Oh, that's fine then. You can either read an unfinished 'epic' spanning 7 books and taking-up many hours, or you can read on for a cop-out ending. Good stuff, King. If I had stopped reading when King 'tells' the reader to, then I would be just as let-down by a book named 'The Dark Tower' which fails so utterly in its exploration of it.
[SPOILER - highlight to read]: King enters his own narrative, and appears to be writing a series on the adventures Roland and his ka-tet are having. Then, at the end Roland enters The Dark Tower. This is apparently where King wants us to leave the story, but he indulges us enough to spew out a shitty ending which is akin to the 'and then I woke-up and it was all a dream' garbage that most of us used in creative writing class when we were 12 years old. Basically, he climbs to the top of the tower - each level having a different part of his life - and then is taken back to the stage when he is near the way-station in the desert. It's really crap.
__________________ Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
i didn't think the ending was that bad. it'd be pretty hard to accurately represent a concept that's been built up for thousands of pages and over twenty years. besides, it's already sort of explained what the dark tower is within "insomnia".
with this ending, we get explanations for why everything went so smoothly throughout the series (ie: how nearly every "one in a million" chance they took came through), and also turns the whole series into a massive morality tale.
I understand the difficulty of portraying it, but surely if you build something up you should have the balls/talent to express it. I haven't read much King - only Hearts In Atlantis, The Talisman and The Black House - but is Insomnia any good? Will it make me feel any better about The Dark Tower considering all the time I invested in it?
I guess, but I was expecting more...much more.
__________________ Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
i haven't read any king for years, but once upon a time king was the man who got me into reading, and i tore through about thirty of his books.
insomnia is good, and interesting, but very weighty. probably...800 pages. maybe 900. the dark tower/crimson king are central to the story, as is patrick danville. one of his best, if i remember. probably as good or better than talisman.
Talisman isn't that good. I've already forgotten most about it, and I have a pretty good memory.
Stephen Kings "greatest hits" are, imo :
- Dolores Claiborne
- The Stand
- Hearts in Atlantis
- The Eyes of the Dragon
- Misery
- The Dead Zone
- Needful Things
But his coolest character is of course good old Roland.
__________________ The whole problem with the world is that fools and fanatics are always so certain of themselves, but wiser people so full of doubts.
Roland was cool until his whole life and being were raped at the end of The Dark Tower.
__________________ Full fathom five thy father lies;
Of his bones are coral made;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nothing of him that doth fade
But doth suffer a sea-change
Into something rich and strange.
Bumping this, because I've been plowing into the Dark Tower series and am nearly at the end after two years of reading the books between classes and friends and so on.
King does a great job of making tiny little references for the reader to catch. Currently starting the seventh book.
KMC Community Forums
Jan 3rd, 2007 06:12 AM
