Stephen King's Dark Tower Series

Agent Lee

Anyone a fan? I'm reading the series for the first time (currently about a fourth of the way through Book 4) and I'm LOVING it! I have never read a fantasy series from start to finish, and I had also never read Stephen King before (despite being a big fan of various film adaptations of his work), so I decided to give The Dark Tower a shot. They're really enthralling books and the world they take place in is fascinating to say the least. I love the blending of genres--the Tolkein-meets-Sergio Leone feel to the whole thing. I'm sure by the time I finish the series it'll be up there with Bond, Star Wars and Batman as one of my favorite genre fiction sagas, and Roland Deschain will be up there with Bond, Indiana Jones, Han Solo Batman, and the man with no name as one of my favorite fictional heroes. Really looking forward to the movie coming out next year. Anyway, if any of you have read the books or are fans out there, I'd love to discuss.

BUT NO SPOILERS PLEASE!!! )

Charmed & Dangerous

Good shout Agent Lee {[]

I'm a long time fan - I first read King (The Shining) in the 70s when he had only published two or three novels, and have been a massive fan since, having read all of his books as they came out. The Dark Tower is superb. My favourite is Wizard & Glass, easily one of his best novels.

Agent Lee

Right on Charmed & Dangerous {[]

I've been meaning to read the Shining for a long time now (I love Kurbrick's film and have been interested in reading it to experience the differences), and a few other early King works (Salem's Lot, The Dead Zone), but as I explained I wound up reading Dark Tower first. Other King fans I know advised against starting with the Dark Tower, mostly because of all the references to other King books, but I don't regret it one bit. Like I said, I'm loving it.

I'm reading Wizard and Glass right now. Just getting into the backstory stuff with Susan and it's already really intriguing. I've heard 5 and 6 are just kind of filler before you get to 7 but what do you think?

I think once I finish Dark Tower I'll finally get into the Shining. Also heard that Joyland is a good one for first-time King readers. Do you have any other recommendations?

Barbel

Joyland is an excellent latter-day King, I thoroughly recommend it.

(No time right now to discuss Dark Tower!)

Agent Lee

Barbel wrote:

Joyland is an excellent latter-day King, I thoroughly recommend it.

(No time right now to discuss Dark Tower!)

-{

TonyDP

I've read all the Dark Tower books as well as a lot of other Stephen King stuff. Dark Tower is quite the sprawling saga and an absolutely mammoth accomplishment spanning decades of King's life. The last couple of books do have a slightly rushed feel to them as King wrote them after his near fatal accident (understandable given that he was probably contemplating his own mortality at that time).

The Dark Tower saga also ties together a lot of King's other works and once you get into his other novels you will see all sorts of references, subtle and overt.

In terms of other King novels worth checking out, his output is huge but Salem's Lot (one of his first novels and Revival (one of his newest) are particularly good reads in my opinion.

You should also check out some of his short stories and novellas. "One for the Road" is a great short story that serves as a sequel to Salem's Lot, "N" is a horror novella in the vein of Lovecraft and Machen (two major influences on King) and 1408 is another page turner.

There are tons of sites on the web that summarize his stories so you should have no trouble finding stuff that would particularly appeal to you.

Welcome to the fold, constant reader.

Barbel

I was planning on discussing the Dark Tower about now, but I see TonyDP has done an excellent job!

Agent Lee

TonyDP wrote:

I've read all the Dark Tower books as well as a lot of other Stephen King stuff. Dark Tower is quite the sprawling saga and an absolutely mammoth accomplishment spanning decades of King's life. The last couple of books do have a slightly rushed feel to them as King wrote them after his near fatal accident (understandable given that he was probably contemplating his own mortality at that time).

The Dark Tower saga also ties together a lot of King's other works and once you get into his other novels you will see all sorts of references, subtle and overt.

In terms of other King novels worth checking out, his output is huge but Salem's Lot (one of his first novels and Revival (one of his newest) are particularly good reads in my opinion.

You should also check out some of his short stories and novellas. "One for the Road" is a great short story that serves as a sequel to Salem's Lot, "N" is a horror novella in the vein of Lovecraft and Machen (two major influences on King) and 1408 is another page turner.

There are tons of sites on the web that summarize his stories so you should have no trouble finding stuff that would particularly appeal to you.

Welcome to the fold, constant reader.

Never heard of N. That sound really interesting. I'm always up for something Lovecraftian (insert non-existent Cthulhu emoji). And if it's a novella, which in turn means a short read, I'll definitely check it out

CoolHandBond

As a great admirer of Stephen King books I have never read The Dark Tower series, just doesn't appeal for some reason.

Thunderpussy

I too have not read the dark tower books but have read plenty of Stephen King, and would be a fan
Of his works, Salem's Lot being my personal favourite. -{

Sir Miles

I'm currently reading my first Stephen King novel - 11.22.63

Agent Lee

CoolHandBond wrote:

As a great admirer of Stephen King books I have never read The Dark Tower series, just doesn't appeal for some reason.

This seems like a pretty common thing. I was surprised when I first started asking around about the Dark Tower to find that Stephen King fans and Dark Tower fans are two separate groups. Plenty of people are both but overall I'd say that The Dark Tower series has a following all its own.

CoolHandBond

Sir Miles wrote:

I'm currently reading my first Stephen King novel - 11.22.63

And it's a great read -{

Sir Miles

CoolHandBond wrote:

Sir Miles wrote:

I'm currently reading my first Stephen King novel - 11.22.63

And it's a great read -{

Yes...really enjoying it so far -{

Agent Lee

For those who have read all the books, how would you rank them? Just curious. And again no spoilers please...

Barbel

I'm not Into ranking, but the best ones are in the middle of the series.

Agent Lee

Barbel wrote:

I'm not Into ranking, but the best ones are in the middle of the series.

I assume by the middle you mean Books 3, 4, and 5? I'm currently about a third of the way through 4, and it's really getting interesting. Wouldn't be surprised if it became my favorite one so far by the time I finish it. Loved #3! Shardik, Dutch Hill, Lud, the introduction of Oy, Blaine the Mono...it was all great! I gotta say though, my favorite one so far is still The Gunslinger. Not to say that I haven't enjoyed the others just as much, or even more at times, there was just something about the atmosphere, setting, and mystery of the first book that I really loved.

TonyDP

Agent Lee wrote:

Never heard of N. That sound really interesting. I'm always up for something Lovecraftian (insert non-existent Cthulhu emoji). And if it's a novella, which in turn means a short read, I'll definitely check it out

"N" is part of a collection of Stephen Kingg short stories and novellas published in the book "Just After Sunset". Quite honestly the rest of the book's entries are pretty forgettable but "N" was one of those stories that I could not put down once I started reading and it just stayed with me long after I finished it. It has a very strong Lovecraft vibe. There was an animated web miniseries made from the story that you can watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i454o7ijabI


As for the Dark Tower series, I think the first three books are the strongest entries; they were written when King was much younger and much hungrier. The last couple of volumes are good but also seem to rush to a conclusion somewhat and certain characters and situations are resolved in not always satisfying ways. It is a strange mix of horror, fantasy, science fiction, old west lore and just about every other genre and as you can imagine with a saga so long it has ebbs and flows. I'm glad I read it until the end but I think the best way for a new reader is to read one book, take a break for a few weeks, go on to the next one and repeat. Give each one a chance to sink in.

Barbel

Agent Lee wrote:

Barbel wrote:

I'm not Into ranking, but the best ones are in the middle of the series.

I assume by the middle you mean Books 3, 4, and 5? .

Yes, more or less. I did like "The The Gunslinger" though thought the next few novels got better and better, until... well, you decide!

Agent Lee

TonyDP wrote:

Agent Lee wrote:

Never heard of N. That sound really interesting. I'm always up for something Lovecraftian (insert non-existent Cthulhu emoji). And if it's a novella, which in turn means a short read, I'll definitely check it out

"N" is part of a collection of Stephen Kingg short stories and novellas published in the book "Just After Sunset". Quite honestly the rest of the book's entries are pretty forgettable but "N" was one of those stories that I could not put down once I started reading and it just stayed with me long after I finished it. It has a very strong Lovecraft vibe. There was an animated web miniseries made from the story that you can watch here:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i454o7ijabI


As for the Dark Tower series, I think the first three books are the strongest entries; they were written when King was much younger and much hungrier. The last couple of volumes are good but also seem to rush to a conclusion somewhat and certain characters and situations are resolved in not always satisfying ways. It is a strange mix of horror, fantasy, science fiction, old west lore and just about every other genre and as you can imagine with a saga so long it has ebbs and flows. I'm glad I read it until the end but I think the best way for a new reader is to read one book, take a break for a few weeks, go on to the next one and repeat. Give each one a chance to sink in.

Just watched the N. series. Really fun. Great story, lovecraftian indeed. Also couldn't help but think of the famous dark tower line while watching it: "there are other worlds than these."