Wow, what a major disappointment. The first 4 DT books were great, and some of King’s best works. It's just too bad that King waited so damn long to finish the last 3, and also too bad that he seemed to be in such a rush to do so.

I actually did like #5. It didn't progress Roland's quest to the Tower much, but it was a good story . I quickly went to book 6 and found a fairly boring book, though at least it was shorter. Reluctantly, I picked up book 7. I got halfway through and stopped. Many things were starting to frustrate me with it, and I had other things to read, so I put it on hold. For over two years. After reading the negative reviews I was considering never finishing it, and just leaving the series in my mind with what little sense of wonder and mystery it had left. Of course I picked it up again. I was right the first time.

*Spoiler warning. If you don't want to know what happens, please skip this.*

I really think that King copped out on this one. First off, Stephen King including himself as a series character was one of the worst things I have ever read. What a bunch of self indulgent crap! I really lost faith after reading that in book 6.

The Crimson King was hugely disappointing. Instead of the biggest bad guy in the universe, with the ability to topple the Tower and end all worlds, Roland gets to him and he’s a decrepit old Santa looking man pelting grenades at him and cackling madly. What?

Patrick the Artist: The biggest last minute “save my ass” plot device I’ve ever read. With the ability to draw things into and out of existence, this gives King free reign to get himself out of any plot holes he needs to, such as draw the Crimson King and then erase him, allowing Roland to get to the Tower without harm.

The Dark Tower: Well, it’s real. Does it hold the answer to all the world’s questions? Is there any explanation as to why it’s there or where it came from? Nothing of the sort. It is a monument to Roland and his life, each level containing a different piece of his life. What happens when he gets to the top? (this isn’t a joke, I promise you) He gets sucked back all the way to the beginning of the first book, forgetting what happens with a hint that this time around, things may be different (he was supposed to blow the Horn of the Eld at the base of the Tower, but lost it as a kid. This time he has it.) Did we really read through seven long books to find out that the next time around, in another seven books that don’t exist, Roland may succeed?

In a way, Stephen King reminds me a George Lucas. Lucas got so full of himself after the original Star Wars trilogy that he thought he could tackle another trilogy with no help in writing or directing it. He had complete creative control and there was no one to stand over his shoulder and say, "hey, this is kind of stupid. I don't think people are going to like it." And even if he did, would he listen to them? I think King has gotten to be almost the same way. He's one of the most successful writers on the planet, why should he ultimately care if people won't like this book. He even warns the readers before the last chapter to stop reading, because they will be disappointed, and to simply enjoy the book for the journey getting there. As if he were trying to make you feel bad for not liking his non-ending.

As you can see, I didn't like this book, almost solely due to the ending. As usual, King's prose is good, his characters (even Patrick) are well realized and loveable, and Roland's nearly endless journey is page-turning. There was so much potential here. But alas, this is what we have. Would I recommend the Dark Tower books to others? I would say read the first one, which could be a stand alone. If you want to read the whole series, than by all means do so, it's one hell of a journey, but with such an ending, I would almost rather not have made the journey at all.

This is my second read of the series and this book, and I have to say that reading it a second time has changed my mind about almost everything. After reading book 7 of the Dark Tower the first time, I was left with a feeling of real anger and only two images: one was a skyscraper in Manhattan with a single rose in a roped off area in the lobby, the other was a giant field of roses surrounding a distant and dusky edifice. Those are fabulous images, but they are hardly enough. This book is so rich with imagery that you could read it for nothing more than the pictures it paints (both beautiful and horrific). The two images that I couldn’t get out of my mind were only a small part of the illustrated book I pictured the second time through.

The Dark Tower 7 is, in fact, an exercise in boundless imagination, and King holds nothing back. He gives us human monsters with rodent, bird, and insect heads straight out of Hieronymus Bosch. There's Mordred – a creature sometimes boy sometimes spider who stalks Roland and his ka-tet through almost the entire story. There's the now-mad Crimson King who battles Roland from the tower itself. In fact, there are a dozen battles and skirmishes described with thrilling and bloody accuracy.

But, believe it or not, there is so much more to the book than the imagery. There’s the story: the struggle to save the beams that supports all the universes, the need outrun the forces of the Crimson King and his hideous son. There's King’s brilliant interweaving of his own personal accident and tragedy with these other plots. It’s all amazingly well done. (The concept of an author writing himself or herself into a book is questionable at best. But Mr. King pulls it off in spectacular fashion.)

As I neared the conclusion of the book and the series I was surprised at how King had educated me: in his vision, in his worlds, in his new/old language, and his original concepts.

King (regretfully it seems) draws the Dark Tower Series to a close with more-detailed portraits of his main characters, the resolution of all conflicts, as much goodwill and dark evil as can be crammed into a thousand pages, some very nice ruminations on novels and writing, and the role of writers, and story endings and all, and a controversial conclusion that is both infuriating and satisfying. I found myself saying, “Oh no!” as I realized all that it meant, and finally, “But of course, it has to be this way.”

A thousand pages, yes, one of King’s most potent epics. But read it twice... with maybe a few years in between. And count yourselves lucky that you get to read it at all. There were so many readers begging King to tell them how he would end the series. (King recounts how dying cancer patients wrote to him pleading for the conclusion.) But he couldn’t answer them. He didn’t know himself. And then he was almost killed in an auto accident which might have left it all incomplete.

But he wasn’t killed (for magical reasons explained in this book). And now we know what happened. It's a book that may take a lifetime to understand and digest, but it’s well worth the effort.

I'm too emotionally attached to wright a proper review, so this is more of a thank you note to Mr. Stephen King.
This beautiful jurney came to an end (not really).
During the jurney I laughed a lot, I cried a lot, I screamed a lot (mostly fuck you or what the fuck), I loved (almost) every character (not you Rhea, never) and I got angry with every one of them.
I'm very thankful for the end of the book.
Mr King says it's not a happy ending, but for me it is. At least is much more happier than I excpected while reading the last book. And despite the fact that Roland didn't deserve this, it's the right end to the story.
So, once again, thank you Mr. King for this amazing jurney.
Long days and pleasant nights.

ps: I'm so glad that Walter is in the game again!!! Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!

This was terrible. If you don't want spoilers, read no further.

I really, really hated that Stephen King was a character in his own book. It didn't work. It was a lazy move, and an annoying one. I didn't like that the sixth book introduced King-as-character, and unfortunately for me, he had a much bigger presence in this book.

I felt like King (the author, not the character) was fumbling along his way in telling the story. That part of the reason it took so long to get to the Dark Tower was because King just didn't know how to get there.

Much of it was predictable, i.e. the story arc with Mordred. I even knew how he would die. A lot of it was unsatisfying, like the literal and figurative erasing of the Crimson King, after such a buildup.

I am a fast reader, but this book took me the better part of two weeks to get through. I could not read very much of it at a time because it was so irritating. But I did, as I wanted to see how it all turned out.

I am giving it one star rather than none at all because of the ending. I love/hate how Roland is stuck in the loop. That really rang true. It left me with a bunch of questions -- i.e., will he pull Susannah/Eddie/Jake out again? from their original world, or from different whens? what happens when he finally gets it right? -- but it was satisfying. It felt right, unlike so much of the rest of the book.

I only hope that Roland gets it right the next time.

This is it, the last volume...sort of.

The book sweeps on into the climax of Roland's quest and ties in a lot more threads. Characters are interacting in 2 worlds Roland making the Dark Tower at last with Susannah and Eddie in a New York (where a political horror is in effect in my opinion LOL). As I said, last volume. The crudity that I don't care for is still very evident here as is the at "least somewhat negative" or "fatalistic" view of this multiverse. I'll include another "but" here...but it's an intriguing story and if you've read this far I assume you have your own view of things.

I found this an intriguing (as said above) series and interesting idea that seems to touch on so many other literary threads as to be one that will (in spite of the sort of mucus, blood, and slime covered world) remain with us. Mr king is a talented writer and his stuff will stay around. I'm not a fan overall of Mr. King's work in that I find it largely very depressing and nihilistic. Judge for yourself. I know he has a huge fan base and as I said he's very, even extremely talented.

I really do think that this and several of Mr. King's books will be rated as classics of some form in years to come. Not all, but many will I think stay around...and as I said, I'm not really part of his "fan base". I just note his talent and see that some of his books stand out.


****************** Spoiler Below *****************





The book ends with a realization that Roland has made the quest many, many...even countless times before with a slight difference each time. This time upon finding himself back at the battlefield ("The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.") Roland stops to retrieve, The Horn of Eld opening the possibility of finally completing the quest and ending the repetition. This again ties the story in with Elric of Melniboné sounding the "Horn of Fate" to end that age and also with Roland in The Song of Roland and his "Olifant Horn".

By the way, I still hold that by ending the story as he did, Mr King like Roland Deschain must repeat the story writing it all over again to reflect the differences. Roland might not draw 3 or he might draw a different 3...he might not lose a gun hand/fingers to the lobstrosities...on and on. And after all, Mr. King is in the story...he wrote himself in. Which sets up a wicked possibility of paradox, or possibly paradoxes, or well, whatever.

So far my reasoning is not shared by Mr. King however...:). But then if you think about it, he tried not to be involved the first time around...or was it the first time around??????

Re-read September 2016

It's been 8 years since I first read The Dark Tower series and I was impressed by how little I remembered. What I never forgot though, was how it made me feel and there was no difference in that the second time round. The last installment of the series is full to the brim with all kinds of sentiments and mostly an overwhelming sense of the approaching end. It's known from the start that the mission to enter the Tower is Roland's alone but knowing doesn't make it the least bit easier when members of the ka-tet start dying. And that's as hard to read as it is to write, I bet.

It's a fact that nowadays, series keep running and running stretching indefinitely. (Have I mentioned how much I hate this sign of our times?) That sure keeps the money flowing but it also relieves the writers from the hard task of giving an end to their stories. As King says, endings are merciless. An ending is a closed door which no man can open. It is just another way to say goodbye. I may as well add that the greater a story is, the more painful the ending will be and this is no exception. Uncle Stevie fulfills his task of getting Roland to the Tower (this isn't a spoiler), while at the same time wrapping up pretty much every other loose end. He could leave it at that and we'd still be talking about a complete work, but no. After the heartbraking chapter titled "Susannah in New York", King invites the readers to close the book and not read any further. But who are we kidding? We're dying to know what's inside the Tower. Just like Roland, in a way. And we had it coming.

The definitive ending gives a whole different essence to the whole series. Suddenly, all we thought we knew about Roland's journey, everything we gradually found out as the story advanced through all seven books, is crumbled to the ground. It is something that exceeds all expectations and even the wildest fantasies, yet in a subtle and vague way, it's like we knew it all along. In my opinion, it's the perfect ending and how great an accomplishment it is to give the perfect ending to such a big and complex story!

As for King's involvement, it serves for the notion of "the story transcending its creator" to become clear and a vital part of the series. I found it truely inventive and, simply put, fucking awesome, if a bit balancing between modesty and masturbation. Pretty understandably, though, opinions will differ.

What I consider a flaw was the pointless and easy ending of Walter after being a basic character in the first books, as well as the role of Mordred which was actually... none, other than brutally kill one of the tet's members before Roland annoyingly easily sends him to meet his mother. Perhaps the most uninteresting and useless villain in the history of literature. And to think a whole book was spent to describe his coming to life... it's aggravating!

To summarize, I truely think that The Dark Tower is the best in its category in the last quarter of the 20th century. It's complex and multi-layered combining many elements and resulting to be a magnificent work of literature. Perfect? What story is perfect? The point for a story is not to be perfect but powerful, tight and true and King's magnum opus is all three of them. Although pure fantasy, it allows the reader to relate not only to the heroes, but also to the actual story. Roland's quest to enter the Tower is deeply and utterly personal as it turns out, and so is the story itself to its readers. And that, my fellow readers, is success.

For our gunslinger, the journey is long. For his reader, even after eight books, the time feels short. Sorrow is tremendous, but the path is fulfilling. A beginning in the desert, three doorways from another world, five makes a ka-tet, and Browning poem. Ka is a wheel, but all things must have an ending. As the door closes gently behind, another opens before him. And so I would and will walk this road again with Roland again.

Five stars for this final book. Five stars for the series.

n  The body was far smaller than the heart it had held.n

What a journey - for the characters as much as for the readers! In a way, it feels as if we had been on the road to the Dark Tower forever. All the more reason why saying goodbye is so hard.

So this is the end.
It started where the previous volume left off: Mordred is being born and things ... don't exactly go as Mia had hoped they would. Callahan and Jake are there - as are myriad servants of the Crimson King (including some vampires).
Roland and Eddie are in our (Keystone) world, meeting none other than Stephen King himself and realizing that this is what matters even more than getting back to the others as they are meant to save him so he can write the ending. Bonus points definitely have to be awarded to the author for incorporating so many biographical details in this series. It was a mindfuck and a half but it WORKED.
Eventually, the Ka-tet is reunited, of course, but only to fight another day. That battle to free the Breakers ... I know that it was the "white" choice but personally, I simply would have let them die despite some of them not having been assholes. Most tragic that Eddie didn't even fall in the actual battle.
Yes, I don't think it's much of a spoiler that not everyone is going to make it.
What I didn't account for was how much I even cared for Father Callahan, let alone Eddie. That HURT. And then we race along and Jake sacrifices himself for Stephen King, dying by a van AGAIN. I mean, there ought to be a law against that!
Something I hated at first but that I've come to accept and understand was Susannah walking away - it felt like a consolation price, maybe even a cop out that there were alternate versions of Eddie and Jake waiting in another world for her; it was like running away and even blaming Roland (partially) for all the bad despite HER having made the choice herself. But considering the Mia / birth thing and losing the love of her life and Jake ... SK even had the characters say outright that the Ka-tet was broken after Eddie's death and I guess Susannah was the embodiment of that.
And after fighting, tooth and nail, all this way, finally: the Crimson King and the Dark Tower.
I was almost feeling cheated what with Mordred all but killing himself by eating that spoilt meat after we already got rid of Walter in such an easy (albeit very Schadenfreude-inducing) way. Sure, he was still strong enough to kill poor little Oy, but if he had been at his full strength ...
thus, it was also a bit weird that a newly introduced character was suddenly the key to vanquishing (almost entirely) the Crimson King. After reading the epilogue though, after seeing the resolution / explanation of it all, it DOES make sense. All serve the Tower and the Beams.

Really cool was the incorporation of all the novels that tie into this series. Not sure they all really do (Cujo?), but it was funny. Just like that scene with Pennywise's twin! That was actually funny and not just because of the power of stand-up comedy. ;)
As a side-note, it was touching that Susannah ended much like the "kids" in It, slowly forgetting the traumatic experiences. And not necessarily touching in an entirely positive way.

Amazing series with amazing writing that incorporated so many techniques and elements. Most authors don't even dare touch some of these and King simply grabs them all by the scruffs of their necks, throws them all together in one bowl, stirs and bakes them - and gives us the perfect layered cake, decorations and all. At times, it had a bitter taste, at times a sweet one, but it was never tasteless or bland.
You can see how deeply I cared about each and every character by how traumatic reading this was. You can also see how rich the worldbuilding was, how deep the mystery, from my other reviews and all the theories I started throwing around there. Some have been confirmed, with others the author went down another lane. The fact that I've been obsessed with it all in such a way, even things in this story's past, is testament to how lively the history and mythology of this multiverse is, how much work the author put into it and what a master he is. There isn't any more I can say other than I'm glad it's over because despite me being a Doctor Who fan and therefore being used to timey wimey stuff, my brain might not have been able to take much more of this. *lol*

n  Endings are heartless.n

Ain't that the truth!


P.S.: About Susannah: I wouldn't have written that afterword with her finding an alternate Eddie and Jake and "living happily ever after" - I would have left everyone wondering what had happened to her since there is a reset anyway and they all only served in Roland's quest for redemption or whatever Ka is trying to teach him ultimately. It might have been King's way of preventing armies of fans finding and killing him. Bwahahahahahaha!

Not perfect, but certainly good.

4 años. Eso es lo que he tardado en terminar la monumental saga de King, un viaje delirante y alucinógeno por la mente del escritor norteamericano en el que confluyen multitud de géneros e infinidad de elementos pertenecientes a la cultura popular para crear un universo fascinante, único y absolutamente épico. La última etapa de este largo recorrido tenía grandes posibilidades de salir mal parada, pero creo que King no solo resuelve con éxito el descomunal embrollo narrativo que tenía montado (el complicado componente de metaficción, personajes continuamente entrando y saliendo de escena, separaciones dramáticas, reencuentros emotivos y alguna que otra batalla sencillamente memorable), sino que aprovecha una parte significativa de la novela para enredar, si cabe, un poco más la madeja. Aquí, al contrario que en Juego de tronos, poco importa si nuestro personaje favorito sobrevive o muere; aquí lo realmente crucial es atravesar las puertas de la Torre a cualquier precio y salvar la continuidad de todos los universos que giran en torno a ella. ¿Lo consigue Roland? El último capítulo guarda una tremenda sorpresa al respecto, y a pesar de polémico, creo que King imparte una lección magistral atreviéndose a escribir el único final que podría darle sentido a todo lo vivido durante los 7 maravillosos libros de esta saga. Y yo, como lector, no puedo pedir nada más.

Ok, wow. The ending for this series was everything I could have hoped for. Every loose end from the series is tied up by the end, and we get closure with each of the main character's. Getting to finally "see" the Dark Tower was such a relief, after 6.5 books of searching for it, Mr. King will make you feel as if you're standing at Roland's side the rest of the way. I highly recommend this series as a whole, but would suggest reading a few books before going on this journey: Salem's Lot, It, Insomnia, Hearts in Atlantis, and The Stand. Reading these before The Dark Tower series will make it that much more fulfilling by the end of the journey. I've read all those books except for Insomnia, so there were some references that went over my head!

Dark Tower 7 - 5 stars
Dark Tower Series - 4.5 stars

Reseña de la saga completa* ¿Porque deberías leerla? Sin spoilers

Por fin lo he terminado y debo decir que valió la pena. Después de 8 libros directos relacionado con la historia y de otros que la complementan he llegado al tan ansiado final y debo decir que me ha encantado. No pudo haber uno mejor.

Mucho autores hacen bosquejos y mapas mentales de sus sagas y antes de comenzar a escribir ya tienen todo completamente estructurado y bien planeado (El caso de Brandon Sanderson), eso es la forma como se hacen estas sagas, en historias épicas donde tanta información puede abrumar al autor fácilmente. En este caso SK no planificó ni bosquejó la historia, simplemente se dejó llevar. Sabía que la historia trataba de un viaje épico con universos paralelos, pero mas allá de eso simplemente se dejó llevar y esto es a mi opinión lo mas destacable. ¿Que la saga tiene libros malos? Si, es verdad. Sobretodo en lobos del calla en nivel de calidad bajó considerablemente. Sabemos que luego de ser atropellado en el año 99 la saga cambió para siempre, debido que SK utiliza sus experiencias personales para crear sus historias y la torre oscura no se salvó de esa experiencia de muerte.

En el pistolero vemos a un tipo despiadado con un único objetivo en mente, la torre oscura. Roland Deshain, una persona maldita con una convicción inamovible. Seguirá adelante y sacrificará lo que haga falta para alcanzar su objetivo. Y este es el punto de inflexión de la historia, a pesar que en recién en el libro 4 el pistolero es humanizado cuando conocemos su pasado, cuando conocemos que coño es la torre y porque va detrás del hombre de negro nos toma totalmente desprevenidos y nos sorprende a todos. ¿Pero que rayos es la torre? no se preocupen, a su debido tiempo se enterarán.

Deben leerlas amigos, en especial si alguna vez te gustó algún libro de SK, en esta saga pasamos del terror, a la ciencia ficción, a la fantasía y al drama. Hacer este viaje es una experiencia que de verdad te marca la vida. Te deja un montón de enseñanzas y te cambia la forma como ves el destino (ka) de como ves la vida. Y eso es de apreciar.

Gracias Stephen por tan excelente obra, ojalá te hubieses tomado tu tiempo para los ultimos 3 libros, pero ya lo hecho, hecho está.

El ka es una rueda, que gira y gira sin cesar.

¿Que deben tener en cuenta para leer la saga? ¿Es verdad que hay que leer mas de 30 libros para entenderla?

La verdad es que no es para tanto. Pueden comenzar a leer desde ya el pistolero hasta mago y cristal sin tener ninguna referencia de cualquier otro libro del autor. Para leer en 5,6 y 7 sí deberían tener referencia de otros libros del autor relacionado directamente con la torre oscura. Esto debido a que SK introduce nuevos persojanes y cambia el estilo de escritura sin aviso previo, mientras lees parece que se supone que deberias conocer determinados detalles que el autor no se detiene a explicar.

Insomnia, El misterio de salems lot, corazones de la atlandida (los hampones de chaquetas amarillas) y todo es eventual (Cuento de la colección todo es eventual). Estos libros y cuentos son parte de la saga prácticamente. En cuanto a los demás libros del autor, hay referencias a la torre, unas mas grandes que otros, pero no dejan de ser eso, referencias que pueden ser leídas luego de leer la saga completa.

La alegoría de la historia es la torre, todos tenemos una, todos tenemos eso que deseamos alcanzar, es lo que le da sentido a nuestras vida es lo que la da sentido a la vida de Roland y de su Katet. Anímense a leer la saga, no se arrepentirán.




5/5 a la saga completa.