Review. Wizard and Glass
Review. Wizard and Glass
This is the fourth book in Stephen Kings, 'Dark Tower' series.
There are another 3 books to come according to the afterword in this book.
At the end of book 3, we left our group of 5 heroes in a life or death situation,
attempting to outriddle Blaine, a crazed computer embodied in a monorail train.
It goes without saying that they survived, but I would not have put money on how
many of the ka-tet, (one from many), were to walk away from the mad mono.
The loose ends are swiftly wrapped up and then we are into the bulk of the book.
Roland of Gilead tells his companions a story. It is the story of how he met his love,
lost her, and how the quest for the Dark Tower began.
Stephen King rightfully has a reputation for writting suspense, horror, chillers, but
his reputation for writing romance does NOT precede him.
Nevertheless, this is a fine story, with many touches which took me back to my teenage
years. In some places the story seems a little stilted, this however may be deliberate.
A device for getting the reader to identify with the main character, Roland at age 14.
Even if this is not deliberate, it works that way of the story, drawing you in until
it is impossible not to identify strongly with the man/boy.
The other main characters in the story are bad, in that this reads like a fairy story
where all characters are good or evil.
Minor characters however, show the whole range of human greyness, which provides a balance
for what otherwise might seem too childlike a book.
The last couple of chapters, after Roland has completed his tale, close off a couple of other loose ends from the previous books.
I have nothing but unreserved praise for this book, and indeed the whole series.
While I have read some of his other work, and seen many films based on his books,
for me nothing else King has done comes close to being as captivating as this story.
It would not surprise me if it became seen as important as Tolkeins Middle Earth in
the future.
while this book can be read stand alone, some of it will make no sense. Read from the begining
of the first book, 'The Gunslinger'. I promise you will not be dissapointed.
