The Dark Tower

Starfox

Just finished #4, Wizard and Glass. It was solidly entertaining, but Long. How many books are in this series again?

7? Shit. Well, let's wiki them to see if any are worth reading.

... Is this shit for real? Here's some excerpts from the wiki synopses. Spoilers, I guess.

Wiki said:

Since that encounter he has gained the ability to identify Type-3 vampires with a blue aura

The wolves attack, using weapons resembling the snitches found in J.K. Rowling's Harry Potter series (which are actually stamped 'Harry Potter Model') and lightsabers found in George Lucas' Star Wars, and are revealed to be robots and to have Doctor Doom-like visages.

Roland and Eddie learn of the nearby location of Stephen King's home. They are familiar with the author's name after coming into possession of a copy of his novel 'Salem's Lot

Oh, what the fuck.

the Gunslinger hypnotizes King and finds out that King is not a god, but rather a medium for the story of the Dark Tower to transmit itself through

As a postscriptum, the reader becomes familiar with the diary of Stephen King the character which encompasses the period from 1977 to 1999. The diary details King's writing of the first five books of the Dark Tower story.

Jake Chambers and Father Callahan battle the evil infestation within the Dixie Pig, a vampire lounge in New York City

in order to save the life of Stephen King (who he writes to be an omniscient secondary character in the book); the ka-tet have come to believe that the success of their quest depends on King's surviving to write about it through his books.

someone who calls himself Joe Collins but is really a psychic vampire named Dandelo. Dandelo feeds off the emotions of his victims, and starts to feed off of Roland and Susannah by telling them jokes. Roland and Susannah are alerted to the danger by Stephen King, who drops clues directly into the book, enabling them to defeat the vampire

Susannah throws away Roland's gun (which does not function on this side of the door), rejecting the life of a gunslinger, and starts a new life with alternate versions of Eddie and Jake

The end.

I mean, I enjoyed the old-timey westernness, and the what's-the-deal-with-midworld, but come on. That reads like fanfiction written by a middle schooler.

So! I guess I don't have to read any more of those. That's kind of a bummer, I liked the knights with guns aesthetic. Had some pretty badass passages, as well. I suppose my official recommendation is to read The Gunslinger. If you really like it, you could go all the way through to 4. If it was meh, maybe read the wiki synopsis of 2 and 3, and then read 4 for real if it strikes your fancy.

What a wacko ending to the series, though.

sK0pe

Uh I didn't read it like that at all, I read all the way to 7 and the person that's written the synopsis is making fun of it. I read them way back in the day so my views may have changed.
The entire story isn't that great but if you've read many of Stephen King's books the meta hints and nods throughout the books are pretty fun. Might as well be fan service.

I liked the group of characters. I'm really trying to remember if there was vampires and can't recall any.

Churba

sK0pe said:

I liked the group of characters. I'm really trying to remember if there was vampires and can't recall any.

There is, but they're the kind of vampires from "Salem's lot", rather than the traditional "blah! I vant to suck your blahd" vampires. They're in Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susannah, IIRC.

But yeah, that description doesn't do it justice at all.

Luke Burrage

I read book one but felt no compunction to continue. It's a pity because I'd heard so much hype.

Starfox

sK0pe said:

Uh I didn't read it like that at all, I read all the way to 7 and the person that's written the synopsis is making fun of it.

Churba said:

But yeah, that description doesn't do it justice at all.

Ok. Honestly, it sounded like wiki vandalism.

Churba

Luke Burrage said:

I read book one but felt no compunction to continue. It's a pity because I'd heard so much hype.

That's fair enough. It's not quite a vegimite love-it-or-hate-it kind of deal, but if the first book doesn't grab you at all, or at least enough to give the second a shot, chances are you won't like the rest of them.

sK0pe

My favourite books were 1 and 6 (and maybe 5) from the series.
It's Stephen King level writing so if you have a bias against his style you're not going to like it. The book is reminiscent of the different phases of his writing as he did each volume at various points in his career.

It's a bit like The Stand crossed with The Fellowship of the Ring with a Western setting (that's how I remembered constructing the world as I read it). I won't add other stuff which might be spoiling the more interesting parts in the later books.