Warning. Spoilers for Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
‘The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.’<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A couple of days before the end of June, I returned to The Dark Tower for the first time in over twenty years. I read the last page of the last book this morning, two days into August. It’s been an absolute joy to get back to Mid World, and to meet Roland and his Ka-Tet again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I have a suspicion that this is the first time I’ve read the whole series. I bought ‘The Wind Through the Keyhole’ on publication, with the intention of re-reading the whole series, this time slotting the new book into its rightful place between ‘Wizard and Glass’ and ‘Wolves of the Calla’. But I don’t think I did. The book was pristine when I opened it this time round, and I had no recollection at all of any of the story. An unexpected treat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The structure of the story is clever, moving from the ‘present’ of an ageing Roland and his new Ka-Tet of Susannah, Eddie, Oy and Jake, to Roland’s youthful adventures with his friends and fellow gunslingers, Jamie, Alain and Cuthbert … and of course his beloved Susan. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As the story progresses, King uses the narrative to tie together many of his other works into the narrative, notably Insomnia, The Shining, It, and The Stand. In truth, ‘The Stand’ could easily be seen as a Dark Tower book, and there are many parallels. Sheemie Ruiz bears more than a passing resemblance to Tom Cullen, Randall Flagg is a malevolent presence in both books, and a scene in ‘The Dark Tower’ where ordinary people go about their lives whilst engaging in a world killing enterprise is a strong echo of how Flagg’s people in Vegas are shown to be fundamentally ordinary people who have chosen the wrong side. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
This being King, of course we learn to love the characters, and, this being King, we suffer with them and we laugh with them … but hopefully not too hard. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
I won’t list the books, or bother with the covers this time. It’s all one story after all, the story of Roland, and his quest, and the job of a writer when all is said and done, is to tell the story that has been given to them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
I’m going to take a short break from my King re-read, eight books in a row was a lot. Pet Sematery is next, and is one of the two books I was thinking of skipping. Pet Sematery is the one King book that I find genuinely upsetting, but I do think I need to read it again. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
After that, The Talisman beckons, and I need to pace myself with that and Black House so that I can pick up the third book in the series on release date, which is coming up fast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
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Warning. Spoilers for Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’. ‘The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.’ A couple of days before the end of June, I returned to The Dark Tower for the first time in … Continue reading