The Dark Tower Series / Stephen King

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

About a year ago I agreed to write some book reviews for Simon and Schuster. I wrote two, and then began the treatment I've been undergoing for the past 44 weeks. That chemotherapy has made my life miserable since, and I just haven't had any energy or physical wherewithall to read any books, let alone write any reviews. Meanwhile, S&S has continued to send me books, without my asking for them, and I'm not writing any reviews of them either.

I got one delivered the other day, and just stacked it with all the other unopened packages S&S sent to me.

I just opened it, as I am planning on sending all these books back to S&S. The one I just opened is the paperback edition of Stephen King's The Dark Tower VII.

I read the first 4 books of the series, and didn't even know that books 5 and 6 had already been published.

Anyway, what I want to know is if anyone here who has been reading the Dark Tower series can tell me if I should bother reading books 5 & 6. I want to know if anyone else who has been reading the series thinks it is still worth reading. I don't want to invest in the books if they're crap, if you know what I mean!

[Nostromo]

Dark Tower should have been done as a one shot novel ... possibly one follow-on but no more.
I'm was a King fan in the early days but I think he's exhausted now.
N

[Kaeos]

read the first 4 books of the series, and didn't even know that books 5 and 6 had already been published

Bro, the series is finished, completely. 7 books strong.

Personally this series was the single greatest read of my life. You have to get to the ending. Total MIND FUCK dude.:wink:

What else have you got but time my man?

http://www.stephenking.com/DarkTower/

[Penfold]

The series is discussed in the Book Forum...here. (http://messageboard.cinescape.com/cinescape/forums/showthread.php?t=249)

There are some spoilers, so proceed with caution.

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

Bro, the series is finished, completely. 7 books strong.

Personally this series was the single greatest read of my life. You have to get to the ending. Total MIND FUCK dude.:wink:

What else have you got but time my man?

http://www.stephenking.com/DarkTower/

Ok, I'm going for it. Thanks. I completely forgot about this series when the 5th book wasn't readily available after I finished "Wizard and Glass." I loved the first 4, so it is good to hear the rest doesn't suck!

[Kaeos]

Do yourself a favor Kirk, start back over at the beginning.

Enjoy Bro, I'd love to discuss further as you go along!

[Jakester]

Yeah, this series is...like total WOW, man.
Don't listen to the Artificial Person. He's...artificial. This series is probably the most inspired thing he's done, and it led me to read more King (and Straub) books that take place in the DT universe and I found more excellent King works that way.

[neglet]

I waited until Book 7 came out to start reading. (I HATE waiting for the next volume in a serial to come out.) I whizzed through those books pretty quick, and the last three, especially book 7, were better than the first four.

Get thee to a library!

[Strider]

I'd just like to add that this is a great series of books. You should definitely read the rest of it. :D

[Asonokirk V 2.0]

S&S sent me 3 more books, today. The idiots. They've sent me at least 10 books since I told them I'm NOT writing any more reviews. I haven't even opened all the packages to see what is in them . . . hey, maybe books 5 & 6 are in a couple? Well, time to start opening UPS packages! (If only I could be so lucky) . . .

[Jakester]

There's something to be said for not having to wait, Negs, but waiting has its place. It lets the characters live with you for a while, and makes you feel closer to them -- especially in episodic fiction. It just seems to help the story to resonate more.

I watched the first two seasons of Galactica very quickly, and, while I loved it, I found myself going "wha--" a lot of the time because I didn't have time to process some of the stuff.

Sandman -- When that came to its natural end, it was very hard to say goodbye to that story. Hell, I'd lived with those characters on a near monthly basis for 10 years and had re-read issues and collections numerous times. "Knowing" the characters (of a worthwhile story) for 10 years will certainly help it resonate more than consuming the whole thing in the course of a weekend. You get to know their world and put your spin on it and live and breathe in it more than you can when it's over so quickly.

But maybe that's just me.

[neglet]

Yeah, I see your point, and besides shows like "24" and "Galactica" I do have a couple of book series (Harry Potter for one) that I'm now waiting for the next volume to appear. However, I don't have as much time to read as I used to, and I'd rather not begin a series that I know is going to be either a) one long story which happens to broken up into several books; or b) a series that is planned for multiple volumes (or never seems to end, like that Robert Jordan one). That way I don't have to go back and reread the whole thing to catch up when the next one comes out--something I'm willing to do for favorite authors or series, but not for an author I've never read before.

Plus, I HATE WAITING.

Of course, when my own multivolume fantasy series finally gets published, I expect all of you to pick up and read each book as it comes out. :wink: