Current Events > Nearly done with my first turn of the Dark Tower. (Spoilers)

(+) Yeah! (+)

Susannah gone back to NY, Mordred on Rolands tail, and the Red King stewing in his madness at the tower itself.

Fucking hell what a ride.

Ill likely finish it tonight Im betting. Has anyone else here read the supplement books and if so is it worth it?

I love The Dark Tower but holy shit did it go off the rails after Stephen King had his irl car accident and added himself as not only a character, but literally God

TMOG posted...

I love The Dark Tower but holy shit did it go off the rails after Stephen King had his irl car accident and added himself as not only a character, but literally God

I never recovered. I loved that series so much when I started it.

Ha, yeah that was an odd choice it seemed, but I do like how Roland made a clear effort to express his disdain for him.

TMOG posted...

I love The Dark Tower but holy shit did it go off the rails after Stephen King had his irl car accident and added himself as not only a character, but literally God

I completely agree with this. The books after Wizard and Glass all had their moments, but King def. lost the thread after his accident. And I hated , HATED the ending of the series. A lot of people like it which is fine. But King himself knows it is bad, and I know that from reading the book itself. I want to stay far away from spoilers (especially for TC!), but Dark Tower has some interesting chapters before the ending that sign post to me pretty clearly that the author was really struggling with how to land this particular bird.

BUT. Those first four books are some of my best experiences reading books. And the series is absolutely worth finishing. Most of the final book is even pretty great. But books 5-7 almost feel like a different series.

Edit-I enjoyed the supplemental books very much. Not the same level as the first part of the series, but still good.

InTheEyesOfFire posted...

Has anyone else here read the supplement books and if so is it worth it?

Totally worth it.

I am going to disagree with others about the last few books. I enjoyed them quite a bit and book 7 is right there with The Drawing of Three as my favorite in the series. The end is pretty controversial, but I thought it was great. That said, I didn't have long waits in-between the books.

I also enjoyed the series the whole way through.

I also remember being freaked out when reading one of the later books (maybe Song of Susannah) that mentions the current date in the book several times. Each time I got to a part that mentioned the date, I happened to be reading it on the same day. I was starting to wonder if my Kindle version was cursed or something.

Stopped at Wizards and Glass. Ending was dumb never came back

I think the flashback in W&G was the peak of the series, but I loved all 8 books, tbh.

Only Wolves of the Calls did I actually hate. The final book had some really good moments but ultimately felt let down by all the buildups to produce adequate payoffs. With the exception of the ending itself. The ending is great. Love the ending.

I started this series in high school when only the first 2 books were done. I remember when The Wastelands came out and was brand new. This started me on a lifelong journey where I have this bad habit of starting series I end up really liking that are unfinished and I have to wait a long time.

I like the series but I admit Im one who was pissed off at the ending. The only positive I can say is he at least knocked the last 3 books out in a 2 year period and didnt make me keep waiting. I wish George R.R. Martin would take a lesson from him on that.

My favorite single book in the series is Wizard and Glass. Damn I love that book. The series starts so strong and continues to really build through those first 4 books. I also agree its not the same after that.

I still overall like the series and Im glad I read it but I can never reread it because the ending bothers me so much and I cant get into the journey of the books knowing how it turns out.

I don't want to throw up a ton of spoiler tags so I'll say that I was still into the series right up until the conclusion of the the battle of Thunderclap; that was the point the series finally started going off the rails for me and never fully recovered.

Ironically, the only part after that that I genuinely liked was the ending ending, aka the ending that's supposed to be so bad that King breaks character to tell you not to read it. If for no other reason than it gives Roland, his ka-tet, and myself hope that one day they'll all get a conclusion to the saga that isn't shit.

archizzy posted...

I started this series in high school when only the first 2 books were done. I remember when The Wastelands came out and was brand new. This started me on a lifelong journey where I have this bad habit of starting series I end up really liking that are unfinished and I have to wait a long time.

I like the series but I admit Im one who was pissed off at the ending. The only positive I can say is he at least knocked the last 3 books out in a 2 year period and didnt make me keep waiting. I wish George R.R. Martin would take a lesson from him on that.

My favorite single book in the series is Wizard and Glass. Damn I love that book. The series starts so strong and continues to really build through those first 4 books. I also agree its not the same after that.

I still overall like the series and Im glad I read it but I can never reread it because the ending bothers me so much and I cant get into the journey of the books knowing how it turns out.

Wizard and Glass is so good. I read it in hardcover when it first came about almost 30 years ago now. And I still think about parts of it regularly. What a book.

Just got the tower itself and all I can say, I do wish a certain furred friend was able to see their goal realized.

I suppose in a way he did.

Bumping cause I finished it last night.

Certainly like the idea of the happiness ending, but definitely enjoyed the more controversial one more. Now to procure the supplement books.

I did read some of the comic years ago, Ill try to get that likely.

You know, this topic reminded me that I never watched the movie, I should track that down

InTheEyesOfFire posted...

I did read some of the comic years ago, Ill try to get that likely.

I loved the comics, possibly even more than the source material. The artwork was so good I started emulating it a bit in my own style.

TMOG posted...

You know, this topic reminded me that I never watched the movie, I should track that down

Far be it from me to tell you how to spend your valuable time, but I will say this: I wish I had not watched it. It is a truly awful film. I really thought the casting was great too, but the movie itself ended up being a mess.

TMOG posted...

You know, this topic reminded me that I never watched the movie, I should track that down

The casting is indeed great, I mostly enjoyed it just because I enjoy adventure movies like that but I will say this, keep your expectations tempered.