Really enjoyed this one, even though it's confusing at points (though I've found a lot of the Dark Tower books confusing and I think I'll enjoy rereading them in the future!). Moving on to the final book next... :O

The story continues following the ka-tet as they continue their quest to reach the Dark Tower. One of the strengths of this book lies in it’s ability to convey the personal struggles of it’s characters and their developments so far. I feel this book reads at a more purposeful pace rather than action driven but nevertheless still manages to keep it’s goals in sight.

”When you came right down to it, how did anyone know they weren’t a character in some writers story.”

The interactions between the ka-tet and supporting cast are rich with emotion and tension, adding depth to their relationships and driving the plot forward. There are constant shifts in perspective and timeline which some may find confusing, requiring careful attention to keep track of the various plot threads.

”Anger is the most useless emotion, destructive to the mind and hurtful of the heart.“ - Henchick of the Manni

Overall a thought provoking read that showcases King's masterful storytelling abilities. With it’s well developed characters, gripping plot, and seamless blend of genres it never fails to engage or satisfy. Again my fourth read through and this time I found it even more enjoyable. I’m noticing I feel differently now about certain things in the book than in previous reads (no spoilers here..)

I just finished Song of Susannah, and it's ending has made me want to immediately dive right into the last book of The Dark Tower series, The Dark Tower. For the past few weeks while I've been reading SoS, I've really been eager to find out if Roland makes it to The Tower. Now, I'm a little sad to be starting the last book, the final journey.

I give SoS four stars. For me, it was a great installment, no doubt, to the series. However, I can't give it the extra star to make it a five star installment for a few reasons. I believe five star books should touch the reader in a special way, or grip you unlike any other novel can. For me, The Waste Lands and Wolves of the Calla, (books 3 and 5 of The Dark Tower series) did those things to me. SoS to me felt like a book just to get you 'there,' to that last book.

Some of the questions I had, ideas in my head, were answered or confirmed in this book. Some of the revelations, you know what I'm talking about if you've read it, made me say, "OMG!!! OH HELL TO THE NO!!" But like I said, for me it was just a 'passage to the end of the journey' type book to me.

For some reason, Roland is a character I....identify? with or maybe I just feel like I know him, or a version of him in real life. Eddie, I feel like I know him, too. He reminds me a lot of myself in a few ways, e.g. has an older brother who used to pick on and make fun of him. The drug addiction part....ha...definitely CANNOT identify with. Jake...There's something about him, too, I identify with. He reminds me of my eight year old nephew, who is most definitely, the coolest kid I know. Maybe that is why Jake has a special place in my literary heart. Oy....well, I love animals. I have two cats of my own, and my cat Gizmo....she would definitely make The Dark Tower journey with me, or something like it if I had to go on a similar quest. Plus, he just sounds so cute and adorable. Pere Callahan, I also find to be interesting, especially his story in 'Salem's Lot and how it relates to the Dark Tower series. (Nicely done, King.)

I tell you of my like or love for those characters for a reason: Susannah/Odetta/Detta/Mia isn't my favorite character. We're both female, but I feel like I can't really relate to her. I am definitely not saying I dislike her character, because I don't. I think she's perfect for the series. But, I feel like, hmm....maybe I just don't connect with her or identify with her like I do the others. (To me, I don't consider being female a connection. I mean, I do in some cases, but for some reason, being female doesn't make me feel connected to her, and I think identification should go deeper than that.) She definitely has an importance in this series, and King has utlized her character for many great things. Her story is interesting, too. Maybe it is my lack of identification with the character which makes this part of the journey a 4-star segment. Edit to add: I think another thing which urks me about this book, is Mia and the whole four personalities in one body. I liked it at first, but it got a little tiring to read for me, especially since the majority of the book was about Susannah. Maybe that's just me.

Edit to add: As I was thinking about this book a moment ago, I was reminded of the scene in New York with Pere Callahan, Jake, and Oy. The street preacher with his "Gawd bombs" and "say amen" I could definitely picture in my head. He reminded me of a tele-evangelist in the south. I don't know why, but he did. The scene where Jake hits the cab car.....Oh my goodness...I remember thinking to myself: "Damn, Jake." I could picture Callahan and Jake's scenes in my head all too clearly. Eddie and Roland's part in this book was also really interesting to me. I felt like I was with them trying to convince Tower to sell the property. Roland and Eddie's story and Jake, Oy and Callahan's story in this book were my favorite parts in this book.

I also want to bring up something else, which I'm still unsure if it was brilliant, or a little pompous of King:  King inserting himself into this book. On one hand, I think it was a brilliant idea because of the 'universe' King has created with his books, and all of the connections his non-DT books have with the DT series, and vice versa. On the other hand, I found it a little show-offy. It's like, "Yes, we get it King. We know you are one of the masters of modern day literature, and you'll be remembered until the end of time for your literary achievements and contributions to literature. But, did you really need to go there?" Oh well....I found it a little ballsy of King. While I read the journal entries at the end of my edition, it made me wonder if King was alluding to his alcoholic and drug days when he was saying Roland and Eddie 'appeared' to him. He does talk about similar things of his writing process of this series. I wouldn't be surprised, though, if that was what he was alluding to.

I'm off to end this journey with the last book of the series. I'm eager and sad at the same time. Eager because as I have read these books, it has become more than a desire to know what Roland finds in the Dark Tower, or if he even makes it. Not all stories have happy endings. The end has become a NEED to know, though.. I'm sad, too, because I think I like this series more than I thought I would by now. For a while, Wizard and Glass, the fourth book, pissed me off to no end, and almost made me want to quit the series. Thankfully, Wolves of the Calla drew me back in. (Say thankya, sai King.) Also, I'm a little eager because I feel like I'm a little tied down in my reading with how long these books are and the series is. I shouldn't complain though. The idea/s are beyond original, they are genius. The story is eventful, interesting, and sucks you in. But again, I'm sad because I do love the characters. At least I own these books and can re-read them at anytime. Dark Tower....here I come...

Juggling between 3.5 or 4 since there have been so many deux ex machina shit going on lately. Despite it all though, I was entertained.

Ok, time for some honesty: I have, for years now, claimed to love the Dark Tower above all other series. And I do....at least through Wizard and Glass. I have read the first four DT books countless times.

The last three, however, I have only read once, back when they were first published. I found them disappointing, to say the least. So THE GREAT DARK TOWER REREAD OF 2016-2017 marks my first time revisiting Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah, and The Dark Tower in more than a decade.

(More honesty: I have never read The Wind Through the Keyhole. I know, I know, I'm an Inconstant Reader.)

I had hoped that the passage of time would help me to have a greater appreciation of the end of the series. I had thought that perhaps I had just been suffering from DT fatigue--when it began permeating nearly everything King was writing, I grew a little weary of the whole thing. I suspected that distance would make the heart grow fonder.

Nope.

Let's have even more honesty: Song of Susannah is not a very good book. If it had been written by anyone other than King, it would long ago have been out of print and forgotten.

The biggest problem is that nothing really happens in this book. It's really all about getting the players in place for the final volume. That's fine; that's essential; that has to happen; but did we really need nearly 550 pages to accomplish that?

Song of Susannah is also plagued by an extreme lack of action. Much of the book is composed of lengthy conversation after lengthy conversation. That's also fine; exposition is a vital part of storytelling; but after awhile I just wanted something to happen. What I did NOT want was yet another pointless discussion between Mia and Susannah.

(Fun DT drinking game: every time Mia utters the phrase, "I was made to have my chap and to raise him," or some variant thereof, take a shot.)

What makes Song of Susannah work, even a little, is the characters, whom by now we know and love so well that we would read about them going grocery shopping (oh, wait, that was Wolves of the Calla), and with good reason: they are great characters and reading about them is like seeing old friends. The addition of Callahan just makes it better.

I'm not bothered, as some are, by the splitting of the ka-tet here. The interplay between Roland and Eddie is always great, and Callahan and Jake make a nice pair also. It's like that season of Friends where they decided to shake things up by rearranging all of the roommates, so you had Chandler and Monica getting married and Joey and Rachel living together. It's not the best season of Friends, but hey, at least it's still on the air.

That's how I would characterize Song of Susannah: it's not the best, but hey, at least it's another Dark Tower book.

I suspect that a large portion of Wolves of the Calla could have been excised, and a large portion of Song of Susannah could have been eliminated, and the remainder could have been combined into one very strong novel. We've seen extremely episodic DT volumes already, so it's not like there wasn't precedent.

This was not to be the case, however, and as a result the finished product is a bit (wait for it)...nineteen.

Does Stephen King writing himself into the penultimate episode of The Dark Tower make it more or less epic? Mid-way through Roland and Eddie find themselves in Stephen King’s 1977 home where they chat with the author himself. But where does this take us? When Martin Amis does it, it can seem like the height of solipsism, an author’s attempt to wank slowly and grandly in public. And yet, the substance of this visit, and King’s appearance, brings together all of King’s other books – to a lesser or greater degree – under The Dark Tower banner. Yes, it could be an exercise in extreme naval gazing, Stephen King removing the fluff with pliers and delicately combing the surrounding stomach hair, but on the other hand it turns The Dark Tower from a three thousand page novel into a twenty thousand plus page novel. Okay, we’ve already seen big allusions to ‘The Stand’ and ‘Salem’s Lot’ (and there are probably lots of other more subtle references I’ve missed, my memory is not what it was) but this book is overtly stating the fact that everything Stephen King has ever written (and presumably will ever write) is about this quest for The Dark Tower.

‘The Song of Susannah’ is the most difficult book in this series to review. More than any other it feels like a bridging novel, a shifting pieces into place novel, a journey without a clear destination novel. Reviewing it is a little like switching off ‘Alien’ when John Hurt’s belly explodes and then wandering away to write about the whole. Even more so than ‘The Waste Lands’, which at least did get through a hell of a lot of stuff before it abandoned us with Blaine the Mono, this is a book all geared towards an ending which isn’t there – an ending which won’t arrive until the next episode. So the only thing we have to look at was the journey, and how thrilling and gripping it was.

Disjointed and disappointing would be the best ways to describe it. Forces beyond their control split up the ka-tet as they head once again to New York City (the 1977 and 1999 versions). Unfortunately this splitting up is not used to ramp up the tension across the novel, but instead turns out lumpy and forced together. For a start Eddie and Roland’s segment would seem to play for a lot less stakes than the rest of the ka-tet. They find themselves in 1977 dealing with antiquarian book seller, Calvin Tower, in an attempt to save the blessed rose of New York which is one of the key symbols of The Dark Tower. Now this rose, and the vacant lot in which it sits, has been a big symbol for a number of books – but it still just feels like a symbol. The other part of the ka-tet is trying to save one of their own, Susannah – a human being. And no matter how well you describe this rose, no matter how beautiful and important you make it sound, human beings are clearly going to find greater empathy with other people rather than flowers.

It’s Susannah who is the star of the piece, the character around whom it all spins. Roland and Eddie are elsewhere and their plot is actually over half-way through; while Jake and Callahan arrive later with the attempt to save her. So it’s Susannah who carries the book’s weight. And this is problematic, as I find her the least well defined of the ka-tet. No doubt this is due to the extreme schizophrenia the character suffers. There isn’t one character in Susannah, generally there is at least two and in this book three. It almost feels as if King decided that the female lead in his great fantasy series could do virtually anything, and then proceeded to get her to do exactly that. As such the character of Susannah herself suffers, as sometimes she has Detta barging her out of the way and now there is Mia jostling for space as well. To keep the drama going, King lets her have lots of arguments with herself, but after awhile these become tiresome and ever so slightly ridiculous. He tries his best to sell the notion of her disappearing to various fantasy places to debate with herself, but there’s only so much drama a writer can squeeze out of a woman talking to herself no matter what the stakes. After about the third such argument it all feels a bit like – well – extreme naval gazing.

(King does at least apologise for the “ridiculous Butterfly McQueen’ accent in which Detta speaks. Clearly the charges of racism bothered this liberal white writer. However he then goes to ruin it by including over the top, stereotypical Japanese tourists, which feel like a sudden transportation to a now justly forgotten 1940’s Warner Brothers propaganda cartoon).

In the end, well that’s the thing we don’t really have an end. The danger is increased with a particularly gruesome scene in which King once again stretches his horror writing muscles. But we have no resolution, no pay-off. In ‘The Waste Lands’ the journey was luxuriated in, it was entertaining while it happened. In ‘The Song of Susannah’, the journey doesn’t flow in the same way, with the narrative voice not really caring, just keeping an eye on the distant ending. But without any knowledge of what that ending is, it’s difficult to see this volume as anything other than insubstantial.

We shall see how this all winds up. My money is on Roland and Walter hugging and letting bygones be bygones, before working together to turn the dark tower into condos.

Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower #6), Stephen King

Song of Susannah is a fantasy novel by American writer Stephen King. It is the sixth book in his Dark Tower series. Its subtitle is Reproduction.

Taking place mainly in our world (New York City and East Stoneham, Maine), this book picks up where Wolves of the Calla left off, with the ka-tet employing the help of the Manni to open the magic door inside Doorway Cave.

The ka-tet are split up by the magic door, or perhaps ka, and sent to different 'wheres' and 'whens' in order to accomplish several essential goals pertaining to their quest towards the mysterious Dark Tower.

Susannah Dean is partially trapped in her own mind by Mia, the former demon and now heavily pregnant mortal woman who had taken control of her body shortly after the final battle in Wolves of the Calla.

Susannah-Mia, with their shared body mostly under the control of Mia, escapes to New York of 1999 via the magic door in Doorway Cave with the help of Black Thirteen.

Mia tells Susannah she has made a Faustian deal with Richard Sayre to surrender her demonic immortality in exchange for being able to produce a child. ...

تاریخ نخستین خوانش روز بیست و ششم ماه ژانویه سال 2015میلادی

عنوان: سری برج تاریک کتاب ششم: آهنگ (ترانه های) سوزانا؛ نویسنده: استیون (استیفن) ک‍ی‍ن‍گ؛‏‬موضوع داستانهای نویسندگان آمریکایی - سده 21م

رویداهای این رمان عمدتا در دنیای امروزین (در شهر نیویورک و ایست استونهام در ماین) رخ میدهند؛ گرگها شکست خورده اند، اما «تت» با یک فاجعه ی دیگر روبروست؛ جسد «سوزانا دین» توسط شیطانی به نام «میا» دزدیده شده است، او میخواهد از فرم فانی «سوزانا» برای به دنیا آوردن یک بچه دیو استفاده کند؛ «میا» با سرقت سیزده سیاه، از راه درب ناپیدا، به سال 1999میلادی در شهر «نیویورک» سفر کرده، و در آنجا قصد دارد پدر خود را به دنیا بیاورد، کودکی که از دو مادر و دو پدر متولد و بزرگتر شود، و تبدیل به «رولند» کینه توز شود؛ با یاری از توانایی «ماننی» در سفر زمان، «رولند» و «ادی» قصد دارند، سوزانا را دنبال کنند، در حالیکه پدر «کالاهان» و «جیک» در برج «کالوین»، محل رشد یک گل «رز جادویی» را پیدا میکنند؛ گل رزی که باید، به هر قیمتی نجات پیدا کند؛ اما «کا-تت» برنامه های ویژه ی خود را دارد؛ «جیک»، «کالاهان»، و همسر «جیک»، به نیویورک منتقل میشوند، تا به دنبال «سوزانا بروند»، در حالیکه «ادی» و «رولاند» به شرق استونهام، ماین سقوط میکنند، و ...؛

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

I don't know why more people don't like this one. I thought it was brilliant. That final arc had me on the edge of my seat for the whole thing. It was absolutely riveting. The coming of Mordred MIGHT have made this my favorite book in the series if it wasn't for Stephen cutting off the ending with a damn cliffhanger. Can you imagine if the beginning of The Dark Tower with Mordred's full birth was instead written at the end of this book? Oh my god, that whole sequence would've been some of the most terrifying and fascinating writing in the history of fantasy. But no, he had to split it into parts. Why do you do this to me, Stephen? Why? You did the same damn thing with Blaine the Monorail. Just finish the arc in its original book instead of splitting them! Oh, how I long to live in the timeline where Song of Susannah ends with that full scene played out. Would've been pure gold.

I still love this book, though. Mia and her relationship with Susannah, although the most confusing and dumb thing ever, really had me invested. They had a strange rivalry/respect for each other that I found endearing in a twisted very King sort of way. Shame this book gets put down.

I can't help but hold this series in my head as 'Kingdom Hearts, but Stephen King'. Anyone who loves Kingdom Hearts as much as I do will know just how convoluted that franchise is. The stuff here with Mia and Susannah's bodies mingling is very KH to me. It's just so complex and bizarre. But I love what this book tried to do. I think Stephen King has one of the best imaginations in fantasy literature. It's not always good, but it's definitely always fun.

Reread update: I have just finished going through this book again. I am still incredibly fond of it. The fact that this book sits below 4 stars is asinine. You should all be ashamed of yourselves. 'Kingdom Hearts x Dark Tower' is a great book.

The sixth book in The Dark Tower series and I thoroughly enjoyed it. I know this is thought of as the worst in the series and I think I understand why, I think this book is a bridge to the final instalment of the Dark Tower and it answers quite a few questions and links everything in SK's world together.

The fact Stephen King appears in his own book might seem just big-headed and bizarre but honestly its perfect for this story.

“You know," King said, "I'm not much good at telling stories. That sounds like a paradox, but it's not; it's the reason I write them down.”

There is much more character building throughout this book which I loved. This book starts as soon as Wolves of Calla ends and keeps following our characters journey to The Dark Tower. There is still a lot of questions that need answering which is why I think the last installment is so big! We are left on quite a cliffhanger once again so it won't but long before I pick up The Dark Tower.

“Cat can have kittens in the oven, girl, but that won’t ever make em muffins.”

Mia and Susannah relationship is the most bizarre thing and I feel like only Stephen King could've created such an enchanting but just as disturbing connection. Stephen King as a fantasy writer is quite a ride and defiantly complex so if your thinking of going for this series you need to keep your wits about you and concentrate. This isn't the easiest series to read so if your not used to King or complex writing and would be weary going into this. If your up for the challenge and the strange twists and turns this books take you won't regret it.

I can't wait to re-read these - my plan is to read all SK's works in order including The Dark Tower to experience this series in a whole new light and I wish I had done this to start with!

“As for you, Constant Reader... One more turn of the path, and then we reach the clearing. Come along with me, will ya not?”

These meta maneuvers are making me manic and malfunction. I might mention they manipulate my methodical mind into melee and mire me in maximal madness. I might need a medic

I’m not sure my brain fully comprehended what I just read. All I know is that I liked this better than Wolves, but less than most of the other entries.

Susannah is my least favorite of the ka-tet, so spending so much time with her here wasn’t something I particularly enjoyed. When we broke to the sections with Roland and Eddie, and Jake and Callahan that’s when this hit on all cylinders to me.

I loved being out of mid-world for a while (I got my fill of it in Wolves), and this series is at its best when the magical realism seeps from its pages and into our own world. I love it when the ka-tet finds themselves in keystone earth, and I don’t think it’s a coincidence that this is when King’s writing is at his most eloquent. I think he loves taking our world, moving it one notch to the right and watching the weirdness transpire.

n  Character I Loved & Hatedn

Loved Roland as always, but definitely saw far too little of him in this book. I’m sure that will change drastically as I enter the final book.

Hated Mia because did we really need yet another personality out of an already muddled melding of characters into one person? Plus, white people… am I right?

n  Themesn

Inner-conflict, self-doubt, fighting for restoration, and the ominousness of impending doom

n  One Thing I’ll walk away withn

A sudden hunger for strawberries dipped in cream and sugar

n  Unpopular Opinionn

I loved the parts with Stephen King in it as a character. I wasn’t distracted by the meta move, nor did I find it arrogant or overly-experimental. I think his magnum opus would be incomplete without his physical presence

"I don't think he needs to be immortal. I think all he needs to do is write the right story. Because some stories do live forever."

I finished Song of Susannah earlier today, and I have many a thing to say about this one. All of it good.

Spoilers ahead.

Firstly, I love a good shoot-out, and this series has many, many awesome ones - the chase of the coffin hunters in Wizard and Glass, the escape from Lud in Waste Lands, and the gunfire between Balazar and a naked Eddie Dean in The Drawing Of The Three. In Song of Susannah, I particularly loved the ambush outside of the general store in Maine, with the arrival of the truck that just squished all the mobsters and threw their guts about. I'm all about that gore. Yes.

"The column of truth has a hole in it."

Mid-way through I realised the beauty of this novel compared with the others of the series; Song of Susannah, surprisingly

The Sixth and penultimate novel in King's magnum opus is both the most oddest and hardest to review.

The final three instalments were hastily published after King had survived a car crash and there's a real sense that the author is desperate to finish his lengthy complex series.

This entry felt slightly weirdly paced as much of the story felt more like set up for the concluding part but dense enough to not be just the opening few chapters in the final book.

One thing that felt odd was the Ka-Tet being seperated into their own adventures, personally I loved who Ronald and Eddie encountered on their journey.
It was also nice to have the titular Susannah featured more this time around.

The cliffhanger didn't quite give me the impact that I'd wanted, it also reminded me when King published The Green Mile in monthly instalments too.

Despite not being my favourite it's still an integral part of the series, I'm so happy to finally reach this point now.
The coda was really cool too!