Reviews

To me the Dark Tower series kept getting better and better until we hit this book. I thought The Gunslinger was intriguing, but it certainly wasn't my favorite. However the next book I enjoyed more than the first, and I enjoyed the third even more than the first two. This one though, goes back to being on par with the first. It's not bad, but it just felt like everything stalled out and forward momentum was lost.

The book starts out well enough as the cliffhanger from The Waste Lands is resolved. We then find Roland's ka-tet in Topeka, Kansas that has been hit by the superflu from one of King's other books, The Stand.

While here though, Roland decides that it is time to tell a story from his past that haunts him to this day. This is where the trouble begins to come. It's not that the story of Roland going to Mejis was bad, it's just that it doesn't really add a whole lot and is a very long story. You also know that this story of what happened in Mejis is not going to be good. This is particularly true around Susan at least since I had taken it from previous references that she had been his love who had died.

Even though it doesn't add too much to the larger story, the story of Roland and his earlier ka-tet was interesting. Roland, Alain, and Cuthbert were enjoyable protagonists. The villains were also well done. With the Big Coffin Hunters being a evil twisted version of Roland's group and Rhea of the Coos being a very gross, dark, evil character. I even thought that Susan and the love story between her and Roland was good, even though some don't seem to like that too much.

In many ways it is a good Roland story, but a poor Dark Tower story. We do get a little more connection near the end between the flashback and the Dark Tower. Honestly after reading three books about his quest for the Dark Tower, I never found myself really needing to know for certain how that quest was planted in his mind.

After the flashback we do move a little further with the addition of elements from The Wizard of Oz. It was a bit strange, but I didn't dislike it. My only thought was that it just seemed a bit rushed, but other than that it was fine.

So all this to say that Wizard and Glass is a good story, but slows down the pace of the larger story. We get a interesting story from Roland's past, but one that doesn't seem to add much to the quest for the Dark Tower and has some outcomes that you already know (for example Roland survives it and that most likely this is where the death of Susan takes place).

So while this book wasn't my favorite of the Dark Tower series, I did ultimately still enjoy it. I am however looking forward to continuing on the quest for the tower proper though. We'll hope the next books get back to that.

clamavi's review against another edition

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slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? Plot
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? N/A
Flaws of characters a main focus? N/A

4.75

soap13's review

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adventurous dark emotional sad tense medium-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

5.0

boricuasufriendo's review against another edition

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5.0

As most reviews have said: this is 95% prequel and 5% progress in the actual story. However, it does explain a lot and adds a lot more depth into the current story. I loved it. It's more of a 4.8 stars for me as I feel it didn't need to be this long. Some parts I could have done without, not because I'm being prudish or anything, but because it might not have needed to be there at all. In all, I am still reading these for the first time and The Drawing of the Three remains my favorite due to the differences between the world presented, this is still up there in the series so far. It's a great Weird West story. I'll take some time before I get into Wolves of the Calla.

cerberusnoise's review against another edition

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adventurous dark emotional funny mysterious sad slow-paced

Plot- or character-driven? A mix
Strong character development? Yes
Loveable characters? Yes
Diverse cast of characters? Yes
Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

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