Reviews

The Dark Tower by Stephen King

donatello's review against another edition

adventurous emotional hopeful sad medium-paced

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

5.0

lactomar's review against another edition

5.0

Hard to really sum things up. Overall enjoyed the series a lot. I think 6 and 7 felt somewhat rushed, but I also felt overall very satisfied with the series arc and ending. I also felt a real personal connection to the Characters and King himself. He was very clear about his own struggles with writing the series, and I think I felt the accomplishment of both Roland and King by the end, doubly satiafying

readersretreat's review against another edition

adventurous dark emotional inspiring mysterious fast-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

3.0

A Good ending for a series

alreadyemily's review against another edition

2.0

Ugh. The series fell so far. So sad. Could not stand the meta. I'll just pretend the series only had four books from now on.

rypmurph's review against another edition

adventurous dark mysterious 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

4.0

I genuinely can’t tell if I liked or hated the ending. Theres even a warning before the “true” ending that you can just stop there. All things serve the beam though

ghost_mutt's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional mysterious sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.0

bigoletuna's review

adventurous dark emotional 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

5.0

lyd_bell's review against another edition

4.0

I feel like this was the perfect ending for this series, and I love it but I also hate it. I am so sad it’s over, but it’s also not over ever and I can read it again and again and again. I also think everyone should read it because it’s amazing and I love it

dullshimmer's review against another edition

4.0

From the very beginning the Dark Tower series has been set in a bleak world. A world that is on its last legs and that there are those working on trying to bring it to a complete end. Even in that world of bleakness, there was also a ray of hope present in the books. This is mostly personified by Roland of Gilead, last of the line of Eld and the ka-tet that he forms over the journey.

I say this because this book is more of the same. Overall it continues the bleak, with a sliver of hope tone of the series. While this is the end of the series and there are some major victories that take place, there are also some major losses that keep the victories from making everything too cheerful and tipping that mixture. Even the ending, which I won't really go into much, fits right in with that tone and winds up being a fitting end to the series, even if it is a bit disappointing.

While the book as a whole is a fitting end to the series, it does disappoint on a few levels. A problem I've mentioned on previous books is that the Dark Tower series has become increasingly complex and convoluted which each book. While this is also a good thing because it is a rather ambitious, it just makes for a lot of different wheres and whens going on, sometimes at the same time.

Another disappointment, or at least potential disappointment, was the intermingling of Stephen King into his own work. I won't say that this is ego because he presents himself in a rather negative light in the book. I'm just not sure if it is a good thing or not. On one hand it does fit in this complex story of parallel worlds. On the other hand it results in some sloppy story telling that basically resorts to the author of their story helping them out. It's just a bit strange and my feelings are very conflicted over it.

The last disappointment contains a bit of a spoiler.

Spoiler

This is that a number of the main antagonists that we've been anticipating are dealt with in rather unspectacular ways. There are some pretty good showdowns in the book like Jake and Callahan's raid on the Dixie Pig, the raid on the compound where the breakers were kept, and even to a degree Dandelo. However, Randall Flagg winds up killed by Mordred, Mordred is weakened by food poisoning which leads to his death, and the Crimson King is mostly erased. While all of these to some degree make sense in the book, they aren't quite the showdowns you would have expected.

Beyond these disappointments though, the book delivers in many ways. It starts off with a lot of momentum and really keeps that momentum up rather well even though it is such a long book. It does maybe lose a bit here and there, but overall keeps you engaged, maybe even a little more than you'd like to be in some places.

I ultimately thought that The Dark Tower fit in well with the whole series and brought it to a fitting close. It's not a perfect book, but it is enjoyable. I've never read another series quite like it, even if I wouldn't call it my favorite at the end of the day, but I think that it is well worth a read.

howattp's review against another edition

adventurous challenging dark emotional hopeful inspiring reflective sad tense fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character

4.5