Helpful Score: 2
I have been wondering what happened to Cuthbert, Alain and Susan. Now in this 4th installment of the Dark Tower I got my answers. I thought it was a very gripping book and finally answered a lot of questions that I have been wondering. I won't go into it to let it be a surprise but it is a "must need to read" if you have read the first three. - One of my favorite series
Helpful Score: 2
Another chapter in the quest for the Dark Tower. This book delves more into the young life of Roland answering many unanswered questions as to what makes him the way he is. The group is really starting to come together in this one as well, and it leaves you wanting to learn more about what will become of them.
Helpful Score: 2
Wizard and Glass.... this is one murderously long book.
I'm a fan of the DT series, and I nearly ditched this 700pg beast at least 3 times while I plodded through it. The repetition is almost physically painful. About 300 pages are entirely unnecessary and do nothing to move the story forward, they - in fact - keep jerking it backwards in a one step forward, two steps back fashion.
Some have recommended reading a synopsis of the flashback section (which is 80% of the book, or so) - and I tend to agree with them. Its a shame, because a decent story is buried in there, but mining it out is torturous. In the afterward - Stephen King says he lost track of whether it was a good book or not about halfway through writing it. I say: No Shit.
Whomever his editors were on this outing did him no favors by not pointing out how he was holding his fan's feet in the fire.
All that said - you almost can't skip it in order to continue forward. This book bridges a long time away from the series for SK into the last years of its writing, which were executed in a comparable feverish speed (the author's brush with mortality rearranging his priorities somewhat).
I feel glad to be done with it. Very glad. I'm not happy with the resolutions, either. All involve vague magic and characters reappearing in overly-convenient ways. Please let the last 3 be much much better than this... I've more or less been saving them to enjoy, because I understand it won't last forever. Now I have no interest in parsing them out - because, while reading this book - the notion of the series lasting forever was hell on Earth.
I'm a fan of the DT series, and I nearly ditched this 700pg beast at least 3 times while I plodded through it. The repetition is almost physically painful. About 300 pages are entirely unnecessary and do nothing to move the story forward, they - in fact - keep jerking it backwards in a one step forward, two steps back fashion.
Some have recommended reading a synopsis of the flashback section (which is 80% of the book, or so) - and I tend to agree with them. Its a shame, because a decent story is buried in there, but mining it out is torturous. In the afterward - Stephen King says he lost track of whether it was a good book or not about halfway through writing it. I say: No Shit.
Whomever his editors were on this outing did him no favors by not pointing out how he was holding his fan's feet in the fire.
All that said - you almost can't skip it in order to continue forward. This book bridges a long time away from the series for SK into the last years of its writing, which were executed in a comparable feverish speed (the author's brush with mortality rearranging his priorities somewhat).
I feel glad to be done with it. Very glad. I'm not happy with the resolutions, either. All involve vague magic and characters reappearing in overly-convenient ways. Please let the last 3 be much much better than this... I've more or less been saving them to enjoy, because I understand it won't last forever. Now I have no interest in parsing them out - because, while reading this book - the notion of the series lasting forever was hell on Earth.
Helpful Score: 2
Stephen King's finest writings are of the Gunslinger series. Period.
Helpful Score: 1
Great book. Continues the amazing story about Roland of Gilead
Mary P. (riverratreader) - , reviewed Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower, Bk 4) on + 164 more book reviews
Helpful Score: 1
Roland, The Last Gunslinger, and his band of followers have narrowly escaped one world and slipped into the next - there Roland tells them a tale of long-ago love and adventure involving a beautiful and quixotic woman named Susan Delgado. And there they will be drawn into an ancient mystery of spellbinding magic and supreme menace...
Patrick C. (MeadowbrookManor) -
Helpful Score: 1
The travels of the Tet continue, even to a version of the Emerald City of Oz, where we are reintroduced to Walter. The Takura Spirit (a sedan) and Nozz-a-la Cola are odd little introductions as well, with that strange "nearly-familiar" flavor which King is so good at evoking. This edition has very nice color illustrations by Dave McKean (good story, too!)
Helpful Score: 1
A MUST READ SERIES!
Helpful Score: 1
Finally, Roland's story and a good one at that! Poor Susan...
Helpful Score: 1
Wizard and Glass.... this is one murderously long book.
I'm a fan of the DT series, and I nearly ditched this 700pg beast at least 3 times while I plodded through it. The repetition is almost physically painful. About 300 pages are entirely unnecessary and do nothing to move the story forward, they - in fact - keep jerking it backwards in a one step forward, two steps back fashion.
Some have recommended reading a synopsis of the flashback section (which is 80% of the book, or so) - and I tend to agree with them. Its a shame, because a decent story is buried in there, but mining it out is torturous. In the afterward - Stephen King says he lost track of whether it was a good book or not about halfway through writing it. I say: No Shit.
Whomever his editors were on this outing did him no favors by not pointing out how he was holding his fan's feet in the fire.
All that said - you almost can't skip it in order to continue forward. This book bridges a long time away from the series for SK into the last years of its writing, which were executed in a comparable feverish speed (the author's brush with mortality rearranging his priorities somewhat).
I feel glad to be done with it. Very glad. I'm not happy with the resolutions, either. All involve vague magic and characters reappearing in overly-convenient ways. Please let the last 3 be much much better than this... I've more or less been saving them to enjoy, because I understand it won't last forever. Now I have no interest in parsing them out - because, while reading this book - the notion of the series lasting forever was hell on Earth.
I'm a fan of the DT series, and I nearly ditched this 700pg beast at least 3 times while I plodded through it. The repetition is almost physically painful. About 300 pages are entirely unnecessary and do nothing to move the story forward, they - in fact - keep jerking it backwards in a one step forward, two steps back fashion.
Some have recommended reading a synopsis of the flashback section (which is 80% of the book, or so) - and I tend to agree with them. Its a shame, because a decent story is buried in there, but mining it out is torturous. In the afterward - Stephen King says he lost track of whether it was a good book or not about halfway through writing it. I say: No Shit.
Whomever his editors were on this outing did him no favors by not pointing out how he was holding his fan's feet in the fire.
All that said - you almost can't skip it in order to continue forward. This book bridges a long time away from the series for SK into the last years of its writing, which were executed in a comparable feverish speed (the author's brush with mortality rearranging his priorities somewhat).
I feel glad to be done with it. Very glad. I'm not happy with the resolutions, either. All involve vague magic and characters reappearing in overly-convenient ways. Please let the last 3 be much much better than this... I've more or less been saving them to enjoy, because I understand it won't last forever. Now I have no interest in parsing them out - because, while reading this book - the notion of the series lasting forever was hell on Earth.
Another great one in the Dark Tower series.
The fourth in the Gunslinger series of fantasy horror from King. Mind-blowing settings on an alternate earth.
Review from Amazon.com
Wizard and Glass, the fourth episode in King's white-hot Dark Tower series, is a sci-fi/fantasy novel that contains a post-apocalyptic Western love story twice as long. It begins with the series' star, world-weary Roland, and his world-hopping posse (an ex-junkie, a child, a plucky woman in a wheelchair, and a talking dog-like pet named Oy the Bumbler) trapped aboard a runaway train. The train is a psychotic multiple personality that intends to commit suicide with them at 800 m.p.h.--unless Roland and pals can outwit it in a riddling contest.
It's a great race, for the mind and pulse. Movies should be this good. Then comes a 567-page flashback about Roland at age 14. It's a well-marbled but meaty tale. Roland and two teen homies must rescue his first love from the dirty old drooling mayor of a post-apocalyptic cowboy town, thwart a civil war by blowing up oil tanks, and seize an all-seeing crystal ball from Rhea, a vampire witch. The love scenes are startlingly prominent and earthier than most romance novels (they kiss until blood trickles from her lip).
After an epic battle ending in a box canyon to end all box canyons, we're back with grizzled, grown-up Roland and the train-wreck survivors in a parallel world: Kansas in 1986, after a plague. The finale is a weird fantasy takeoff on The Wizard of Oz. Some readers will feel that the latest novel in King's most ambitious series has too many pages--almost 800--but few will deny it's a page-turner.
Wizard and Glass, the fourth episode in King's white-hot Dark Tower series, is a sci-fi/fantasy novel that contains a post-apocalyptic Western love story twice as long. It begins with the series' star, world-weary Roland, and his world-hopping posse (an ex-junkie, a child, a plucky woman in a wheelchair, and a talking dog-like pet named Oy the Bumbler) trapped aboard a runaway train. The train is a psychotic multiple personality that intends to commit suicide with them at 800 m.p.h.--unless Roland and pals can outwit it in a riddling contest.
It's a great race, for the mind and pulse. Movies should be this good. Then comes a 567-page flashback about Roland at age 14. It's a well-marbled but meaty tale. Roland and two teen homies must rescue his first love from the dirty old drooling mayor of a post-apocalyptic cowboy town, thwart a civil war by blowing up oil tanks, and seize an all-seeing crystal ball from Rhea, a vampire witch. The love scenes are startlingly prominent and earthier than most romance novels (they kiss until blood trickles from her lip).
After an epic battle ending in a box canyon to end all box canyons, we're back with grizzled, grown-up Roland and the train-wreck survivors in a parallel world: Kansas in 1986, after a plague. The finale is a weird fantasy takeoff on The Wizard of Oz. Some readers will feel that the latest novel in King's most ambitious series has too many pages--almost 800--but few will deny it's a page-turner.
At last, Stephen King returns to the Dark Tower with the eagerly anticipated fourth volume in his bestselling series. Roland, the Last Gunslinger, and his band of followers have narrowly escaped one world, and slipped into the next. It is here that Roland tells them a long-ago tale of love and adventure involving a beautiful and quixotic woman named Susan Delgado. With shocking plot twists and a driving narrative force, Wizard and Glass is the book readers have been waiting for.
The whole series is brilliant!
The past year was a stellar one for Stephen King, thanks to the phenomenal success of his serial novel in Signet paperback, The Green Mile, as well as the hardcover publication of Desperation and The Regulators (by Richard Bachman). Now, Stephen King invites readers back into the world of Roland the Gunslinger, in this, the eagerly anticipated fourth volume in his epic series of horror and fantasy. Wizard and Glass picks up where the last book left off, with our hero, Roland, and his unlikely band of followers escaping from one world and slipping into the next. And it is there that Roland tells them a story, one that details his discovery of something even more elusive than the Dark Tower: love. But his romance with the beautiful and quixotic Susan Delgado also has its dangers, as her world is torn apart by war. Here is Roland's journey to his own past, to a time when valuable lessons awaited him, lessons of loyalty and betrayal, love and loss. As he did in the first three volumes in the Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, and The Waste Lands, Stephen King displays his marvelous talent for storytelling. Wizard and Glass is Stephen King at his very best.
A must have!
Second best Fantasy series ever.
I was a bigger Stephen King fan after reading this book
This was my favorite book in the saga. Readers get to learn of the young romance between Roland and Susan!
The middle of the Dark Tower series - if you've read the first three books in the series, then this is a must read.
I read the first book in the series and was ready to quit. Each book further I read makes me appreciate the series more...
Much better than the third book. We get to hear about the Gunslinger's history. Definitely would recommend.
Stephen King is a brilliant writer, and in my opinion, this is the best of the Dark Tower books 1-4 (I have yet to complete books 5-7). In fact, this book is comparable to The Stand, one of my all-time favorites.
This book was a test for the reader. It is way to long for the information revealed and really makes me wonder if the rest of the quest (books 5,6 and & 7) is worth doing. I managed to stumble to the end but there was a lot of speed reading and paragraph skipping in the last 300 pages. The author lived out his teenage sexual fanasties again and again and again and the hero is starting to come off as a first class turd. Cutting 300 pages out of this beast might have saved it. If it is available in a condensed version I would advise you to read it instead.
Kristy G. (nicekittypurrs) -
Stephen King Masterpiece!!! The entire Series is a must read!
This series has been a difficult one for me to get into- I'm so used to the Stephen King of "It", and "Duma Key", that to be presented with a storyline so much more along the lines of "Eyes of the Dragon" was a stretch. I'm glad I'm sticking with it though; this 4th book in the series did not disappoint. Roland & Co. continue to explore the path of the Beam, and there's a lot of back story about what shaped Roland as a gunslinger. Well worth the effort!
Wizard and Glass, the fourth episode in King's white-hot Dark Tower series, is a sci-fi/fantasy novel that contains a post-apocalyptic Western love story twice as long. It begins with the series' star, world-weary Roland, and his world-hopping posse (an ex-junkie, a child, a plucky woman in a wheelchair, and a talking dog-like pet named Oy the Bumbler) trapped aboard a runaway train. The train is a psychotic multiple personality that intends to commit suicide with them at 800 m.p.h.--unless Roland and pals can outwit it in a riddling contest.
It was almost like work reading this book, but it was well worth it! The story of Roland is important to the series.
Jennifer G. (paradisemommy05) reviewed Wizard and Glass (Dark Tower, Bk 4) on + 63 more book reviews
Great S.King book!
book 4 in the gunslinger series- good book, descriptive and entertaining
Another homerun for Stephen King and his magnum opus of a series. This book holds up to its predecessors and continues the excellent story of one of today's finest writers. Yeah, I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but this series is why I'll STAY a Stephen King fan. Truly marvelous writing.
really good
Each volume of this series keeps getting better.
The Adventur continues with crazy trains, riddles, and lost love
The Dark Tower series is a great read.
I love this series, wonderful continuation of a literary masterpiece.
Typical Steven King, but I just loved the series, This is what I view as an escape book
This is a fantastic series. Delightful modern-day fairy-tale, an ode to Tolkien and his writings.
Loved the entire series, King entertaining without all the gore.
This is the MUST read book of the series for any Dark Tower fan who HAS to know about Roland's past...captivating! That's all I can say, besides amazing...spell binding...a little sad at the end, but it just makes you hungry for the next book!
If you've read the first 3 books of The Dark Tower, don't miss this exciting 4th part of the series. Stephen King at his best.
Wizard and Glass.... this is one murderously long book.
I'm a fan of the DT series, and I nearly ditched this 700pg beast at least 3 times while I plodded through it. The repetition is almost physically painful. About 300 pages are entirely unnecessary and do nothing to move the story forward, they - in fact - keep jerking it backwards in a one step forward, two steps back fashion.
Some have recommended reading a synopsis of the flashback section (which is 80% of the book, or so) - and I tend to agree with them. Its a shame, because a decent story is buried in there, but mining it out is torturous. In the afterward - Stephen King says he lost track of whether it was a good book or not about halfway through writing it. I say: No Shit.
Whomever his editors were on this outing did him no favors by not pointing out how he was holding his fan's feet in the fire.
All that said - you almost can't skip it in order to continue forward. This book bridges a long time away from the series for SK into the last years of its writing, which were executed in a comparable feverish speed (the author's brush with mortality rearranging his priorities somewhat).
I feel glad to be done with it. Very glad. I'm not happy with the resolutions, either. All involve vague magic and characters reappearing in overly-convenient ways. Please let the last 3 be much much better than this... I've more or less been saving them to enjoy, because I understand it won't last forever. Now I have no interest in parsing them out - because, while reading this book - the notion of the series lasting forever was hell on Earth.
I'm a fan of the DT series, and I nearly ditched this 700pg beast at least 3 times while I plodded through it. The repetition is almost physically painful. About 300 pages are entirely unnecessary and do nothing to move the story forward, they - in fact - keep jerking it backwards in a one step forward, two steps back fashion.
Some have recommended reading a synopsis of the flashback section (which is 80% of the book, or so) - and I tend to agree with them. Its a shame, because a decent story is buried in there, but mining it out is torturous. In the afterward - Stephen King says he lost track of whether it was a good book or not about halfway through writing it. I say: No Shit.
Whomever his editors were on this outing did him no favors by not pointing out how he was holding his fan's feet in the fire.
All that said - you almost can't skip it in order to continue forward. This book bridges a long time away from the series for SK into the last years of its writing, which were executed in a comparable feverish speed (the author's brush with mortality rearranging his priorities somewhat).
I feel glad to be done with it. Very glad. I'm not happy with the resolutions, either. All involve vague magic and characters reappearing in overly-convenient ways. Please let the last 3 be much much better than this... I've more or less been saving them to enjoy, because I understand it won't last forever. Now I have no interest in parsing them out - because, while reading this book - the notion of the series lasting forever was hell on Earth.
Book 4 in the Dark Tower series with full-color illustrations by Dave McKean.
An excellent continuation of the gunslinger series.
Wizard and Glass is a very long book but we do learn about the young life of Roland. We get answers to a lot of questions and it rounds out his character more. It is considered by many as the best book of The Dark Tower series. It tells us what happened to Cuthbert, Alain and Susan Delgado. They travel all the way through Mid-World into the beginning of End-World, the furthest they have traveled in any of the books so far. It is filled with shocking plot twists, stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters. I'm now looking forward to reading the next book in the series, The Wolves of Calla. This series is recommend to those who like a good magical mix of fantasy and horror.
I am sorry this is one I have never read because I am an absolute fanatic on reading books first to last and I have never found Number one.
It's the TOWER. What else can be said.
This is worst book in the series by far. Eighty-percent of the book is an unneeded flashback sequence.
If you're committed to The Dark Tower series, I'd skip this and just skim the Cliff Notes summary on Wikipedia. You wouldn't be missing out on anything but aggravation.
If you're committed to The Dark Tower series, I'd skip this and just skim the Cliff Notes summary on Wikipedia. You wouldn't be missing out on anything but aggravation.
"Wizard and Glass," Volume IV of Stephen King's fantasy/western "Dark Tower" series is even better than the three books which preceded it. I didn't think it would be possible to top "The Wastelands," Book III, but King has accomplished the task with great élan. The author's tremendous talents and consistency as a writer are evident here. I can only advise the reader not to begin this novel during a busy period in your life, as it will cause you to miss all sorts of deadlines. I really found it difficult to put this page-turner down.
The novel opens with a wrap-up of the cliffhanger which began in Book Three... amazon review
The novel opens with a wrap-up of the cliffhanger which began in Book Three... amazon review
Really nice illustrations in this edition.
Trade size
