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A review by ojtheviking
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King
5.0
4.5 rounded up.
Continuing pretty much directly where the previous volume left off, Stephen King has by now sufficiently established the Dark Tower series as one long story split up into segments. As I began reading this book, it no longer felt like I was reading a follow-up; it didn't even feel like I had started on a different book at all, just the next chapter. Considering how some years went by between every time a new volume was published, King has done a good job at making the end of the previous book and the beginning of this new one blend together seamlessly.
Overall, I'd say that this volume covers a part of the Dark Tower universe I've been waiting for, which is more about Roland himself. We're finally getting a lot more of his backstory, specifically the circumstances around who Susan is and how they came to fall in love. As a bonus, we also get more insight into Roland's relationship with his childhood friend Cuthbert.
All of this backstory is told by Roland himself in the current time, but the narration transports us back to the time he is referring to. The majority of the plot takes place here in this volume. What this also means, is that a huge portion of this book focuses solely on the “dystopian, magical Wild West” feel, with shootouts and witchcraft, gunslingers and sheriffs, all intertwined. We are introduced to a whole new ensemble of characters, and we get much deeper into the lore of this reality they live in. As such, this entire backstory feels like a prequel right in the middle of the still ongoing main story in the present time. I really liked that narrative detour of sorts.
In all honesty, I do feel that some parts came close to feeling a bit dragged out, but fortunately, King has the ability to even make filler/padding portions interesting through his writing. And I appreciated the world-building enough to never actually feel bored or impatient. We will see what I think of future installments when it comes to this, as Volume IV: Wizard and Glass is just the second-longest book in the series.
Also, in the present time portion of the story, we're seeing more and more signs of how King is blending all of his literary worlds together, with even clearer references to other novels and characters. Roland and his ka-tet are witnessing how these worlds are starting to bleed into one another.
His inspirations from other works of writing are more worn on his sleeve as well. One thing that might be a stretch on my part, is how the duel of riddles between Roland's crew and Blaine reminded me of a similar riddle game between Bilbo Baggins and Gollum in The Hobbit. But there was one reference that was made abundantly clear, so much so that it literally became a part of this current story. It's as if the Dark Tower series not only blends together King's own works, but could potentially draw energy from any and all literary works (...as long as it's public domain, I suppose).
Despite my critique above regarding how some parts almost dragged on a bit, Volume IV might be one of my favorite installments of this series so far, especially the entire flashback segment.
Continuing pretty much directly where the previous volume left off, Stephen King has by now sufficiently established the Dark Tower series as one long story split up into segments. As I began reading this book, it no longer felt like I was reading a follow-up; it didn't even feel like I had started on a different book at all, just the next chapter. Considering how some years went by between every time a new volume was published, King has done a good job at making the end of the previous book and the beginning of this new one blend together seamlessly.
Overall, I'd say that this volume covers a part of the Dark Tower universe I've been waiting for, which is more about Roland himself. We're finally getting a lot more of his backstory, specifically the circumstances around who Susan is and how they came to fall in love. As a bonus, we also get more insight into Roland's relationship with his childhood friend Cuthbert.
All of this backstory is told by Roland himself in the current time, but the narration transports us back to the time he is referring to. The majority of the plot takes place here in this volume. What this also means, is that a huge portion of this book focuses solely on the “dystopian, magical Wild West” feel, with shootouts and witchcraft, gunslingers and sheriffs, all intertwined. We are introduced to a whole new ensemble of characters, and we get much deeper into the lore of this reality they live in. As such, this entire backstory feels like a prequel right in the middle of the still ongoing main story in the present time. I really liked that narrative detour of sorts.
In all honesty, I do feel that some parts came close to feeling a bit dragged out, but fortunately, King has the ability to even make filler/padding portions interesting through his writing. And I appreciated the world-building enough to never actually feel bored or impatient. We will see what I think of future installments when it comes to this, as Volume IV: Wizard and Glass is just the second-longest book in the series.
Also, in the present time portion of the story, we're seeing more and more signs of how King is blending all of his literary worlds together, with even clearer references to other novels and characters. Roland and his ka-tet are witnessing how these worlds are starting to bleed into one another.
His inspirations from other works of writing are more worn on his sleeve as well. One thing that might be a stretch on my part, is how the duel of riddles between Roland's crew and Blaine reminded me of a similar riddle game between Bilbo Baggins and Gollum in The Hobbit. But there was one reference that was made abundantly clear, so much so that it literally became a part of this current story. It's as if the Dark Tower series not only blends together King's own works, but could potentially draw energy from any and all literary works (...as long as it's public domain, I suppose).
Despite my critique above regarding how some parts almost dragged on a bit, Volume IV might be one of my favorite installments of this series so far, especially the entire flashback segment.