- Library Binding: 1050 pages
- Publisher: Turtleback Books (Aug 1 2006)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0606001387
- ISBN-13: 978-0606001380
- Product Dimensions: 18.5 x 10.4 x 5.1 cm
- Shipping Weight: 544 g
- Average Customer Review: 4.6 out of 5 stars See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #160,527 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon.com
At one point in this final book of the Dark Tower series>, the character Stephen King (added to the plot in Song of Susannah) looks back at the preceding pages and says "when this last book is published, the readers are going to be just wild." And he's not kidding.
After a journey through seven books and over 20 years, King's Constant Readers finally have the conclusion they've been both eagerly awaiting and silently dread ing. The tension in the Dark Tower series has built steadily from the beginning and, like in the best of King's novels, explodes into a violent, heart-tugging climax as Roland and his ka-tet finally near their goal. The body count in The Dark Tower is high. The gunslingers come out shooting and face a host of enemies, including low men, mutants, vampires, Roland's hideous quasi-offspring Mordred, and the fearsome Crimson King himself. King pushes the gross-out factor at times--Roland's lesson on tanning (no, not sun tanning) is brutal--but the magic of the series remains strong and readers will feel the pull of the Tower as strongly as ever as the story draws to a close. During this sentimental journey, King ties up loose ends left hanging from the 15 nonseries novels and stories that are deeply entwined in the fabric of Mid-World through characters like Randall Flagg (The Stand and others) or Father Callahan (Salem's Lot). When it finally arrives, the long-awaited conclusion will leave King's myriad fans satisfied but wishing there were still more to come.
In King's memoir On Writing, he tells of an old woman who wrote him after reading the early books in the Dark Tower series. She was dying, she said, and didn't expect to see the end of Roland's quest. Could King tell her? Does he reach the Tower? Does he save it? Sadly, King said he did not know himself, that the story was creating itself as it went along. Wherever that woman is now (the clearing at the end of the path, perhaps?), let's hope she has a copy of The Dark Tower. Surely she would agree it's been worth the wait. --Benjamin Reese
A King and His Tower
Over 30 years in the making, spanning seven volumes, Stephen King's epic quest for the Dark Tower has encompassed almost his entire body of fiction. Amazon.com editor Ben Reese caught up with King to chat about the then-unpublished volumes of his Dark Tower series, rumors of his retirement, and the horrors of genre classification.
Authors on Stephen King
Mystery writer Michael Connelly thinks Stephen King's "one of the most generous writers I know of." Thriller author Ridley Pearson says, "King possesses an incredible sense of story..." Read our Stephen King testimonials to find out what else they and other authors had to say about the undisputed King of Horror.
The Path to the Dark Tower
There are only seven volumes in Stephen King's Dark Tower series but more than a dozen of his novels and short stories are deeply entwined with the Mid-World universe. Take a look at the nonseries titles, from Salem's Lot to Everything's Eventual. Can you find the connections?
History of an Alternate Universe
Robin Furth, an expert on Stephen King's Dark Tower universe if ever there was one, has created a timeline of Mid-World, the slowly crumbling world of gunslinger Roland Deschain. Read it and get up to speed on a world of adventure.
Hail to the King
Fans applauded and critics howled when Stephen King was awarded the National Book Foundation's Medal for Distinguished Service to American Letters. In typical fashion, King accepted the honor with humility and urged recognition for other "popular" authors. Listen to a clip of his acceptance speech, then order the entire speech on audio CD.
--This text refers to the
Hardcover
edition.
From Publishers Weekly
A pilgrimage that began with one lone man's quest to save multiple worlds from chaos and destruction unfolds into a tale of epic proportions. While King saw some criticism for the slow pace of 1982's The Gunslinger, the book that launched this series, The Drawing of the Three (Book II, 1987), reeled in readers with its fantastical allure. And those who have faithfully journeyed alongside Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy ever since will find their loyalty toward the series' creator richly rewarded.The tangled web of the tower's multiple worlds has manifested itself in many of King's other works— The Stand (1978), Insomnia (1994) and Hearts in Atlantis (1999), to name a few. As one character explains here, "From the spring of 1970, when he typed the line The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed... very few of the things Stephen King wrote were 'just stories.' He may not believe that; we do." King, in fact, intertwines his own life story deeper and deeper into the tale of Roland and his surrogate family of gunslingers, and, in this final installment, playfully and seductively suggests that it might not be the author who drives the story, but rather the fictional characters that control the author.This philosophical exploration of free will and destiny may surprise those who have viewed King as a prolific pop-fiction dispenser. But a closer look at the brilliant complexity of his Dark Tower world should explain why this bestselling author has finally been recognized for his contribution to the contemporary literary canon. With the conclusion of this tale, ostensibly the last published work of his career, King has certainly reached the top of his game. And as for who or what resides at the top of the tower... The many readers dying to know will have to start at the beginning and work their way up. 12 color illus. by Michael Whelan.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
4 of 6 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Sad to be done, but what a great tale he did spin!!,
By
This review is from: The Dark Tower VII (Hardcover)
I won't ruin any elements of this story for those who are still reading, or have yet to discover this amazing series by Stephen King. All I will say is that after years of waiting, King has given an astounding finale to his masterwork.....Roland the gunslinger is ever so close to his tower, he and his friends experience joy, sadness, loss....and you will find yourself unable to put this book down, wanting to find out what happens next as the tower looms closer and closer....as King puts it, "Come a bit further constant reader, for the tale is almost done..." All will be revealed, and I love the ending!! Read this series! GREAT!
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Twirling finger,
By Raggo (Alberta) - See all my reviews
This review is from: The Dark Tower VII (Hardcover)
I just finished this book maybe an hour ago. I've thought my way in and out of the ending, and I want to share my thoughts. Truly, this is a work of genius. I suppose that it fits that some people are angry at Mr. King for the ending, but in the end I blame that on one thing. I blame the story he used for his potent and valuable message, that he used his excellent fantasy adventure to illustrate the danger of doing one thing too much in life. Twirling your finger indicating you want things to hurry up. When I began reading "coda" it became so clear to me that he was spelling the message out for the reader, almost nervously, that we should not have rushed to the end, that it was a shame if we twirled our finger at Mr. King as he wrote, rushing to the end, the Dark Tower. The idea that the it was not about the end, but about the journey. That Roland could not stop and be happy atlast, that his obsessive need for "the end" drove him to lose everyone and everything he cared about. Over the last two-hundred pages I really started to dislike Roland, and dislike what it was that he was doing. I loved this character until this last 1/3 of the series. It started to feel like he was the villain, and that he fooled us all along the way. We were Jake, and Eddie, and Susannah, and he fooled them all. His obsession, affectly foreshadowed by Eddie referring to him as a "tower-junkie," (eddie would know best) can only lead to an unhappy ending. There is a serious lesson in the layers of writing Mr. King has done here. How many here can say that they've ever known a true obsession to end well? What someone else said about people like this, is once they achieve their goal, they only make bigger goals for themselves. They never find satisfaction, they never find rest. The story of saving the universe ended when king writes, ". . .now they ka-tet for the last time. The story of their fellowship ends here . . ." But what did the last 6 books make us feel . . .if it had ended right there . . .how would we feel? Exactly how Roland would have, unsatisfied. That ending would have been the unsatisfying ending people are talking about. Instead, the constant (impatient finger twirling) reader got what they wanted. They got their fix. They got the Tower, and when they read the ending, when Roland was sent back to the beginning, they felt like they wanted more. They wanted the REAL story, the better story, they wanted the bigger goal. Roland's failing to recognize this in himself is why he is damned and Susannah was not. This why she is reunited with her family and Roland is faced with his journey anew. It is a lesson that we should all pay close attention to: Always remember to take your eyes from your goals ahead of you long enough to learn the value of those walking right beside you.
5.0 out of 5 stars
The last chapter? We will see :),
By
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: The Dark Tower VII (Mass Market Paperback)
I was eagerly yearning for the ending, after started reading this in the 80's. At first I detested the ending, then after some thought, decided it was in fact perfect. It's not the end of the tale but the journey. This series will maintain a perminant place on my shelf for the rest of my life, that's for sure!
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