
(
anansi) wrote on 6/21/2008...
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.
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!
I love this series, wonderful continuation of a literary masterpiece.
Loved the entire series, King entertaining without all the gore.

BRITTNEY E. (
BrittE) wrote on 8/31/2006...
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.
This is a fantastic series. Delightful modern-day fairy-tale, an ode to Tolkien and his writings.
Typical Steven King, but I just loved the series, This is what I view as an escape book

Terrence W. (
770days) wrote on 3/19/2006...
Each volume of this series keeps getting better.
The Adventur continues with crazy trains, riddles, and lost love