octoberdad's review

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5.0

Where [b:The Gunslinger Born|342445|Dark Tower The Gunslinger Born|Stephen King|http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1173898471s/342445.jpg|2402933] follows Roland's gunslinger apprenticeship pretty faithfully to King's original telling, The Long Road Home traverses a previously uncharted portion of the gunslinger's tale. Namely, it tells of the journey--nay, flight--of Roland and his friends from Hambry back to Gilead.

I like the story for two main reasons (other than simply being a new story). Foremost, I like it because ultimately it is more a story about the other members of Roland's ka-tet - Cuthbert and Alain - than Roland himself. This is primarily because Roland is unconscious for most of the trip. But don't worry, Roland does make appearances in the story, because as anyone who has ever read a King story knows, "unconscious" does not mean "inactive."

Secondly, I liked the story because it has one of the few genuinely happy endings in the gunslinger oeuvre. Well, mostly happy, since anyone who has read through the rest of the oeuvre knows what's yet to come; but still, it's purt'near as close to a happy ending to a gunslinger story as you'll ever run across. And sometimes you just damn well need a happy ending.
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