wow!!
i mean... WOW!!

there are bad last books, there are horrible ones, the ones you want to throw in a fire to at least have the warmth they might create while burning to have it be a little useful at least .... and than there is this book!

i don’t even know what to say other than HORRIBLE!

come on, king!!

you can not - repeat!- CANNOT!! write 7 books with thousands of pages and than don’t even bother writing a real ending but basically let it be one of those books that the reader either thinks of a real meaning behind it all for themselves or just accept that King was too lazy to even bother writing an actual ending and instead just made it loop back to the first book.

this entire series and especially this book felt very much like King was patting himself on his back and graduating himself on what a smart and fantastic writer he is, that can’t do wrong and has sooooooo many fans that love everything he does without questions and are simply stunned by his brilliance that is his writing.

and i an sorry but NO!

this series is a mess and this last book is nothing but an ego trip of the author!

this entire series and especially this book lacks actual real plot -which granted the first 3 to 4 books have at least a little of a plot and a general idea but after that? no!!- let alone actual character development and with that kind of ending i am astonished that his series is being republished at all!!

how can people love this??
is it just the author?
is it just the name and his „reputation“ he brings to published books?
why would anyone that loves fantasy enjoy this series let alone this last book??

don’t get me wrong, i am happy if you are someone that enjoyed this, good for you!
i have NO clue how anyone could enjoy this series or this book or be happy with this cope out of an ending this book has, but if you are good for you!

in a way i am happy that i read and finished this series.
it showed me that not everything other people rave about is worth it.
that authors sometimes get completely lost in their own egos and completely destroy a series with it that wasn’t great to beginn with bit actually manage to make it horrendously horrible.
and that sometimes not everything should even be published simply because it was written by someone that normally writes at least readable maybe even good books.

other then that!?
i am taking away from especially this book that i am questioning king in general as a writer for me and if i was just way to young 10+ years ago when i read him for the first time and was just too inexperienced as a kid and with that as a young reader to actually see all the issues his books present.

to me this book clearly was a mess and not worth being read and even worth as a series ending.

but with the high ratings this series and this book has here on goodreads i seemed to be missing something big.


oh well.
never trying to reread this! so i honestly don’t care what other people might see in this.
i learned my lesson: king can NOT write fantasy that i enjoy.

n  DTProject2017 | Book 7n

Finally, I've reached the Tower. The quest ends here (?)

Starting at the beginning of January I started this project called #DTProject2017 where we were reading one book a month from the series.

Now, at the beginning of August I finished the 7th book and started the 1st book (I won't tell why unless you read the series). So in a few days this Dark Tower experience will belong to the past.

I'm a little bit sad to say goodbye to this world, its characters and their stories but it's time to move on, so many books are waiting for me on my bookshelves.

This book along with the 4th book (Wizard and Glass) are my favourites.
This book, unlike the previous one, is packed with action in every part: (Vampires, Taheens (humans with bird heads), a scary clown (It?), a monstrous spider, a mad (Crimson) King, and many last goodbyes).

I think if you were following my reviews on this project, you will be able to see that I said a lot about the series, so I feel I don't have anything else to add other than to urge you to read the series. Don't be spoilt by the film; even though, that's your choice.

Original Buddy Read Review:I almost forgot to include my chap Ryder in this epic buddy read!

He says: Saddle up, pards!



New and Excruciatingly Long-Winded and Passionate Review:

Well, here it is, folks. The end.

We have travelled long and hard. (That’s what she said.) We have had many ups and downs, backward flips, dips, dives, shucks and even a case of good old-fashioned demon rape, say thankya. Say thankya big-big. We’ve had fallen comrades, we’ve had tagalongs, we’ve had mysterious disappearances and we’ve had many move on.

"The road and the tale have both been long, would you not say so? The trip has been long and the cost has been high... but no great thing was ever attained easily. A long tale, like a tall Tower, must be built a stone at a time.”

The world has moved on, so it has. So I’m sad to say.

But our quest to reach the Dark Tower did not disappoint. No, I’d say it was one of the best reading experiences of my lifetime(s). I have travelled this path several times. Delah. I’ve picked up accents and speak the language of the people. Aye, hear me well, I beg! But this journey was different; forespecial. Why, you ask? Well, because of my companions. No matter how many were picked up or the ones who dropped off, the few that stuck with me until the very end made this reread unlike all the others. I would like to say thankya. Aye. Say thankya big-big.


We are Ka-Tet. We are one from many. We have shared khef. Hear me well, I beg!

The fate of the rose must be secured. The fate of Stephen King must be secured. The man in black, Mordred and the Crimson King must be defeated. But most importantly, we must stop the breakers. For if the beam is broken, the tower will collapse and all worlds will fall into nothingness. Endless darkness for all of eternity. Or is it Todash space where things crawl and creep and slither through the blinding darkness? Our enemies are many. The deck is stacked heavily against us.

“Our time here is brief, our risk enormous. Don't waste the one or increase the other, if you please.”

But we have something on our side.

Ka.

Ka, like the wind. And when that wind blows, you’d best be ready to sail. It matters not where it wants you to go, you must follow it at all costs. For Ka is a wheel, and it does turn. Does it not?

At the risk of sounding cliché, this book will make you laugh, it will make you cry, it will make you happy, it will make you angry, it will make you want to scream. But in this reader’s opinion, it’s what makes a good book a great book. Books that evoke emotions, that make me think, that make me feel what the character is feeling… those are the books that mean the most. They mean everything.

Roland is one of the greatest tragic anti-heroes I’ve ever encountered. He’s flawed nearly as much as he is scarred. He has sacrificed everything for the tower- friends, family- even his own mother. Will his current ka-tet be asked to surrender their lives for the sake of his quest?

This book may not be perfect- lord knows King does not impress all of his readers all the time. Certain parts are downright cheesy. But as King himself states in the Coda- the fun is in the journey.

I don’t think there was a more perfect way to end this series. Ka is a wheel, do you not see?

I have a spoiler-filled theory that I’m about to lay out here so if this is a series you haven’t read or plan on reading, I’d stop here if it does ya.

**MASSIVE SPOILERS AHEAD, PROCEED WITH CAUTION**

I read a blurb once where King said that his version of hell would be reliving the worst moments of your life over and over again for all of eternity. I think this is what is happening to Roland. He goes his quest over and over and over again, never remembering the time before and always slightly different than the time before. The signs are all there within the books! Open thine eyes and see!!

“Death, but not for you, gunslinger. Never for you. You darkle. You tinct. May I be brutally frank? You go on.”

The man in black tells Roland this very early on.

Cort tells him: “It'll be your damnation, boy. You'll wear out a hundred pairs of boots on your way to hell.”

Roland himself states that “You needn't die happy when your time comes, but you must die satisfied, for you have lived your life from the beginning to the end and ka is always served.”

And has Roland been satisfied? No, he has not. He has been cursed from the beginning. He never learns. He continues to sacrifice all for the tower.

I remember when I first saw that last line. It made me shudder. It made me heartbroken for this tragic character. His penance was to continue an endless loop. All his time spent devoted to the same outcome; each time learning just enough to change some small factor of his new journey, but never enough to gain him entrance to something other than the hell he is facing.

This series means so much to me. It opened my eyes to a whole new way of thinking and created endless possibilities for what lies beyond the veil of death. It comforts me in times of turmoil. It’s like an old friend. No matter how many times I’ve gone through it I find a new appreciation every time.

I would like to thank my ka-mates for going on this journey with me. I hope it did ya fine, so I do.

Long days and pleasant nights, friends. I love thee. Aye, say true, say every one of you.

6.0 stars. A very satisfying end to one of the best fanasy series ever. As much as the coda may have flown in the face of the typical "happy ending" I loved it and think it was a terrific way to go out.

Winner: British Fantasy Award for Best Novel (2005)
Nominee: Locus Award for Best Fantasy Novel (2005)
Nominee: Bram Stoker Nominee for Best Novel (2005)

I finished! One of my reading challenges this year was to read the entire Dark Tower series and I did it! For me, this series was mostly a three-star read, except The Gunslinger (book #1) and Wizard & Glass (book #4) were both four-star reads. Overall, this isn’t my favorite series or my favorite work from Stephen King, but I still enjoyed it and I’m glad I finally read it. This series would have been exceptional if it has been one book at about 1,000 pages rather than eight books at 4,603 pages. In the appendix was the printing of the Robert Browning poem that inspired the Dark Tower series. I thought that was a great way to end the series.

I still recommend the series, but I wouldn’t start here if you’re new to Stephen King. I’m a big fan of The Stand, so if you want something apocalyptic, that’s a must-read. If you want to try one of King’s historical fiction with time travel, I suggest 11/22/63. The 55th anniversary of JFK’s assassination is six days away, on Thanksgiving in the US, so it’s a good time to read a story where a man goes back in time to prevent his assassination.

By the way, I’ve officially read 33 Stephen King novels! I’m working on an “author love” challenge and I think I have about 50 works to go counting his short story collections. Now my big decision is which King novel I should read next!

Finishing this book is like ending a relationship you don't want to be over, but is was certainly a relationship that needed ending. You will be frustrated, angry, and WANTING MORE LIKE A DAMN DRUG!

Stephen King is the master of mind f*cking his readers. Rarely has he done it so well as here.

Full Review Here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fP_0q...

Der Mann in Schwarz floh durch die Wüste und der Revolvermann folgte ihm.
Was für eine epische Reihe Stephen King mit dem Dunklen Turm geschaffen hat!
Und die Reise hat erst begonnen. Ich werde es bestimmt nochmal lesen - der Dunkle Turm ruft direkt danach.

Commala-come-come

2.5 stars.
This just fizzled out for me. It wasn't so much the ending itself - the wheel of ka seemed quite apt -so much as the let down of so many loose ends of the story. How events and characters had played such a large part in the story, only to come to almost nothing. I didn't like Stephen King's inclusion in the story. In the previous volume I thought it was quite clever, but in this volume it really read like he'd just run out of ideas and was prepared to throw in any old nonsense in order to just get the series finished.

Learned a valuable lesson with this book....never recommend a series to friends until it is finished.

I am one of Stephen King's 'constant readers.' Usually I am a big fan, and I've bought enough of his expensive hardcovers over the years that I'm perfectly comfortable throwing in my two cents about the dreadful way he ended The Dark Tower.

I'm applying that two stars rating to the last three books of the series, Wolves of the Calla, Song Of Susannah (UGH!) and this, The Dark Tower. They all seem to have been written in a rush after King's brush with mortality when he was hit by that van. What a waste of all the great material he had to work with. If I was rating the first four books, my review would have been five stars. Unfortunately......

Hated the way the vast world of the gunslinger kept getting smaller, with constant trips back to good old New York, to dabble in real estate and investing in Microsoft. Real friggin' epic. Oh, and ANOTHER personality for Susannah.

All the metafiction King attempted by writing himself into the story falls flat, and I think breaks the contract he made with readers in earlier books, to play it straight with us and deliver something majestic. All the lame Harry Potter references begs for comparisons between this series and Rowling's, which just wrapped up. I hope King read Deathly Hollows and saw the way a writer can end their story with a satisfying bang, instead of this muddled, poorly plotted disappointment.

I could go on and on, but it is getting late.

Gotta say, though- I'm surprised by all the five star ratings.

I don’t know what this was, but I loved it.

I’ll light the darkness with thoughts of those I love.

Yeah. I’m done. There are so many things I want to say about this series and the first is this: I loved it. I liked, hated, loathed and wanted to leave it behind at times but the summation of all of my emotions for this utterly insane and wonderful story is that I loved it. And I love it in a unique weird Dark Tower way unlike how I feel about any other series I have read. The Dark Tower is one of the most unique and amazing tales I’ve ever read. I can guarantee you've never read anything like this. Does that mean it’s for everyone? Absolutely not. I suggest you read to the end of the third book, The Wastelands before deciding to go on. It may do ya well to not read on and if so, long days and pleasant nights to ya. But if you decide to finish, this may end up being one of the greatest series you’ve ever read.

So, what even is this series? What is its genre? The simplest answer is that it has no genre, kind of like Johnny Cash. Johnny Cash is simply Johnny Cash regardless of what genre you try to squeeze him into, nothing really fits. And that is The Dark Tower. It is its own and nothing else compares to it, for better or worse. If I were forced to call this series something it would fall under many terms: fantasy, sci fi, meta, multiverse, western, urban fantasy, found family, traveling quest, horror and many others. It is all of those genres and then supersedes them into what can only be called The Dark Tower.

The best thing about this series, and what makes the insanity work, is the core characters: Roland, Sussanah, Eddie, Jake and Oy. This found family brings desperately needed cohesion to a multiverse going on in the background. Roland of Gilead is officially one of my favorite literary characters. He is almost brutal with his integrity and flawed in such a way that it is fatal to him but ultimately benefits everyone. Eddie is the reformed junkie who has so much incredible growth that he really turned into such an amazing character. Sussanah is possibly my favorite character. From the split personality thing to the being raped by a demon and giving birth jointly with Mia the weird demigod to a spider demon that was somehow Roland and The Crimson King’s son? (Hard to make that any simpler). It was all so bizarre and cool. Susannah in the last leg of this journey really shined. The relationship between Jake and Roland was very touching. Oy was the icing on the cake of this bizarre and amazing cast.

When she inhaled, she took in the breath of a thousand years and ten thousand miles. And yes, she tasted death.

The world is a multiverse and it is so enthralling to see the twists and turns and contortions of reality. The Mid world in particular and its amalgamation of western American culture is really fun and engaging. The vernacular of the mid world alone kept me turning the pages. I couldn’t get enough of the “do ya”, “cry pardon”, “thankya” and “commala-come-come”. Other readers may hate this but it somehow really deepend my enjoyment of the world. The bizarre creatures, robots, machines, todash, dogans, corporations and constant spillover from the multiverse was a chaotic mess. Does it all make sense? Impossible. Did I enjoy the journey? Absolutely. King’s own presence in this book was bizarre and very unique. Yes it’s meta because you are reading the story that the character King is writing, but I don’t think it’s a vanity project. I think King wrote this entire book out of a weird compulsion and he saw his writing process and creation as a key part of the cast of characters and so he felt obliged to include a fictionalized version of himself. For me, it worked.

The plot of the entire series is not particularly well crafted. King took a big weakness of this story, that it is basically a stream of conscious writing, and it turned it into a huge strength. King knows the story is a mess and the reader knows it's a mess.

n  Of course no story except a bad one, one that arrives DOA, is ever completely under the writer’s control, but this one is so out of control it’s ridiculous. It really is more like watching something happen—or listening to a song—than writing a damned made-up story.n

It’s very clear that crap is just made up on the fly but King is faithful to the nonsense imagery that he pulls out of nowhere and then weaves it into the story and makes it all work because he doesn’t let go of it. This whole story came so very close many times to being Deus ex machina and even commits it a number of times, but for me the story got away with it because this story isn’t so much about plot but what the characters do with that plot.

Let’s get to the ending. I loved it.

So far I’ve traveled and so many I’ve hurt along the way, hurt or killed, and what I may have saved was saved by accident and can never save my soul, so I have one. Yet there’s this much: I’ve come to the head of the last trail, and I need not travel it alone

It would be justified feeling that Mordred dying from dysentery and having a brief showdown with a tiny weird dog and a quick bullet from Roland was a let down. Even the death at the hands of baby Mordred of the notorious Randall Flagg was oddly anticlimactic. The Crimson King literally being erased by some guy who only shows up at the end? That’s weak and worthy of many complaints. But that didn’t matter to me. Why? Because the Tower calls to not only Roland but to the reader. The reader becomes vicariously obsessed with seeing and being in the tower. The plot conflicts become secondary. All you care about is the tower. King does this ingenious thing where he warns the reader that you don’t need the ending because you won’t like it. In fact, he puts Roland’s entrance into the tower as a coda and gives you final warning that you’d be happier not finding out what happens in the tower. But of course, like Roland, you have to know. And what do we find? Roland’s own ego looping him back to the beginning of the story where he’s chasing the Man in Black. This absolutely works. Why? Because Roland is no hero, he’s a tragic figure. His obsession with the tower prevents him from living a normal life. He lost Susan Delgado and two ka-tets with his obsessions. But the wheel must turn because it is his fight to see the tower that saves the beam and the tower and the universe. In this way, Roland is his own antagonist and that's why the anticlimax with the other villains didn't bother me. So he’s a tragic figure and he’s the sacrificial figure. Really awesome stuff. Will things be different this time around now that he has that horn of Eld? Not sure. Maybe read the entire series again and join the loop with Roland.

Anyway, this story will always stay with me. Wizard and Glass was definitely my favorite of the series and Wolves of Calla was a terrible slog. I highly recommend this series.

That’s all. That’s enough. Say Thankya.

The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower #7), Stephen King

The Dark Tower is a series of eight books and two short stories written by American author Stephen King. Incorporating themes from multiple genres, including dark fantasy, science fantasy, horror, and Western, it describes a "gunslinger" and his quest toward a tower, the nature of which is both physical and metaphorical. The series, and its use of the Dark Tower, expands upon Stephen King's multiverse and in doing so, links together many of his other novels.

Beginning where book six left off, Jake Chambers and Father Callahan battle the evil infestation within the Dixie Pig, a vampire lounge in New York City featuring roast human flesh and doors to other worlds.

After fighting off and destroying numerous "Low-Men" and Type One Vampires, Callahan sacrifices himself to let Jake survive. In the other world—Fedic—Mia, her body now physically separated from Susannah Dean, gives birth to Mordred Deschain, the biological son of Roland Deschain and Susannah.

The Crimson King is also a "co-father" of this prophetic child, so it is not surprising when "baby" Mordred's first act is to shapeshift into a spider-creature and feast on his birth-mother. Susannah shoots but fails to kill Mordred, eliminates other agents of the Crimson King, and escapes to meet up with Jake at the cross-dimensional door beneath the Dixie Pig which connects to Fedic.

Maturing at an accelerated rate, Mordred later stalks Roland and the other gunslingers throughout this adventure, shifting from human to spider as the need arises, seething with an instinctive rage toward Roland, his "white daddy." ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز بیست و یکم ماه فوریه سال 2016میلادی

عنوان برج تاریک کتاب هفتم؛ نویسنده: استیفن کینگ؛

سری برج تاریک دارای هشت کتاب و دو داستان کوتاه است؛ داستان این سری با تعقیب و گریز هفت ‌تیر کش و مرد سیاه ‌پوش آغاز می‌شود؛ «رولند (هفت‌تیرکش)»، آخرین بازمانده از نسل هفت ‌تیر کش‌ها، برای انتقام، و پی بردن به ماهیت «برج تاریک» به دنبال «مرد سیاه‌ پوش» است، که در گذشته و حال و آینده‌ اش، رخنه کرده است؛ مردی مرموز و شیطانی، و از خادمان «برج تاریک»، که بر سر راه خود، همه چیز را به هلاکت می‌رساند، و تمام این‌ها به خاطر این است، که «رولند» را، طی سفری طاقت ‌فرسا، به دنبال خود؛ یا شاید «رولند» را، به «برج تاریک» بکشاند؛ «برج تاریک» مرکز جهان، دستگاهی برای اداره ‌ی هستی و نیستی است؛ برجی مسلط بر هر چیز؛ برجی که در سرنوشت «رولند» همانند هیولایی متجاوز رخنه کرده است؛

برج تاریک کتاب هفتم: کتابی خیال انگیز از این سری، و از نویسنده آمریکایی «استیون کینگ» است؛ این کتاب هفتمین کتاب از سری «برج تاریک» است؛ که توسط انتشارات «گرانت» در روز بیست و یکم ماه سپتامبر سال 2004میلادی (روز تولد کینگ) منتشر شده است؛ و شامل ماجراهای «مایکل ویلان» است؛ این رمان دارای چهار عنوان فرعی است: «تولید مثل»، «مکاشفه»، «رستگاری» و «توسل» - همه این عناوین به جز عنوان دوم، به عنوان زیر عنوان، برای رمانهای پیشین این مجموعه، استفاده شده اند؛ کتاب هفتم از آنجایی آغاز میشود که کتاب ششم پایان یافته است؛ «جیک چمبرز» و پدر «کالاهان» با نیروهای مهاجم شر، و خون آشامها درگیر هستند؛

کتابهای این سری، کتاب نخست با عنوان هفت تیر کش (با عنوان تفنگدار نیز به فارسی ترجمه شده)؛ کتاب دوم با عنوان انتخاب سوم؛ کتاب سوم با عنوان سرزمین (سرزمینهای) متروک؛ کتاب چهارم جادوگر و گوی شیشه ای (جام)؛ به فارسی ترجمه و منشر شده اند؛ کتاب پنجم با عنوان گرگهای کالا؛ کتاب ششم با عنوان ترانه ی سوزانا؛ کتاب هفتم با عنوان برج تاریک؛ کتاب هشتم با عنوان نسیمی از میان سوراخ کلید، البته این عنوان قطعی نیست؛

تاریخ بهنگام رسانی 03/12/1399هجری خورشیدی؛ ا. شربیانی

O serie geniala.
Nu am vazut seria pe multe liste "must read fantasy", ceea ce o dovada unui faliment al literaturii de gen.
King e un geniu si Turnul Intunecat este vocea proaspata din fantasy si nu numai.