Review: This is possibly one of the longest, most eagerly awaited sequels in this genre, and readers who enjoyed the first three installments of King's career-spanning opus will probably enjoy this one.
Like most of King's work, "Wizard and Glass" has a few redeeming "strengths" and a host of drawbacks. Chief among the strengths is the development of the character of Roland, upon which the premise of the series is derived ('childe Roland' from Brownings' famous poems). Roland is written as half Clint Eastwood half Indiana Jones, and the exploration of his character is the basis for this book. Other strengths include King's characterization of the antagonists (Blaine, Jonas, Rhea), and his description of the city of Roland's origins (Gilead, sort of a cross between Camelot and the 'Wild West').
What drags "Wizard and Glass" down to earth is the story surrounding Roldand's companions. His companions from the outer story (Susanna, Eddie, Jake, and Oy) are silly and uninteresting, which is a dissappointment because those characters were well used by King in "The Drawing of the Three" and "The Wastelands." His companions in the inner story (Alain, Cuthbert) are fun to watch, but are not explored in depth and the inner story is poorer because of it. The question is explicitly asked in the outer story "What happened to Cuthbert and Alain?", and King declines to answer in an aloof way which says we'll have to pay another $45 at some point in the future to find that out. Yet another disappointment is that the resolution to the inner story (Roland's first adventure as a gunslinger) is so transparent and predictable that nothing is gained in terms of the outer story.
One of the features of "The Wastelands" which made the third volume so popular was the amount of action towards the end of the story and the cliffhanger. In "Wizard and Glass" almost nothing "happens" once Blaine is defeated. Roland tells an anecdote from his past for about 650 pages, and they all wake up the next morning and "continue on." This was frustrating, and made me wonder just how long it will take for Roland and his companions to make it to the Dark Tower (when, presumably, something 'real' will happen).
Rating: Summary: A Glimpse at the Beginning... Review: I have been waiting for the release of this book for some time...and when I saw it available, I grabbed it- price be damned! Was $45.00 worth it? YES!!! The novel was over 700 pages, and I finished it in 2 days. The story starts with the riddle contest between Roland's group and Blaine The Mono (who's that? Read The Wastelands!), and from there is basically one long flashback into Roland's first assignment as a Gunslinger...and Roland's First Love. It reads as a cross between King's usual thriller and a Royal High Court drama, with plots within plots within plots... King also manages to blend items from other books (including the world of The Stand) into this one, and hints that we will soon see that ALL of his worlds may end up as part of this one...and that there may be AT LEAST three more volumes of the Dark Tower to come. I for one, can't wait
Rating: Summary: The boycott is over! Review: After waiting three years from the last installment of the Dark Tower series (III), I began a personal King boycott. You just can't leave folks on a maniacal train for seven years with the "walking dude" himself being introduced in the last chapters of the Wastelands. I found the first two chapters of the Wizard in the Glass on the web last night......so far I am not dissapointed. On to Topeka and beyond
Rating: Summary: This book better be worth the wait Review: I have been waiting for this book for several years now, it had better live up to my expectations. I loved the other Dark Tower books, if this is half as good, it deserves a 10
Rating: Summary: The best epic saga returns Review: How has Stephen King done what he has without using the horror label that has been asigned to him? Well, it doesn't matter when it comes to Roland, Jake, Susanna, and Eddie.The latest edition to The Dark Tower will keep you coming back for more, even if it is to re-read all that has already been written
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