Reviews

The Dark Tower by Stephen King

scroggin_cooper's review against another edition

4.0

Shut up, Mike, this ending slapped!
Liked:
1. The Expendability. I swear in my life that I only knew that Jake died beforehand. Stephen King, look at me, look at me, STEVE! First, you kill Callahan, which I understand, his arc needed to be completed. Then you kill Eddie. When I said that Eddie should've died. I. WAS. JOKING! Why do you do this? Eddie wasn't supposed to die, he was supposed to break the Eddie Parable! Then Jake died, which I knew happened. Then you kill, OY!
2. Seeing familiar faces. Ted from Hearts in Atlantis is back, I loved Ted, he was a great guy. He definitely has the Shine right? Now, I need to read The Shining, love the Kubrick movie.
3. The Ending. When Roland entered the Tower, I was tearing up as he recited everyone he came in the name of, then Susannah got reunited with those she cared about. Then Roland goes back to chasing Randall Flagg.
Disliked:
1. The section when Eddie died. I thought part two was rather dull, this book had a lot of walking, which is fine, but stuff needs to happen between the walking to pad out the time.
2. All the walking. This brings me to my next point. There's so much walking in this book, it almost beats Lord of the Rings.
3. The anticlimactic ending. King's been known for his anticlimactic endings, but this is ridiculous, I was thinking the showdown with the Crimson King was gonna be spectacular, no, it lasted like 5 pages.
Anyway, this series has been a roller coaster. I've read 16 books for this journey, enjoying some more than others, and meeting new friends that became some of my favorite characters period. Eddie, Callahan, and Flagg most notably. I'll definitely dive back in some time with some more books, like Bag of Bones, Desperation, The Regulators, and maybe Rose Madder.
Long days and pleasant nights, and Hile Gunslingers!

lilidahl's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful

5.0

jmoravec's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious reflective sad fast-paced

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

3.0

Oof. While I actually thought the ending/coda was perfect and fitting in the themes of the series (especially the last 3 books), I felt that the book as a whole (and again, the last 3 books) were just too all over the place. Certain moments of the last books were stunning and worth reading the series for, but I felt that they just didn't come together as well as I would have liked. I think there was just too many new ideas/things/characters added that just didn't work for me (the 1999 pop culture references being a major one). I think if the ending would have stayed the same, but with some heavy editing and cleaning up of the 3 books, this could have been a much more satisfying series of books to end the overall cannon. 

That being said, definitely worth reading the series (for the journey of the other books with the wonderful ending).

nikkucallian's review against another edition

4.0

4 stars instead of 3 because I really liked the ending.

hgram's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional mysterious

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

4.5

jloud_reads's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.5

ktxx22's review

5.0

2020: was 35% of the way through this and it’s just not what I’m wanting read at this time. I still remember my first trip to the tower fondly but 4 years and a lot had changed. I am not changing my rating, but I’m glad I decided to not finish this book... again.

2016:It's over.... My trip to the Dark Tower. This book was full of emotions and sadness.... And that ending. Holy moly. Ka is a Wheel though so no surprise there.

So happy I read these books. Thank you to Stephen King for the masterful story telling!

abdus's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful mysterious sad tense medium-paced

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

4.0

piperashley21's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective medium-paced

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

4.25

And so, a year or so later, I’ve reached the end of the Dark Tower series. The penultimate book wasn’t my favorite, but it was satisfying to experience Stephen King in his own book AND Roland finally reaching the Dark Tower. At first I wasn’t sure about the ending, but the more I think about it the more I like it. 

alexisreadingabook's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional funny hopeful mysterious reflective 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