Roland looked up and saw Susan sitting in her window, a bright vision in the gray light of that fall morning. His heart leaped up and although he didn't know it then, it was how he would remember her most clearly forever after- lovely Susan, the girl in the window. So do we pass the ghosts that haunt us later in our lives; they sit undramatically by the roadside like poor beggars, and we see them only from the corners of our eyes, if we see them at all. The idea that they have been waiting there for us rarely if ever crosses our minds. Yet they do wait, and when we have passed, they gather up their bundles of memory and fall in behind, treading in our footsteps and catching up, little by little.
…
True love, like any other strong and addicting drug, is boring — once the tale of encounter and discovery is told, kisses quickly grow stale and caresses tiresome… except, of course, to those who share the kisses, who give and take the caresses while every sound and color of the world seems to deepen and brighten around them. As with any other strong drug, true first love is really only interesting to those who have become its prisoners.
And, as is true of any other strong and addicting drug, true first love is dangerous.

Wizard and Glass picks up with the cliffhanger at the end of  The Waste Lands, as Roland, Eddie, Susannah, and Jake match wits with the literally insane, homicidal, riddle-loving train called Blaine the Mono. Afterwards, they find themselves off the The Path of the Beam, no longer heading towards the Dark Tower. Instead, they are walking towards a green glass palace standing in a version of Topeka on a world where the Captain Trips super flu from  The Stand raged in the late 1980s. That night, Roland senses it’s time at last for him to tell his companions about his past, his one true love Susan Delgado and what befell her, and he and his friends delayed, but couldn’t stop John Farson from beginning and winning the war that would destroy Mid-World.

Wizard and Glass is bookended by relatively short sections detailing their escape from Blaine and then what happens at the palace as they seek to get back to The Path of the Beam. The rest is all one long flashback, as Roland tells the tale of his tragic past—and boy, is it tragic—and how he learned of and began his quest for the Dark Tower. In classic King fashion, there’s a good mix of character development (including a couple of cameos by the Man in Black), plot, and action sequences. I’m sure pieces of the story will prove crucial as the series progresses. The story moves at a relaxed pace, but it builds relentlessly to a series of powerful endings. There’s no cliffhanger this time, but I’m still very interested to pick up the next book and see what happens next. Recommended.

De los tomos más grandes y el más tedioso de todos. Fue mi menos favorito, la historia de Roland estaba buena pero nos desviamos en otros asuntos que me aburrieron, quería llegar a la trama que sí me gusta y debo admitir que me costó seguirle el paso. Aunque aún así sigue siendo un libro bueno, tiene sus partes con detalles, pero lo demás es muy entretenido y claro que vale la pena.

Possibly the most controversial Dark Tower novel, as King has the audacity of mainly backstorying and retrospecting around instead of continuing the main plot.

King often said that writing outside his comfort zone is something he avoids and fears, but sometimes does, and that entering the realms of emotional, heck, who do I want to fool here, let´s call the monster by its name, I hope it doesn´t hear it and comes at night, romance fiction, was something that took him time and overcoming to do it.

There is a highly subjective problem with this, as I have never (and will never, don´t try to change me) read emotional, character focused works, I can absolutely not say if this is a good or just average description of pheromones and other chemical reactions going wild in primate brains or not. But Kinged as I am, I liked it, but I completely understand that many fans were outraged after waiting 6 years for the next part to be pranked in such a way.

Just for the witch alone, it´s worth reading it, this may be one of the best fantasy job descriptions I have ever seen, prepare to be surprised by her lovely magic.

But the love story has horror elements, a creepy setting,  mischief emanating from a certain source, don´t kill witches´ pets kids, very bad idea, possession spreading McGuffins, so it´s not all just brainless love idiot drivel or something, don´t be afraid, it´s still Kingian. Different, but still the master. I´m not the emotional guy, what understatement, but even I had some kind of, I don´t know how to say, uncommon body reactions (not that! psychological, not physical), while reading.

Well, for the disappointed fans, that´s the funny King, he also has the bad habit of spoilering in introductions, forewords, interviews, whatever, to innocently grin afterward, saying that he doesn´t believe in the concept of spoilers, because the reading itself is what counts or something similar. In rare cases, I felt slight anger because of this jokester element of his personality.

Furthermore, we learn much about the traditions of gunslingers, their code of ethics, and how Roland became the desperate desperado he is. King also likes to play within his interconnected worlds and novels and couldn´t resist adding an innuendo to „The Stand“.

I didn´t realize until exactly now how excessively King was using allegories, MacGuffins, symbols, metaphors, innuendos,… in his earlier works and how few of these elements appear in his newer novels that are all just rotating around the characters and 2 to 3 parallel plotlines without magic, artifacts, dark fantasy tropes, and stuff. These elements seem to have gone missing, just as the worldbuilding, and I miss them both so much.

If one is just interested in the Dark Tower series itself, most of the novel that is telling the backstory can be skipped, reading the beginning until Roland starts telling and jumping in back at the end (I don´t remember where) should suffice.

Tropes show how literature is conceptualized and created and which mixture of elements makes works and genres unique:
https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.ph...

After all this time, laid out for all of us to read, we get the making of Roland! How Roland became the man we first met in The Gunslinger, is narrated by Roland in a tale of Wizard and of Glass. For some Constant Readers this is the book of The Dark Tower series, the making of The Gunslinger, or should that be the unmaking?

A superb neo-Western with Stephen King setting up the scene so well, in his own unerring style. You can smell the stables, see the spurs, taste the West... pray, get ready to reap, thankee sai. Overall Stephen King interlaces and integrates iconic stories (including some of his own) and more, with one Goddamn hard, coming of age journey! Yes - because if you thought Roland came of age with the story of winning his guns in The Gunslinger, pick up a copy of this book and get comfortable... or should that be get uncomfortable?

For me this book would have been almost perfect if the fate of Blaine and what happened after that was told in the previous book, The Waste Lands and that book ended with Roland starting his recounting. I don't think there's any room for anything else but the tale of Wizard and Glass. Some of the highs are so high - more wizard, lots of glass, there's Sheemie, there's the coffin hunters, town politics, Rhea and more...

...for me, one of the most real and heroic characters is Susan Delgado, whom akin to the treatment of Daenerys Targaryen by her male creator, could have had a better story and made the overall story even better? Ultimately I found The Drawing of the Three a great book, but it was also satisfying, Wizard and Glass is a great book, but at its heart, I find it unsatisfying... maybe it's closer to real life? 9.5 out of 12.

Book 4 of the Dark Tower was more about Roland's past then the future of his Ka-tet. I gave this book in the series a 4 star. It was at times a bit slow, but that is my fault. I read the graphic novel The Gunslinger vol: 1 and that is a huge spoiler for this book. It tells of many things that I was eager to know. However, once those questions were answered in the graphic novel, Wizard and Glass just wasn't as "thrilling".

In book one, 'The Gunslinger', we the readers meet Roland of Gilead. He is on a quest for the Dark Tower, in finding his path to this future place, Roland must meet and palaver with the Man in Black. The Man in Black is a trickster and Roland has been on this quest for a long time. Before the book runs its course, we, as in Roland and the readers meet a boy named Jake.

In book two, 'The Drawing of the Three', Roland is laying on a beach. He remembers what he must do from a vision or dream that he has had in book one. In front of Roland is a door. This door leads to another world. In this world, Roland must meet and bring back three people from different where's and different when's. These three are important for Roland to continue on with his quest.

In book three, 'The Wastelands', Roland and his new Ka-tet are on the path of the beam. They have come to a run down city to seek Charlie the Choo-choo or Blain the Pain. He is important to their story. They have dealt with much since becoming a group.

In this book, book 4, 'Wizard and Glass', the Ka-tet are alive and well, they have found themselves in a different place and time. They need to find their way home to Roland's now, but how are they to find their path again? During a break in their journey, Roland finally tells his tale of becoming a Gunslinger and his first love Susan. (If you have read the graphic novel, The Gunslinger vol: 1, this is when you are spoiled.) This past Roland of 14, takes up much of the book. A good 65% of the book is spent in Roland's before. Even though I knew what was coming, I learned much. You can only get so much dialogue in a graphic novel. There were times I felt underwhelmed. Aunt Cordelia was beyond obnoxious and so was Rhea of the Coos. I had a love, hate relationship with Jonas and Cuthbert. Roland.... poor Roland. He was such a numskull. So many times I wanted to shout at him. Oh well.

Stephen King tells the readers at the end of this book, that the next two books are set in Mid-world. So two more books of adventure with the Ka-tet and I'm sure more backstory. I hope they reach the Dark Tower as whole as they started. It will be sad if some fall behind.

This fourth book is another massive addition to the ever-evolving Dark tower series. For some reason King decided now would be the time to provide a back story/prequel book for the series. A good thing is plenty of Roland time and backstory – fresh gunslinger falling in love and in battle. The enjoyable but haunting tale of his close friends and his lost lady love.

Many held major qualms that this book spends its time recapturing Roland’s tragic youth, but I enjoyed the flashbacks and character sketching. I’m sure I’d feel much differently if I’d been in the group who had to wait years in between the publication of these books!

The beginning was fun and exciting (about 100 pages or so). We’ve already glimpsed a young Roland in various scenes in the previous novels, so was a full prequel book needed? Having a love story can speak of generic backstory, and even King himself notes in an afterword how difficult it is to pen a convincing romance. But this still adds realism to Roland’s character and the man he used to be to the man he’d become.

The story is akin to an outlaw, gunslinger fairy tale (cool), but it wouldn’t hurt to have a trim. The ending grows bizarre by referencing the Wizard of Oz of all things. King enjoys putting his universes in the Dark Tower series, but the Wizard of Oz?

While I did yearn to return to the more familiar voyage of Roland’s journey with Jake, Eddie and Savannah, his childhood companions were natural to fall for as they three emerged as an honorable, fascinating group. Rhea is such a nasty woman, but of course King’s major strength lies in creating villains.

Bottom line is this is a prequel type deal, a pause. An exploration, sure, but still a pause in the main adventure. With the backstory firmly in place, it’s possible to see Roland with different eyes when we travel forward with him. I enjoy the old-west style atmosphere tucked amongst the fantastical world of Mejis. Of course beauty is only covering up ugly as things slowly rot, destroying the good, the purities.

I’m sure a lot of fans who wait in between novels for years were a little disappointed with this one for the lag, but it’s still a good story that further explores our favorite gunslinger. I think if the flashback scene had been shorter, it would have worked better.

Stephen King ended the third book in the Dark Tower series on a wicked cliffhanger in 1991. By 1994 my patience had grown thin, especially after King had delivered 787 pages of pure crap with Insomnia. Even worse was that he actually had the nerve to tease some of the DT stuff in that overstuffed abomination. I was relatively sure that King was sitting on pile of money somewhere and laughing at me as he wrote page after page that was NOT the fourth DT book.

So in October of ‘94 when I read that King was going to make an appearance in Manhattan, Kansas, as part of a cross-country motorcycle tour he was doing to promote independent bookstores, I scored a ticket and then drove over two hours to confront that rat bastard. However, my plan to demand the next book in a fierce voice of righteous indignation was derailed when one of the first things King* said was that he’d save someone a question, and that he was very close to starting the next Dark Tower. He also told us that it would definitely be a tale of Roland’s past. The crowd cheered. Three years later after suffering through Rose Madder and Desperation, we’d finally get Wizard & Glass.

* King’s appearance in an auditorium on the K-State campus had several hundred people in it, and it took place on a foggy night. When he took the stage, King noted that it was spooky weather, like one of his novels. Then he started speculating that it was the kind of night that a homicidal escapee from a mental asylum might be running around in. The crowd laughed. King continued that the maniac was probably out in the parking lot, checking cars to see if any were unlocked. The crowd loved it. Stephen King was telling us a creepy story on a foggy October night. How cool was that? King kept talking, adding details about the maniac and the knife he picked up somewhere. The crowd grew a bit uneasy but was still chuckling.

Then Uncle Steve started in on asking us if we were sure, REALLY sure, that we had locked our cars. You thought you did, but do you actually remember doing it? By then, the crowd had fallen silent. By the time King described the maniac finding an unlocked car, everyone was on the edge of their seat. Say what you will about the man, he took a brightly lit auditorium full of laughing cheering people and creeped the living shit out of everyone in it in about two minutes. And when I left, I checked my backseat before getting it, and I wasn’t the only one in the parking lot who did.

So I was more than a little anxious to read this when it was finally published in 1997. I was delighted that King delivered a thrilling and satisfying outcome to the cliffhanger that had me on pins and needles for six goddamn years. I was even more thrilled when the gunslingers crossed from Mid-World to Topeka since I’m a Kansan, and we don’t get a lot of fiction set here. The idea that a Dark Tower novel was going to at least partially take place in my neck of the woods had me bouncing in my chair as I read. It was even cooler when the Topeka that Roland and company were in was apparently the Topeka from The Stand, my favorite King novel.

When Roland and his friends headed east on I-70, I remembered the ‘94 tour, and I realized that King had very probably been inspired by his motorcycle ride after that appearance when he had told us that he’d be starting the new book soon. I theorized that I’d seen the man himself the night before he’d taken that drive and probably come up with that scene. It felt like I’d been near the blast zone of his inspiration, and I got a remarkable kick out of that.

And then the whole book went to hell.

This was several years before George Lucas would impart his painful lesson to all of us regarding prequels, and King made some of the same mistakes first. Fifteen year old Roland has been sent out of Gilead to a rural community called Majis by his father along with his friends Cuthbert and Alain after passing his early manhood test. We’d already gotten glimpses of a very young Roland in The Gunslinger so setting a tale shortly after this didn’t really tell us anything new about Roland's history.

Plus, King decided that Roland needed a tragic love story in his background so most of the book is filled with the young passion of the gunslinger and Susan Delgado, a beautiful girl who has agreed to be a kind of concubine to the mayor. Roland and his friends stumble across a conspiracy among the locals to help John Farson, the leader of a the opposition of a civil war that is distracting everyone to the larger problem of how time and space have started going adrift in Roland’s world.

If King wanted to do a flashback novel, I would have much preferred to get more information about any of the many other numerous events that he only touched on or teased in the rest of the books. (Like the Battle of Jericho Hill for example.) Instead, we get a drawn out cat-and-mouse game between Roland and a failed gunslinger as he and Susan sneak around to see each other on the sly.

I probably wouldn’t have been quite so disappointed if King hadn’t gone and done the one thing I can’t forgive: he incorporated The Wizard of Oz into the ending.

I HATE the goddamn Wizard of Oz.

It’s a Kansas thing. When you’re from here and particularly when you had a job where you traveled a lot and every single freaking person you meet has to say things like, “Oh, I guess you’re not in Kansas anymore! Yuk yuk!” or “Where’s Toto? Yuk yuk!” and then you spend a couple of nights in jail for punching some of those fucktards in the throat…. Well, let’s just say you tend to flip through the movie when you see it on TV.

So my Wizard and Glass experience went kind of like this:

- “It’s finally here!

- Wow, that was awesome!

-Holy shit! It’s Topeka!

- Holy shit! It’s Topeka from The Stand! Even better!

-Oh, flashback time. We’re going to see younger Roland whip some ass and get some answers.

- Love story?

-Well, I guess those guys are kind of evil.

-Love story??

- They’re just going to sit around waiting?

- Love story???

- Why do they all talk so stupid?

- Love st.ZZZZZZZZZZ

-Urk.. What’s going on? Oh, finally! Shooting! Battle! Killing!

- Back to I-70 outside of Topeka. Maybe this is getting back on track.

- Wait…. No… Seriously. The Wizard of Oz??…. Really? I mean, I know it’s Kansas, but that’s all you could come up with….For fuck’s sake you aren’t really going to have the goddamn dog put on ruby shoes too are you? Oh, you are. Suck my….”

And then I had to wait another six goddamn years for the next book.

Review to come...

This one picks up where The Waste Lands left off and we get the conclusion of what happens with the Ka-tet and Blaine the suicidal, riddle-obsessed monorail.

The majority of this book is the back story of Roland Deschain, his life in Gilead, his old Ka-tet with Cuthbert and Alain, their time in Mejis. But the story's core surrounds Roland's first love, Susan Deldago.

It doesn't end with a huge cliffhanger this time, they're just back on the path of the beam.

There's just always going to be one book in a series that's not as good as the rest, this one is mine because I don't think it adds anything to the overall story and can even be skipped.

Don't misunderstand though because it's a good book. It's worth reading. But it feels a little like filler and doesn't have enough of the characters we really want.

Should you buy it after completing The Waste Lands?

Of course you should! It's great! Just be forewarned that this is a different story to the one you've been reading, and the main characters, the one's you're really interested in.

It offers a lot of history into Roland’s character.

The Dark Tower 4 continues Roland's journey in an unexpected way, taking us back to the main character's youth. 90% of the book takes place in this "flashback" story that Roland is telling to his ka-tet. While some parts seemed to be overly drawn out, it ultimately gives us insight into what is really driving Roland in his quest for the Dark Tower.

The story-telling is incredible as Stephen King weaves different universes into one story and setting up what is sure to be an epic second half to his lengthy DT series! I look forward to continuing with Wind Through the Keyhole (Dark Tower 4.5)!!!

Diciamo un tre e mezzo. Il viaggio dei protagonisti prosegue in scenari sempre più singolari. Compaiono riferimenti anche ad altri romanzi, come L'ombra dello scorpione. Più della metà del libro (Sic!) esplora parte del passato di Roland. Veniamo così a definire meglio la figura del pistolero, ma la storia non prosegue più di tanto. Cosa non mi ha convinto:

- Alcune parti sono inutilmente prolisse, altre stringate in mezza pagina. Più equilibrio, King...
- Se è Roland a raccontare il suo passato, come può conoscere anche ciò che non ha visto di persona? Per non parlare dei pensieri e delle emozioni di chi gli è stato accanto.
- Odiosi gli spiegoni messi tra parentesi per portare alla conoscenza del lettore elementi che andavano detti prima.
-Alcuni episodi (vedi la ricomparsa di Tik Tok) sono del tutto inutili allo svolgimento della trama.

Più mi addentro in questa saga, più la sento scritta in maniera imprecisa e arraffazzonata. Forse è dipeso dal fatto che, essendo stata scritta assieme ad altri romanzi, riallacciare il filo della narrazione si è rivelato più difficile.

It pains me to give this book just 2 stars but I skimmed more than a quarter of it, because I just want to get to the goddamned tower, take a selfie, then go home.