Rating: 
Summary: cry your pardon, mr. king, but....
Review: i was quite dissappointed in this part of roland's ongoing saga. as many reviewers have already mentioned, this book does seem long winded and i whole-heartedly agree that callahan's flashback was much too long. king seemed to be intent on outdoing himself by adding too many ingredients into the mix. this started at the ending of WAG, which i thought was downright terrible compared to the flawless and gripping tale of roland's journey into and out of hambry that preceded it. what i loved so much about the DT books leading up to the end of blaine's ride was the pacing and the meticulous attention to detail. the drawing of the three and their journey along the path of the beam is simple, direct, and down right cinematic in all the best ways that most fantasy novels can not pull off. it is ACTUALLY believable. roland CAN get sick and he does need medicine and food. the characters all had major flaws, yet they dealt with them in ways one can understand and cope with. but as the time between the dark tower and the other worlds passes, king started to leave out the human characteristics and seems to just transform roland's ka-tet into super heroes. the amount of emphasis early in the series regarding the rationing of food, water, bullets, and all the other day to day things is long gone and the reader is left to assume way too many things. everything else seems to just be and there is sense that 'anything' can happen. 14 year old jake could shoot 3 flying doves with his eyes closed, riding bareback on a horse while being chased by a marauding group of space aliens. does that sound utterly ridiculous? it does to me, but by now, the 'ka-tet' have apparently become full-fledged gunslingers with all the experience, strength, dexterity, and know-how of the justice league. while i have no doubt that they obviously learn many new things in mid-world, they seem far less likely to have ever inhabited our own world now, which wasn't the case all through and up to the end of 'the wastelands.' while i LOVE oy the bumbler, he isn't a wild animal anymore, but a comedic and cute sideshow that seems FAR MORE suited to have been in an issue of SANDMAN rather than a stephen king novel.
as king noted in his forward to the newly revised 'gunslinger,' he wrote the last three books all at the same time, something which he had not done with the previous 4. i think it really shows and thats part of the reason why there are so many new characters and things apparently thrown into the mix in this 5th installment. however, we are not given time to dwell upon the events and situations because there is a hurried feel to the story, even though the finale is INCREDIBLY short and highly predictable. the past references to the other 4 volumes ARE FORCED and entirely unnecessary. unless this is the 1st dark tower book that you pick up to read (a horrible mistake in my opinion), these seemingly 'casual' throwbacks to the events of the past are not only incredibly obvious and laughable, but downright insulting to the intelligence of anyone who has infact bothered to read the other 4 installments. the obvious references to harry potter, star wars, kurosawa, and HIMSELF are okay (at best) but totally unnecessary. it gives the impression that mr. king is becoming prehaps TOO involved with his own story instead of letting the characters and events unfold on their own.
while this certainly isn't a terrible book by a long shot, this was the only DT book that i DIDN'T race through. the reliance upon OTHER people's tales throughout the book constantly slowed down the story that was taking place in the calla. large chunks of the story were down right tedious and boring. seeing as how the books are finished now, i can only hope that i won't be able to say the same things about the final 2 volumes in this truly epic tale.
Rating: 
Summary: An excellent addition to the Dark Tower series
Review: More of all the gunslinger's characters are revealed as they settle into the Calla in preparation for the "Wolves". The rustic Calla could be the setting for another series of books. The book carries several story lines while preparing for an epic battle. George Guidall has a stellar performance as the narrator in the audio version. His inflections of the Calla slang makes you feel like you are there. When the Calla Folken sing the famous "Come Come Camalla" while Roland dances and then dives into the mosh pit, the visualization is complete. Listen to Crazy Town's song Butterfly and plug in "Come Come Camalla" for "Come my Lady, Come Come my Lady" and you'll have the music for the epic movie to come.
Rating:
Summary: King still has the magic
Review: Wolves of the Calla is incredible. It has been a long time since I have read the last book in the series and I wasnt sure if I would remember what happened but as soon as I started turning the pages I was quickly engulfed in his world.
Even though this book does not really get Roland and his companions any closer to the dark tower it does move the story along nicely and only Stephen King has the magic to completely wrap you up in this world and make it seem so believable.
For those of you complaining about the illustrations who cares they have no effect on the story wahte=soever. ANd by the way if you actually look at them you will notice that Susannah is not naked on the cover and the two rizas that did not land where it said they would in the book have no shadows so they havent even landed yet.
Anyway the book is amazing read it you will not be too dissapointed unless you think you can catch the drift of the story by the pictures. Oh and I liked his little shout-out to Tolkien by naming the general store Took's very cute
Rating: 
Summary: Not worth the time.
Review: For those who will read anything that Stephen King writes, I am sure this review will not be taken to heart. However, I just have to say that this is the worst part of the Gunslinger series so far. King drones on making trivial points and teasing the reader with silly clues while trying to impress us with his ability to write a western for 600 pages before actually getting to the point of anything. The language of the characters became really annoying after the first few hundred pages, and King appears to be just going nowhere for most of the story. He makes a point of shamelessly ripping off Star Wars, Harry Potter and a number of really good western authors. The end of the tale is extremely predictable with the ending leaving you wondering about the point. The most infuriating part of this is King's need to appear in this book as an author. Seems he just can't get over the need to remind people that he is the real star of the show, not the characters that should be the actual focus of the story. At the end of the book I just wanted to throw it at the wall and tell him to just get over himself! I would suggest that you read Salem's Lot before delving into this trial of patience if you absolutely MUST read it since it will make a whole lot more sense once you figure out that King has decided to recycle one of his characters for some stupid reason. I guess it is easier to recycle than to have to invent something new. OR, just read the last 200 pages and save yourself some pain. I hope the remaining two books are better than this one. If this were my first exposure to his work I would not read another since it was predictable, immature, dry, and overy long for the story that was eventually delivered after a very painful extraction.
Rating:
Summary: Awesome
Review: I was concerned that King would lose the style he used in the previous Dark Tower books, but it seems that that is not the case. I thoroughly enjoyed this book, as I have the previous four, and am pleased to say that it was right on par with what I hoped for and expected. I feel that he picked right up where he had left the story previously, and filled the book with the characteristic drama of the gunslingers, coupled with just enough humor. I can't wait for the next book in the series!
Rating: 
Summary: Good, but flaws bothered me for the first time
Review: (I'll attempt to make this review spoiler-free, but I can't give any promises) I'm aware that the crowd here is fairly rabid, so I'll get the obligatory positive points out of the way. I've read almost everything Mr. King has written up 'til the point, and I firmly believe that he will be lauded in retrospect (laudation always seems to occur in retrospect) as one of the preeminent writers of his generation. His prose is artful, his characters believable, and his stories spell-binding, and the Dark Tower is no exception. It is, as he has frequently said, the lynchpin around which his universe revolves. In recent years, however, I've seen this as becoming more of a crutch than anything else. Mr. King has been inserting Dark Tower-isms into everything he's written as of late, and while I don't necessarily mind this particular conceit, it frequently comes off occasionally as something he simply cannot escape doing (like that legendary gag about how every William Shatner TV appearence includes the word "Klingons" somewhere). "Black House" disappointed me by turning the vibrant and original world of the "Territories" that he and Peter Straub created in "The Talisman" into just another adjunct of the Dark Tower universe. I was hoping, then, that the actual followup to the series would solve the problem a bit, at the very least making all of these tie-ins worthwhile. "Wolves of the Calla," then, is something of a mixed experience. For the first time, a Dark Tower book feels like it's being written long after previous installments. References to the previous books in the series feel forced, almost of a "hey, remember when *that* happened?" sort; if one follows Mr. King's advice and picks up this book after refreshing on the previous four, many of these references feel unnecesary and oddly out-of-character for our forward-looking troupe. Additionally, I lost count of the times exchanges of obligatory "casual reference to another world meets with confusion which is dispelled with a knowing 'never mind'" occured. King mostly avoids his tendency to "overforeshadow" this time around ("He walked down the street for what would be his last time as a human being with two arms"), which is a nice surprise. So let's see. Two paragraphs of criticism...wow. The flaws of "Wolves of the Calla" are a shame, because King's written another excellent story. While parallels to the *other* grand epic in the current mindset are usually discouraged with regard to King's tale, I can't help but note that this is the "Two Towers" of his series. "Woves of the Calla" finds the main journey arc on pause as character development and exposition come to the fore, but King's talents at characterization and humanization mean that this is a welcome variation from the previous installments. Some have written justifiably on issues of pacing (the book's final showdown is left to the last fifty pages), but this is besides the point; "Wolves of the Calla" is less about the conflict of the villagers than it is about demonstrating how our protagonists have changed over the course of these five books. And at showing this King succeeds brilliantly. The verdict? "Wolves of the Calla" is an excellent addition to the ongoing series, and its somewhat bizarre cliffhanger (which is no secret by now, finding King magnifying his joy of author-insertion to some previously-unrecognized levels) is sure to keep people looking forward to the next volume. "Wolves" feels a bit rusty at times--King has become so proficient at oblique references to the Dark Tower series that the book's *direct* references to the mythology feel forced--but at worst it feels like it was perhaps underedited. If you're a fan of the Dark Tower, you won't be disappointed. If you're a casual browser...well, you might want to start at the beginning.
Rating:
Summary: I liked it (yer-bugger!!)
Review: I have read all of Stephen's books. King calls "The Dark Tower" series the Jupiter in his Solar system. How true it is!! The Wolves of the Calla is a great read to King fans. Yes I agree that the Callahan story was to long, however I don't agree that the final was to short. Anybody who can understand Gunslinging should know why. The ending was a very satisfying suprise. I've read complaints about the cliffhanger ending. The next book should be out soon so we won't have to wait five years like we did for Wizard & Glass. BUY IT & READ IT!!
Rating:
Summary: Good!
Review: This book was
"really...really...really.........really...really......good"
-H. Simpson Fantastic read, If you enjoy LOTR you should check into these books. You needn't be a SK fan to enjoy.
Rating:
Summary: Its ok
Review: gonna keep short. Have heard all his books on tape. Since the accadent I have been VERY dissapointed. This was a lot better then I hoped. Was a bit long winded on some points, but all and all I enjoyed. 5 stars only because everything else lately was in the negitives
Rating:
Summary: It's Been a Long Time Coming ... So Does "Wolves" Deliver?
Review: Once, there was a story of simple gunman, traversing the desert in hunt of his prey, a fiendish wizard. He learns that the Dark Tower and the Beams which hold it, pivotal monuments to the working reality of the universe, are slowly deteriorating, and that the worlds denaturing as a result. Now, more than twenty years later, we are nearing the end of Stephen King's fantasy/sci-fi Dark Tower series. Amidst all the hype, one has to wonder whether "Wolves of the Calla," the fifth volume of the series, is really as good as it's said to be. First off, let me say this: no matter what one's beef is with King and/or his plots, everyone has to admit that his writing is simply beautiful. Stunningly descriptive without being droningly mundane, King crafts wonderous landscapes, objects, and characters with a few eloquent sentences. As far as the plot goes ... well, it seems to be more on a like-it-or-hate-it basis. Out of all the Tower novels, this one seems to be receiving the harshest criticism. The story is as thus: Roland Deschain, Eddie and Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers, and Oy the Bumbler continue their quest to the Dark Tower. They make a detour to a small village called Calla Bryn Sturgis, where they are asked to protect the folken from beings called the Wolves, who storm into town each generation and steal one child from every set of twins (which are highly prominent in this little glade). Personally, I had few problems with the story itself, and even the deliverance of it took no skin off my back. The characters continue to grow, and more unique ones are introduced (including a C3PO-like robot and a character from one of King's earlier novels). Wolves did a good job convincing me that the quest to the Dark Tower was important; worlds appear to be drifting together, and major power players are trying to halt the Ka-Tet's progress (particularly Randall Flagg and the Crimson King). The climax of the book was far too short for my liking however, and, like The Waste Lands, Wolves of the Calla leaves off on one of those irritating cliffhangers. In fact, my only complaint about the book, ironically enough, is the artwork. Bernie Wrightson does some pretty keen pencil sketches, but they're overpowered by the rough, gawdy paintings spread throughout the tome like a nasty plague. Even the cover is incredibly painful to look at; for the first time in years, I removed the cover just to have it out of my sight. It's a shame that greats like Michael Whelan or Dave McKean couldn't have been in on this project. All in all, Wolves of the Calla is a quality novel, if a bit below the standard it's predecessors have set. Chances are if you've read the first four novels, you'll have to read this one, just to get a sense of closure. My advice to those who don't like this book? Hold off on the bashing until the series wraps up. King, as usual, has got SOMETHING up his sleeve ...
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