Category 7: A western
Wizard and Glass
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Pocket Books
Publisher: Pocket Books
Published: December 27 2016 (first published November 4th 1997)
Page count: 1016
Genres: western, alternate history, scifi, fantasy
Page count: 1016
Genres: western, alternate history, scifi, fantasy
Date read: May 13, 2018
Number of times read: 1
Format: paperbackSource: Walmart
Summary
"THESE THINGS YOU MUST NOW HEAR, AND HOW YOU JUDGE ME WILL COME IN TIME.
Immediately following the terrifying conclusion of The Waste Lands, Roland of Gilead and his ka-tet of Eddie and Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers, and Oy the billy-bumbler come to realize that the first great course of their quest to find the Dark Tower is finished. But they now face new and seemingly insurmountable odds as they are suddenly knocked off course and into the alternate reality of a post-apocalyptic Midwest America, where mysterious entity known as the Ageless Stranger is hell-bent on ending their journey by any and all means necessary. But it is also here that they encounter an unnatural phenomenon known as a "thinny"--a place where the fabric of existence is almost entirely worn away--which causes Roland to reminisce and relate to his companions the tale of his own coming-of-age...all of the bravery, passion, betrayal, and horror his younger self experienced and endured in a world that has moved on....via Goodreads
"THESE THINGS YOU MUST NOW HEAR, AND HOW YOU JUDGE ME WILL COME IN TIME.
Immediately following the terrifying conclusion of The Waste Lands, Roland of Gilead and his ka-tet of Eddie and Susannah Dean, Jake Chambers, and Oy the billy-bumbler come to realize that the first great course of their quest to find the Dark Tower is finished. But they now face new and seemingly insurmountable odds as they are suddenly knocked off course and into the alternate reality of a post-apocalyptic Midwest America, where mysterious entity known as the Ageless Stranger is hell-bent on ending their journey by any and all means necessary. But it is also here that they encounter an unnatural phenomenon known as a "thinny"--a place where the fabric of existence is almost entirely worn away--which causes Roland to reminisce and relate to his companions the tale of his own coming-of-age...all of the bravery, passion, betrayal, and horror his younger self experienced and endured in a world that has moved on....via Goodreads
Review
As the fourth of seven books in this epic saga, this is the book where we finally, finally, get some much needed expository backstory about our main protagonist Roland. By this point in the series we've got a real familiarity with Susannah, Eddie, and Jake, but we still don't know as much about Roland as we could. The first book does a good job of setting up the backstory of Roland's childhood. But it's in this book that we really get to see how he became the hard man that he is and why he is so dogged and determined. Having read the whole series now it's interesting to go back and have to think about this book without thinking about books five, six, and seven and how they inform this book and vice versa, but I will do my best to keep that out of this review. It's the second longest book of the series, there are two that clock in at over 1,000 pages, this one and the final book, The Dark Tower. It's understandable because there was a lot to cover in this novel. King had to balance moving Roland's ka-tet forward on their quest for the Dark Tower, but he also had to have Roland reveal his adventures with his previous ka-tet to his current ka-tet. Each of these storylines could have been a novel unto itself so of course, having both together makes for a huge door-stopper of a book. And I am not averse to that unless it's a boring door-stopper and I would never, ever call this book boring.
Now, to me, of the two storylines, the flashbacks to Roland previous adventure are actually much more interesting than what the ka-tet is doing in the "present" as Roland tells his story to them. And it's also that portion of the novel which is firmly and completely a western, hence my choice of this book for this category. Roland has mentioned several times to his companions his previous companions, Alain and Bert (Cuthbert), and the love of his life, Susan Delgado. This is where we finally get to learn about them, about what they meant to Roland, and about what happened to them and how it changed and shaped Roland. This whole series is a layered onion of stories-within-stories, but the story of Roland, Alain and Bert in Mejis, the town that Susan Delgado was from. It's an interesting story of power corrupting, greed, small town petty rivalries and jealousy intertwined with magic and a giant battle of good against evil brewing in the backdrop of it all. The story of Roland's experience in Mejis really is a microcosm for the entire seven-book saga when you stop and think about it. There's a real Salem witch trials feel to a lot of what happens in Mejis.
And I think that's what I like most about this book, that one story from Roland's past just lays out all of the themes and everything you can expect to come and makes everything that has happened make that much more sense. And I have to stop because to say anything else I really would need to start tying it into the next three books and I don't want to do that, because of spoilers!
As the fourth of seven books in this epic saga, this is the book where we finally, finally, get some much needed expository backstory about our main protagonist Roland. By this point in the series we've got a real familiarity with Susannah, Eddie, and Jake, but we still don't know as much about Roland as we could. The first book does a good job of setting up the backstory of Roland's childhood. But it's in this book that we really get to see how he became the hard man that he is and why he is so dogged and determined. Having read the whole series now it's interesting to go back and have to think about this book without thinking about books five, six, and seven and how they inform this book and vice versa, but I will do my best to keep that out of this review. It's the second longest book of the series, there are two that clock in at over 1,000 pages, this one and the final book, The Dark Tower. It's understandable because there was a lot to cover in this novel. King had to balance moving Roland's ka-tet forward on their quest for the Dark Tower, but he also had to have Roland reveal his adventures with his previous ka-tet to his current ka-tet. Each of these storylines could have been a novel unto itself so of course, having both together makes for a huge door-stopper of a book. And I am not averse to that unless it's a boring door-stopper and I would never, ever call this book boring.
Now, to me, of the two storylines, the flashbacks to Roland previous adventure are actually much more interesting than what the ka-tet is doing in the "present" as Roland tells his story to them. And it's also that portion of the novel which is firmly and completely a western, hence my choice of this book for this category. Roland has mentioned several times to his companions his previous companions, Alain and Bert (Cuthbert), and the love of his life, Susan Delgado. This is where we finally get to learn about them, about what they meant to Roland, and about what happened to them and how it changed and shaped Roland. This whole series is a layered onion of stories-within-stories, but the story of Roland, Alain and Bert in Mejis, the town that Susan Delgado was from. It's an interesting story of power corrupting, greed, small town petty rivalries and jealousy intertwined with magic and a giant battle of good against evil brewing in the backdrop of it all. The story of Roland's experience in Mejis really is a microcosm for the entire seven-book saga when you stop and think about it. There's a real Salem witch trials feel to a lot of what happens in Mejis.
And I think that's what I like most about this book, that one story from Roland's past just lays out all of the themes and everything you can expect to come and makes everything that has happened make that much more sense. And I have to stop because to say anything else I really would need to start tying it into the next three books and I don't want to do that, because of spoilers!
If you've never read Stephen King because you think he's just horror, then you need to read this whole saga, starting with The Gunslinger it's got everything, fantasy, scifi, western, it really is his magnum opus as far as I'm concerned.
Overall Rating
5 bolts
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| 5 bolts |
I have to confess I did think Stephen King was only horror so I have avoided any books of his completely. However, I may need to look into these
ReplyDeleteI did too until I discovered these, which led me to some of his other non-scary stuff.
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