Scan barcode
A review by batrock
Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
4.0
Stephen King nailed together a go-kart, carried it to the top of the tallest mountain, and then threw it and himself down the steepest incline. After years of dormancy, King had a painful wakeup call by way of a minivan and wrote the final three Dark Tower novels in one shot, releasing them across nine months between 2003 2004.
Wolves of the Calla is a stronger, reinforced version of Wizard and Glass: Roland and Friends follow the path of the Beam to Calla Brynn Sturgis, where they are charged with defending the town from the titular Wolves. Their ka-tet receives a special guest star, familiar to Constant Readers, and anyone who has been following the path the Dark Tower tag on my own Goodreads account.
Wolves of the Calla is a long novel, but a zippy one. Elements that were vices in Wizard and Glass become virtues here: much of this novel is a series of stories being told by and to the ka-tet. Interspersed throughout rather than told in one hit, King builds the world of the Calla and its denizens effectively. One might question his penchant for inventing an entirely new register of speech for the characters that he carries through to his final conclusion, but it works well enough.
The personal irony of Wolves of the Calla is that it contains the elements that drew me to The Dark Tower in the first place, but I wish I hadn't known them in advance. If you've somehow got to this point with all of the supplemental reading without these small but significant plot developments, you've done well. Hopefully they tickle you.
Next: Quickly! To the Dogan!
Wolves of the Calla is a stronger, reinforced version of Wizard and Glass: Roland and Friends follow the path of the Beam to Calla Brynn Sturgis, where they are charged with defending the town from the titular Wolves. Their ka-tet receives a special guest star, familiar to Constant Readers, and anyone who has been following the path the Dark Tower tag on my own Goodreads account.
Wolves of the Calla is a long novel, but a zippy one. Elements that were vices in Wizard and Glass become virtues here: much of this novel is a series of stories being told by and to the ka-tet. Interspersed throughout rather than told in one hit, King builds the world of the Calla and its denizens effectively. One might question his penchant for inventing an entirely new register of speech for the characters that he carries through to his final conclusion, but it works well enough.
The personal irony of Wolves of the Calla is that it contains the elements that drew me to The Dark Tower in the first place, but I wish I hadn't known them in advance. If you've somehow got to this point with all of the supplemental reading without these small but significant plot developments, you've done well. Hopefully they tickle you.
Next: Quickly! To the Dogan!