Amph The Dark Tower series

Well, since the only topic I found that covered these books is locked, I figured I would start a new one.

I'm only on Book 3 at the moment, but I'll be getting the rest before much longer. But now, I'm hearing news/rumors that there will be a book 8.

 

What do you want to know?

Yes, King has confirmed he is working on a new Dark Tower book. We don't know when it will take place.

If you're only on Book 3, I envy you.

The first 4 books are incredible, Book 5 is pretty good, and Books 6 & 7 are weird/terrible/consistent, depending on who you talk to.


I guess I won't get into spoilers here since you're on The Waste Lands, but I'd expect the new book would either be similar to Book 4, or might re-imagine the series somewhat? Hard to say.

 

I actually had a bit of a hard time getting through the first book. But in the second, and so far in the third, I'm used to the writing style. Of course, these are the only King books I've read. Has that been a common occurence among readers?

 

Hard to say.

I had read some King before the DT series, but was never a huge horror fan.

He's not the greatest technical writer, but in terms of characters and crazy stuff happening, he's pretty incredible. The first book is definitely hard to get into, it seems a bit more stylized than the other ones.

 

I want to see the original Gunslingers, Roland , Cuthbert, and Alain in the new book. Everything will be great then. lol

 

I've just started reading it, and am currently halfway through book 2. I prefaced it with Eyes of the Dragon and The Stand, and am trying to work on all the other closely related books.

I have mixed feelings about an eighth book. With The Green Mile I collected all the books, but waited until I had them all before I started reading them--thereby missing out on the whole serial novel experience. But I suppose I like to know there's and end in sight, and that a series is completed, rather than mourn that there will be no more books. Having finally committed myself to reading them, and having figured out roughly in what order, it's frustrating to find out that a new book may actually happen in between existing ones, rather than after the last one. How will this affect the reading order? And if it doesn't really carry the story forward, how essential can it really be?

It is nice to know there's someplace I can come with my feedback here, but then, if we're trying not to spoil anything, at what point can each subsequent book be brought into the discussion?

And while we're at it, does anyone expect the Dark Tower movie series to happen? Seems to be in turnaround now, and history has shown us that if anyone can get a Stephen King project off the ground, it's Rob Reiner. A series of television movies could be done, I suppose.

 

Hard to believe they could make a movie series of the Dark Tower.

I guess they could theoretically do a trilogy or something. They could start with The Gunslinger to gauge reaction, I suppose.

With respect to an 8th book, as I said, it's mostly likely to take place in Roland's youth.

 

With respect to an 8th book, as I said, it's mostly likely to take place in Roland's youth.

That may make it rather difficult to fit into the story. So far, his youth has been revealed during the course of the present story. It might be difficult to make this "Volume 8," he could instead make it one of teh accompanying short stories like Little Sisters.

 

Well, if they can make a prequel trilogy out of what was mentioned in the OT, King can certainly write a "Tales of Roland's Youth". We know the general story, I expect this would be more in the vein of an "adventure", but who knows with King?

 

Would you guys recommend the series? I read a King book once and didn't like it (I'm not into horror), but I've heard that this is different.

And you guys can absolutely discuss the 8th book - just remember to put any spoilers in highlight-to-read ({hl=black]{/hl], replace the { with [). This is our spoiler policy, in case you guys need a brush-up.

 

Would you guys recommend the series? I read a King book once and didn't like it (I'm not into horror), but I've heard that this is different.

Not having read the whole series, I may not be able to recommend them from any experience, but as I'm reading them now, you'd be in good company if you jumped in. I have read many other King books, and I have to tell you that he does more than horror, although sometimes he can't resist the impulse to put something creepy into an otherwise innocent story. Try reading The Body in Different Seasons, and I think you'll see what I mean. (Or you could just rent Stand By Me.) The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile are also good examples.

 

One of my favorite series of books....

Book four is my favorite....and that seems to be the case for a lot of fans...

I would like to hear from you when you finished the series....

Also....

Where does King say he is writing another DT book?

He says the series is always on his mind...and links a lot of his books to the DT series....but I thought he was done writing stories specifically in the dt series...

I had also heard that J.J. Abrahms was working on a film adaptation of the DT....I think for television...

 

I just visited his website and saw the announcement for the 8th book!

Great news for me! I can't wait...

 

My question for the 8th book is, will it go beyond the ending of number 7, or fit somewhere in the middle?

Also, someone said on here they didn't like Stephen King, but might try Dark Tower. I've heard that the reverse is also true: those who like King don't often like the Dark Tower. Is this true? Is anyone in here both a King fan and a Dark Tower fan?

 

I think I read somewhere that book 8 will be set between 3 and 4, or 4 and 5. With Roland more of a background character, and focusing more on guys like Cuthbert. Not sure where I read that, or if I'm even remember what I did read right. But there you go.

 

That sounds like what I've heard as well--which makes me wonder how important that story will really be. If it's set between existing books, it's not really DT8, is it?

 

I would recommend it for sure. Book 4 is my fav and the rest are still good although alot of people don't appreciate the ending.

 

It's all pure speculation at this point. I don't believe King himself has said anything specific on this.

IIRC, he did say several years ago that he would be interested in exploring Roland's youth more, and I'm guessing that's where the belief comes in that this is going to be a "prequel".



As far as King fans vs. non-King fans, I like King a lot, but I tend to like his fantasy stuff more than his straight-up horror stuff (although I can't read The Shining to this day - too scary!).

If you liked The Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, or Insomnia, you'll probably like The Dark Tower series.

For King fans that don't like the DT series, I'm guessing it's because of the fantasy content, although it's not really fantasy in the vein of Robert Jordan, Martin, Erikson, etc.

Maybe more of a Tolkienesque fairy tale, if I can put it that way.

 

I believe the word (in this instance) is inter-quel. Or something like that.

 

Well, if he's dealing with Young Roland, Cuthbert, et al, then it would be a prequel to the main events in the Dark Tower. Technically.

 

Maybe more of a Tolkienesque fairy tale, if I can put it that way.

Go right ahead. It was my own enjoyment of Tolkien, as well as both my and King's like for the Harry Potter series, that attracted me to Dark Tower.

And I'm on Insomnia as we speak, having done enough research before I started reading to know it is connected to the DT series. I just finished Drawing of the Three last night. I'm including all the related works into my reading, which essentially will make it twice as long. (Stand, Eyes of the Dragon, later 'Salem's Lot and Hearts in Atlantis.)

 

I loved Insomnia! Ralph was the man.

 

The Stand is really only tangentially connected through Martin being Flagg, IIRC.

 

There is that. Flagg's role in The Eyes of the Dragon is also briefly mentioned in Drawing of the Three. Wizard and Glass, I have read, involves coming across the dimension in which Cpt. Tripps has done its work.

But if this is to become any kind of discussion about the books, I think it would be helpful to know where we each stand. As far as Dark Tower proper, I have gotten through the second book. Who is further along or not quite that far yet? What parts did anyone particularly like/dislike?

King does one thing with his writing that rather disorients me as I try to visualize the story, and that is his jumping around in time. It confused me in The Green Mile, which begins by introducing Coffee onto a mile where Bitterbuck has already been executed (but is still spoken of) and Del is already in possession of Mr. Jingles, only to the have the story backtrack over itself to exlpain where Mr. Jingles came from before Coffee arrived, then leapfrog over what it's already told us to get to the part where Wild Bill arrives. (Needless to say, I was quite grateful that the film presented these events in a more linear fashion.)

King does something similar in The Drawing of the Three, in which next chapter skips ahead to Detta/Odetta being asleep, then goes back and tells us something that Roland told Eddie a few short hours before, somewhere between the end of the last chapter and the beginning of this one. As interesting as I found all the talk about what's really going on in Detta/Odetta's head, I had a hell of a time trying to put the events in order in my head, and was glad when the story moved forward again.

King can't help making reference to music and movies he grew up with, and the climax of Eddie's story, where he

Spoiler

comes out of the bathroom armed for a shootout rather reminded me of The Godfather. (Probably no accident, given who Eddie is dealing with.) The whole story of how Roland draws Eddie I found engrossing all by itself, and I had to remind myself that there were two more characters to be brought in. I was a little disappointed that the stories of the other two characters seemed less complicated than Eddie's, though the end of Jack Mort's story I found to be a gratifying, if gruesome, bit of poetic justice. In fact, I couldn't help thinking of The Green Mile, when Coffee uses Percy to kill Bill.

 

I remember that confusing time skipping in book 2 now that you mention it. I had forgotten.