The Dark Tower (SPOILERS!)

I've read all of the Dark Tower novels, and none of the Dark Tower comic books. Can anyone tell me how Steven Deschain died?

 

I bought Wind Through the Keyhole, Dark Tower IV.5 last year when it was released, and I read it during my semester break in May. I bought the audiobook version after Christmas, and I just started listening to it today (I re-started the whole Dark Tower series on audiobook in January as part of my daily work commute, and I'm really jacked to hear Wind Through the Keyhole immediately after the conclusion of Wizard and Glass so I can bask in the continuity).

Unfortunately, the book is read by the author, Stephen King. While he may be a literary genius, he sucks royal ass when it comes to voice characterizations. King basically only has one reading voice - monotone nasal. He reads every single character, every single situation, and every single passage exactly the same way. Several years ago, I listened to his reading of portions of Hearts In Atlantis on audiobook, and it was so boring that I found my mind wandering constantly and not following the story. I've already encountered the same problem with Wind Through the Keyhole. I have to keep backing up to re-listen to passages, because my mind is all over the place. It may take awhile to get through this. I wish his publisher had been honest and told him, "Steve, you're a great author, but a lousy reader. Let's shell out the bucks for a professional, shall we?"

The second interesting part of this experience is his pronunciation. For all these years, I've had the pronunciations of words like "Deschain" and "Gilead" firmly implanted in my head, and it was something of an adjustment to hear George Guidall and Frank Muller (previous audiobook readers) add their spin to the pronunciation. So much of King's mid-world and in-world speech was nebulous, and I just figured if he blessed the readings of Guidall and Muller, then they must have gotten it right. The ONLY thing the two readers disagreed about was the pronunciation of "Cuthbert." Frank Muller said "KYUTH-bert" and George Guidall said "KUTH-bert," but they agreed on everything else.

But now comes the King.

Instead of Roland "du-SHAYNE," as pronounced by both Muller and Guidall, Stephen King pronounces it as "Roland DES-chain," so that it sounds like "desk chain." And instead of "GILL-ee-ADD," as pronounced by Muller and Guidall, King pronounces it as "GILL-ee-ud," with the accent on the first syllable only. "Cuthbert" is definitely "KYUTH-bert," so Muller was correct on that one, but King creeped me out by pronouncing Alain's name so that it sounds like "Elaine."

I have to assume that King is pronouncing the words the way he imagined them, but I can tell it's going to take some getting used to. On the bright side, at least I'm getting a chance to hear these pronunciations prior to the movie releases, or else I would be screaming at the screen for ruining everything.

 

I didn't care for the ending. It seemed a case of.... okay, that's enough, time to end this. I could be completely wrong; it could have been planned from the beginning. I loved the series over all though. What's the latest on the on again/off again movies/television shows? HBO needs to get on this.

 

This is one series that I'm obsessed with. Have read it several times over and always seem to find something different to link to not only other characters in the series but other King books. I've all these in hardback and digital and the graphic novels as well.

Does this mean I liked all of the books? No. Song of Susannah was 'meh', Wolves was just dragged out far too long and The Dark Tower lost a bit of the story telling aspect. I rather like the ending but I can certainly see how it would set people off. I also think live action would tarnish the series unless HBO picked it up and ran it like GoT, only then would they be able to flesh it out.

Anyone who says book #4, Wizard and Glass wasn't good is nuts. It's perhaps the best in the whole series. Wind Through The Keyhole wasn't terrible but it was easy to see it was just edits thrown together to appease the rabid fan base of this series. It left me wanting even more back-story and flesh outs but I don't see them coming anytime soon, if ever.

 

I'm a little bit obsessed, too. As for the ending, I had the good fortune to receive some great advice before I got all the way to the end. Basically, when you get near the end of the last book, the main story ends, and there is an Epilogue and a Coda. Read the Epilogue (have a cup of hot chocolate to go with it) and put the book down. Let it sink in...give it an hour, or a day, or a week - whatever feels right to you. Just let it be for a bit. Then go back read the Coda that follows. I found that to be absolutely fantastic advice.

My first time through the books, I was reading them as they were published, which means I had to endure the long ridiculous wait for Wizards and Glass, and the conclusion of the Blaine Riddling Contest. Therefore, I clearly remembering at the time that I was highly disappointed with Wizards and Glass - I guess mostly because I'd waited so long for it, and it didn't go where I wanted it to go. However, after going through the series a few more times, I agree with you that it is one of the best of the bunch.

I also created several versions of Dark Tower playlists, which ended up being basically a separate playlist for each volume. But lately, I've been thirsting for a "Best Of' playlist for The Dark Tower, so here it is - The Best of The Dark Tower. All of these songs have some kind of connection to something in the story - either they're directly referenced, or the title and/or artist is connected. I hope you enjoy it (I know I have today)!

The Dark Tower Top 40

1) Behind Blue Eyes - The Who
2) Hey Jude - The Beatles
3) The Eagle and the Hawk - John Denver
4) Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
5) From the Beginning - Emerson, Lake, and Palmer
6) I Will Follow You into the Dark - Death Cab for Cutie
7) Break on Through (to the Other Side) - The Doors
8) Gunslinger - Avenged Sevenfold
9) Rock Lobster - B-52's
10) Pink Shoe Laces - The Chordettes
11) Don't Dream it's Over - Crowded House
12) Bears - Lyle Lovett
13) Calling Dr. Love - KISS
14) Velcro Fly - ZZ Top
15) Worry About You - Ivy
16) Crazy Train - Ozzy Osbourne
17) Mexico - James Taylor
18) Singing Winds, Crying Beasts - Santana
19) Wild Horses - The Sundays
20) Ramble On - Led Zeppelin
21) Moonshadow - Cat Stevens
22) Light My Fire - Jose Feliciano
23) The Magnificent Seven - Elmer Bernstein
24) I'm a Man of Constant Sorrow - Josh Crowe
25) Iron Man - Ozzy Osbourne
26) Werewolves of London - Warren Zevon
27) Someone Saved My Life Tonight - Elton John
28) 19th Nervous Breakdown - The Rolling Stones
29) The Good, The Bad, & The Ugly - Ennio Morricone
30) Time after Time - Cyndi Lauper
31) Hey Nineteen - Steely Dan
32) Red Dragon Tattoo - Fountains of Wayne
33) I Talk to the Wind - King Crimson
34) Hurt - Nine Inch Nails
35) Every Rose Has Its Thorn - Poison
36) Undun - The Guess Who
37) Instant Karma - John Lennon
38) Oxford Town - Bob Dylan
39) Falling or Flying - Grace Potter & The Nocturnals
40) Reflections of My Life - Marmalade

 

warrrreagl - That is so friggin' awesome.

I think the reason I like #4 so much is because it really allows a person to go back in time and understand some of the reasons that Roland is who he is and does what he does with such devotion. It allows us to see that he is, in fact, human and has experienced pain that most others haven't even come close to. Before this all we had was "the world has moved on" and while that is certainly a sympathetic role, it doesn't give us any real meat to chew on. Susan Delgado gave us that meat as did the loss of his first ka-tet. It also gave us a better understanding and insight into the ultimate ending and how his new ka-tet was indeed Ka's never ending turn.

:shrug:

That playlist is awesome. I'm gonna have to play it the next time I'm going through the series Thanks man!

 

Right now, I am deeply embedded in The Priest's Tale in Wolves of the Calla.

At this point, I'd like to present an example of one of the things that really annoys me about The Dark Tower. Here is a normal passage from The Dark Tower, as it might be written by any other author:


Eddie said, "That's really weird, man."

Susannah agreed. "Yes, sugar. I agree."

Jake chimed in, "Me, too."


Now, here's that exact same passage again, as it appears the way Stephen King usually writes it:


Eddie said, "That's really weird, man. It's sort of like a book I once read by Raymond Chandler, or maybe it was Richard Adams. I forget which"

Susannah agreed, "Yes, sugar. I agree. Especially how Raymond Chandler and Richard Adams demonstrate literary coincidence using the same tools and technique as Charles Dickens in some of his later works. Not the early or middle periods, mind you, but definitely in the later works, honeybunch."

Jake chimed in, "Yeah. And don't forget how Shirley Jackson was able to draw parallels between Charles Dickens and Edgar Allan Poe in some of the oblique references in her novel The Haunting of Hill House, even though Charles Felix actually created that genre several years before Poe, but never really got the full credit."


What the fuck?

Also, no matter how many times I read/hear this story, it bugs the crap out of me that Stephen King's compass points are fucked to pieces. As I follow a story, I move the characters around in my head, and The Gunslinger is perpetually fuzzy to me because the story says that he's moving southeast through the desert, but he's CLEARLY moving westward to a version of the Pacific Ocean. That alone interferes with my ability to cognate a lot of the storyline - I can't get over the compass dichotomies. As the story progresses, he seems to resolve the issue a little better, but the beginning is so hard.

 

warrrreagl - I can see how that would be frustrating, but in fairness to the series, I think that is a little wrinkle that is supposed to be there. Considering "the world has moved on" and has vanished in some places due to thinnies etc, and the fact that it the beam failures have caused time and direction to constantly morph and bend, compass dichotomies are part of the frustration and the armageddon type world that they now inhabit.

The only parts of the story that irk me the most are the points where King takes on a Gan role and places himself solely into the story and leaves Roland and Eddie on the sidelines.