Here Today... Gone To Hell!

Personally, I think it's the greatest set of works I've ever read.  I'm still 200 pages out from the end, but had a buddy tell me the ending before I went on my month hiatus because I had to know how it ended.  At this point I'm a lil disapointed in the ending, but will save my final judgement until I read it myself.  I know that some of you have read the series, so please comment on whether or not you liked it and how it compared to the other great works you've read.

I got bored, I don't remember why.  There were bits and pieces of it that I enjoyed but overall I thought it was too slow moving.  Maybe I should've stuck it out.. :-\

It's probably King's best work. And as a general rule, I like his short stories the best(Shawshank, The Body, The Mist), but the DT series, imo is his best so far. The ending was disappointing, but to me, alot of his books are great, until the end.

I'm still working on the series.

First part made me an everlasting impression as a kid.
For someone who hadn't read any of those interesting scifi or fantasy novels  there seemed to be so much surrealism in the world and the way story was told, when compared to works of Eddings and Tolkien and the like.It felt completely absolutely 101% unique.Hell, it still isn't that far off from it.
I still read it through every couple of years or so.It hasn't survived test of time as well as I'd like but i still enjoy it quite a lot.

Basically love parts I-IV. Part V I found very  disappointing., Haven't gotten last 2 just yet.

..Oh, and please be very carefull what you say here. Spoiling a saga of books some people have been waiting to finish for decades is stuff that gets you to Christian Hell with burning lakes and shit:pSo for the love of god...don't do it!!
No discussion about what happens in the end or anything like that.
I'd love to see what other people here think about the books but I am just too afraid oif reading through the comments, too afraid to read something i shouldn't know.

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed

Love that. Problem is I need to re-read them every time a new book comes out, so I sorta gave up 8 years ago. Told people to give me a yell when the whole series are done and then I can take a few weeks off and read them in one go. So..... did my friends forgot to yell? Or do I have to wait a bit longer? I think the last thing I read was the group getting off that freaky train.

I read them all within a year or so, and I absolutely loved them, a literary masterpiece I'd say.
Seriously, if you're reading this and haven't read them, you should. If (for some reason) you're not a fan of Stephen King don't worry these are not his usual style.
I feel like reading them all over again.  : ok:

Yes, the final book came out 2 years ago (book VII).  If you're still on the train, you have 4 more books to go.

Well, how I feel right now is relieved. I actually thought that I'd ruined the ending for you! But if you already knew how it ended, it's all good in the hood. Asside from all those gangsters.

I'd agree with it being the greatest set of works that I, too, have ever read. I loved everything about the cycle, including the ending. There is no other way that King could have ended it, so while it is dissapointing in a sense I don't think that it can be justifiably attacked. Especialy if you read Kings afterword at the end of the final book.

I started reading them last summer, without taking a break between each book save from when I had to order one in. I bought, and started reading, the Dark Tower VII on my nineteenth birthday. It hadn't even crossed my mind until a couple of days before. I liked that.....

I read a while ago that Marvel are publishing a Dark Tower comic series some time next year. King's contributing, and somebody told me that it's going to include narrative outside of the seven books. I'm well up for a bit of Jericho hill!, or a bit more of Rhea!

Though, truth be told, I think that the ambiguity and the vagueness of the books history and mythos is what makes the series so compelling.

I can never settle on a favourite book, but I would probably say The Waste Land right now. Mainly because it was when reading it that I thought, for the first time, that no matter what King does to fuck up the series now, the first three have been so good that they have guaranteed it's place alongside the best series of books that I have ever read.

And I didn't even mind King's inclusion in six and seven.

http://www.marvel.com/publishing/stories/showstory.htm?id=51

it sounded very scary idea at first.With you know, Marvel mostly sucking ass and all.But after seeing those few sneak peaks atleast i am pretty oiptimistic.
..Except for the fact Roland looks way too much like John Wayne and way too little like Clint Eastwood.
The HUMONUGOUS jaws and dark tower don't mix that well. But ay it could be something great.  I hope.

Following is about the ending and last 2 books of the saga. Can be decoded with rot13.
http://www.rot13.com/index.php

...Just had to use it out of fear of ruining the series from someone who is still reading the books. ;D

Svanyyl tbg gur ynfg 2 obbxf.
Ybirq gurz. Fgvyy xvaqn veevgngrq ol FX'f vqrn bs chggvat n (frzv svpgvbany irefvba bs) uvzfrys va gur obbxf. Va gur raq, Ur pneevrq gur (fghcvq) vqrn bhg irel jryy gubhtu. Ubjrire, gur pyhrf naq "uryc" ur fraq gb xn-grg urer naq gurer jnf whfg gbb zhpu.Vg jnf fb ...Atuuuuuuu. Haperngvir.
Bgure guna gung, naq znlor 50 bs fb n ovg qhyyre cntrf nsgre pnfgyr qvfpbeqvn va svany obbx,  cnegf IV naq IVV xvpxrq nff gubhtu. Cher tbyq, n qrfreivat raq sbe bar uryy bs n fntn.

Gur irel raqvat jnf fb shpxvat pehry naq fnq. Irel hacerqvpgnoyr. ybirq vg naq ungrq vg.
Cbbe Ebynaq.Arire sryg nf fbeel sbe n svpgvbany punenpgre.Pna'g frr na raq sbe uvf gbezrag.Pbbyrfg svpgvbany onfgneq bs bhe gvzr jbhyq qrfreir orggre!Xhqbf gb Xvat, ertneqyrff. Zhfg unir gnxra onyyf gb qb fbzrguvat gung pehry.Gur nzbhag bs ungr znvy ur vf trggvat zhfg or nfgbavfuvat:)

--
In overall, never have read better fiction than Dark Tower -saga. Anyone who can find scifi/fantasy/Post apocalyptic surroundings  remotely enjoyable should certainly look into DTs :yes:
Been working on them since 1997 or so.It feels sad and empty  to know I don't have a new Dark Tower book to wait for.

Naaah mate. Relax!, here comes the deus ex machina.

I have all the books,  havent started it yet, I am kind of savoring it and reading other novels first. Ill get to it one day i hope.

The Stand is the greatest novel I have ever read though.

If you love the stand, you'll love the tower even more.  They tie directly into one another.

It's pretty fun how many of his books SK evntually managed to tie in as a part of Dark  Tower.
I Suppose almost half of his works either have a DT referance or are referred to in DT.

Most of the referances are tiny and insignificant (Rose Madder, From Buick 8 ) but then, there is couple of books you really want to read alongside of  Dark Tower Series:

Insomnia
Hearts in Atlantis
Black House
Stand
Eyes Of The Dragon
Bag Of Bones
Salem's Lot

ummm must be few other (More or less) relevant ones.
..Not to scare mr D away in any way:p None of the "other" books is in no way Critical to read in order to enjoy DT. They do provide  nice extra kick,though.
Ehhh when you really think about it, atlest Hearts in Atlantis and black house are pretty damn important tbh. :yes:

They're brilliant.  I'm only up to Wolves of the Calla though.  I'll make my way through them slowly but surely.

King is one of my favourite writers.

Marvel's Dark Tower album series should start popping up in less than month.
They released a trailer that reeks of kahunas!
http://www.brightcove.com/title.jsp?title=370380596

..The trailer was so manly it inspired me to start smoking again :yes:

they look badass, i'll probably start them during the summer when i have more time to read. i plan on reading the whole series one after each other. I've just gotten into Stephen King recently having a bad experience with Cell as the first book i read from him and a huge dissapointment, then The Tommyknockers, which was much better.

Just finished reading them. My god! what a read. I have never read anythin like this ever before in my life! These books had everythin, excitment, adventure, laughter, love, loss, sorrow, you name it. The ending was so bittersweet, i still cant believe ive actually finished them. The journey u take with these characters, its unbelievable, its like i was actually there with them. Iv never read any steven king before either.

I have to say, these are the greatest books i have ever read, nothing will ever compare to them.

Urm... Yeah.

It?s a good time to be a Stephen King fan right now. Frank Darabont is limbering up to shoot The Mist ? King?s greatest novella, bar none ? in Lousiana, Eli Roth will move onto fun zombie tale Cell right after he finishes Hostel Part II and ? if IGN Filmforce?s Stax is to be believed, we?re about to see King?s magnum opus, The Dark Tower, on the big screen.

JJ Abrams ? a huge King fan who has studded many references to the Tower series into his TV show, Lost ? is reportedly in talks to do what many thought impossible, and turn the apparently unfilmable seven-book series into a movie. Or series of movies. Or maybe even a mini-series.

Of course, given the size of The Dark Tower series, a fantasy epic that dwarves The Lord Of The Rings in page count and scope, the latter two options would seem to be the way ahead. However, the truth is, nobody really knows what Abrams? plans are at the moment, but IGN believe that an imminent announcement is due any day now, which should lend clarification. What is believed, though, is that The Dark Tower may be lodged with Paramount and could be the reason why Abrams won?t direct the next Star Trek film, but will merely produce it instead.

Now, for those of you who are slightly lost, a quick recap of what The Dark Tower is all about. Simply put, it?s King?s masterwork, a series of seven books of increasing length and complexity that he began at the start of his career and finally finished just a couple of years ago. Essentially the bastard child of King, Sergio Leone and J.R.R. Tolkien, the books tell the tale of Roland Deschain (a role that someone like George Clooney should be campaigning for right now), the last Gunslinger (like a knight, only with guns instead of swords) making his way through the ruins of Mid-World on a quest to find The Dark Tower, a fabled building that may or may not be the nexus of all life.

Along the way, he is joined by travelling companions including a disabled schizophrenic black lady, a recovering heroin addict, and a young boy who just won?t stay dead, while their quest takes them back and forth between the modern-day and the past, Mid-World and our own Earth and, bizarrely, connects them with the life and work of a certain Maine author, Mr. Stephen King?

The seven books are The Gunslinger, a dark and existential fantasy Western; The Drawing Of The Three, a fast-moving action piece in which Roland picks up his travelling companions, while losing something very dear to him; The Waste Lands, which veers into pure sci-fi; Wizard And Glass, the most overtly Tolkien-esque of the novels; Wolves Of The Calla, which is essentially The Magnificent Seven with a post-modern twist; Song Of Susannah, a mind-twisting thriller spanning several time periods, and featuring an appearance by King himself; and the final book, The Dark Tower in which? well, we won?t spoil it.

Fans of the Tower series will have long bandied around the term, ?unfilmable?. But if the last few years have proved, it?s that there?s no such thing as an unfilmable book, what with Tom Tykwer?s bang-up job on Perfume, and of course Peter Jackson?s work on the Lord of the Rings trilogy. So we?re going to be cautiously optimistic about this: Abrams, after all, is a King fan and, while he may not have anything on his CV that suggests that he can pull off an epic of this kind, visually or otherwise, well we all said the same thing about Mr. Jackson when he announced his ambitious plans to make the Rings trilogy?

Source: www.empireonline.com (http://www.empireonline.com)

... I don't know what to make of it.

The Dark Tower are the greatest books I have ever read.  I don't think it possible to make it a movie.  I'll be god damned if some self-righteous prick like Clooney dare try to play Roland.  Roland was a gunslinger, not some pussy liberal.

Holy shit! Someone else knows about Eddings!  I started my fantasy reading with him when I was very young. Great books.

I recently got to the end of the Tower series.  I had to listen on audiobook because I work between 65 and 70 hours a week.  Believe it or not, it actualy helps, especially when it comes to the funky accents some of the characters use.  Less trying to figure out what the hell their saying and more trying to understand their meaning.  Unexpected ending, but then you think about it and it fits RIGHT in.

I think the last few books of that series are going to make onto my "have to read/listen at least once a year" list.  Mr. King's "It" has been on that list for that last 20 years or so ;)

The comic that just came out 8 days ago is supposed to be awesome...

Oh my thanks for that- my fave show LOST's creator might be making my favorite book into a movie!

At Christmas, my wife and I bought a new bookshelf, and I happened to be going through some boxes and ran across my Dark Tower books and thought I should pick them up again.  Not two days later, I was hunting around and came across all 7 books on mp3, and since I had just got a mp3 player, decided to throw the Gunslinger on there and see if I could enjoy listnening to it instead of reading it.  Needless to say, I am now on #7, about halfway through, and I am finding activities I can do with my mp3 player so I can listen more and more.  Whomever the poster was that said that you get a new appreciation of the books by listening to them was certainly right, I gathered alot more from it this way.  I also plan to pick up the comic book and am definately looking forward to an on-screen adaptation, but it will probably be a good many years away still.

I thought I would share the bizarre coincidences that got me back into the series, it was definately "19"

I've gone mad since reading the books, everything is nineteen to me. I'm watching a DVD, I glance at the time gone by and it's on 19, my phone is a frequent nineteen minutes past the hour, and every time I count people, like in my first day of my new class... It's all nineteen.

I've gone mental.  :(

I know the feeling!

Stephen King speaks about DARK TOWER from the NYCC... And yes, this includes new info on the JJ Abrams rumor!!!

Ahoy, squirts! Quint here at the tail end of an incredibly busy day. My flight out of New York is very early in the morning, so I'm going to sleep and work on transcribing my one on one interview with King while traveling to post Monday... It's a good one. In the meantime, I thought I'd run down the panel discussion a bit for you Tower junkies.

The panel included King, Jae Lee (artist), Joe Quesada (head honcho/artist), Robin Furth (Queen of Dark Tower knowledge), Peter David (writer), Ralph Macchio (Marvel man, definitely not Daniel LaRusso), Richard Isanove (colorer) and Chris Eliopoules (letterer), although King was the one people wanted to talk to the most.

He came out wearing a SHAUN OF THE DEAD t-shirt and the audience just went nuts for him. They were all there to talk about the comic, but the geeks, of course, wanted to know a little bit about everything. Here's a rundown of what was discussed:

-Right now there are no plans to bring on any other artist for the Dark Tower comics. King loved Jae Lee's work and says that these books are firmly Lee's, Furth's and David's vision.

-The comics will follow Roland through Mejis (all Book 4 stuff), but it definitely WILL go past Book 4 and all the way up to Jericho Hill, which King demanded a giant splash page from Lee.

- Regarding further Dark Tower comics, King said, "There's always more stories."

- Hal from 2001 inspired Blaine the Mono (and that is the truth).

- When King writes, he doesn't see his characters, he doesn't tend to visualize them. "It's like I'm behind their eyes... maybe if they looked in a mirror..."

- King views the Dark Tower series as a first draft and plans to rewrite the entire series, but he promises he won't make them the Special Editions. The originals will always be out there.

Now for the two biggest newsworthy bits to come out of the panel:

- When asked if he'd turn another one of his books into a comic series with Marvel, King said he and Quesada were just beginning to talk about doing a version of The Stand as a Comic series. That made me perk up. How cool would that be?

- And the JJ Abrams bit. King said that Damon Lindelof and JJ Abrams did express interest, especially Damon, and wanted to develop the project. King said he was resistant to everybody in the past, but trusted Abrams and Lindelof. He said he trusted Frank Darabont, too, but he felt Frank always had too much on his plate. When Abrams and Lindelof approached King about trying to make the project work, King responded, "I'll tell you what... you can option the books and see what you can do with it." Nothing is set up, but they have the option... and if it doesn't work out, then no harm no foul, yeah? How much did Abrams and Lindelof pay for the option? $19, of course.

So, yes. They have the option. I talked with King an hour or so after the panel (a true geek out moment if there ever was one) and got more out of him about Abrams' plan. I'll have that out to you in less than 2 days, so keep an eye out for that in the very near future.

Source: http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31690

I just read the comic today... it was okay... next issue looks like it'll be better...

Please don't judge this masterpiece on one comic.  That comic was just the head of a needle situated on the tip of an iceberg, say thankya.

I remember waiting 5 years between The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass and then another 7 odd years between W&G and Wolves of the Calah. I thought these books were fucking amazing, all the way up to the ending, which IMHO was one of the worst endings for a King book ever, let alone the hallowed Dark Tower books.  :no: :no: I have friends who really liked it, but for mine it was really weak.

What I love about King's work is the way there are so many little references to the Dark Tower books in so many other of his works ...

Insomnia
Hearts in Atlantis
The Stand
Eyes of the Dragon

come to mind.

whoops

I didn't say it sucked. I said it was okay and it looked like it set-up for a better next issue... god...

I started reading this back in the early to mid 90s, when there were only three books.  So, I got through all three...and stopped.  I liked them, and want to finish, but I certainly have to go back and reread the first three, because all I remember is:

1: A really long (many chapters?) attempt to catch someone, in book one.

2: Some lady in a wheelchair(?) being raped by some demon and wanting to "melt that icicle"

3: An inability of a character to pronounce "Pepsi"


Yeah...looks like I'm starting over.

i'm reading The Drawing of the Three right now. wasn't too impressed with The Gunslinger, hope the series picks up and gets better.

Read the 2nd comic... wasn't too impressed...

While the Drawing of the Three is a much better 'book' than the first, if you weren't too keen on The Gunslinger then I can't see you falling in love with the series like a lot of us have...

... With that said, the Gunslinger is a difficult book to read and, who knows, the Drawing of the Three is just so good that there is hope for you yet!

... Though, with that said, if you don't enjoy the Drawing of the Three, then I would advise not wasting your time with the rest of the series, even though the third is, in my opinion, the best book.

The Drawing of The Three is pretty good so far, i think ill stick with the series. i gotta know what happens at the end, if i stop then the suspense will kill me.

You probably read the revised version of the Gunslinger which references things that have yet to come.  So while I can read it now and get everything since I've read all 7 books, a good bit of names and dialogue are meaningless and forgotten the first time through.  I too was a little weary after finishing Book 1, but the battle in Tull had me hooked,  Book II is what got its hooks in me and I was stoke when I got to 3.  You'll enjoy the read and the journey, don't doubt that at all.  The ending....... I think about it often, and I'll leave it at that.

yeah i did read the revised version, alot of stuff was like "WTF???" cuz of all the references. the battle in tull was pretty cool. i'm around page 100 now in Drawing of The Three and i can hardly put it down. gonna try to read more tonite.

Eddie is a badass.? Fucking Blue Heaven.

My favorite character besides Roland is Oy the brave of Mid-World.  You'll meet him soon enough.

nice. i have the first four books, i'm trying to average a book a week until i go back home for easter, then hopefully i'l be all set for the fifth. or at least close, i know school work might get in the way but i will try.

i am almost done with The Drawing of The Three and i love it. i think its a million times better than the first book.

how the hell could they make the Dark Tower series into a movie/movies??? that just blows my mind. the story seems a bit intricate and um.. long.

I agree.  I don't see how it can be made into a movie, ecspecially when a certain character would need to be in 6/7 movies and age would be a factor.  If you love the tower after book 2, let me say you ain't seen nothing yet.  Book 3 and Book 4 ecspecially are fucking amazing.  You really feel like you're part of the adventure.

GnFnR87, have you read The Stand yet?  If not I highly recommend you take a slight detour and read it before you embark onto book III.

noooooooooo its so long tho... i do plan to read The Stand but not yet!! i have to keep going in the series!!!

Book VII is about equal to the stand, maybe longer.  The reason I ask is because there are many references in Book 3 and 4 related to The Stand.

While I'm at it, I recommend Salem's Lot before book V and Hearts in Atlantis before VII.

dude your killing me!!! i will read them eventually but i wont be able to wait and hold down the excitement and curiousity about what happens in the series!!! i have to keep going in the series!! LOL

Oi!
J.J Abrams of Lost/Cloverfield fame  has bought the film rights  of Dark Tower!!!
King asked 19 dollars. :)

Abrams and pile of other Lost writers are supposedly already working on the script.
Characters in Lost have always reminded me a lot of typical King characters:
I can't quite put my finger on it..it's some subtle touch Abrams(or someone else in Lost team) keeps adding every now and then, that makes me feel like I was reading something by King, instead of watching Lost. Did that make any sense?

So..yeah! I for one have a very good feeling about this. If someone out there has the ability to capture the character gallore of the Dark Tower and their spirit..it would have to be Abrams&co.
However, it is easy to be a little bit worried when it comes to portraying the actual world. Odd apocalyptic pile of surreal spaghetti western world is a bit if a step upwards from a tropical freakin island ay?
I just hope Abrams ends up smoking Weed and watching The good, the bad and the ugly instead of drinking beer and watching Mad Max.

There was cool Dark Tower referance in Mist by the way. In the opening scene of the movie, the guy starring in the film is obviously painting Roland.

Opening scene of latest Lost Episode(Ben in desert) was just loaded with Dar Tower-ism. Maybe it's just me though.

This film really needs to be done right.  I have my own perceptions of the characters and I will be really interested to see who gets cast when they finally do it.

Cannot be done in one film ... no fucking way.
This just has to be a trilogy and even then ...

Yeah, I dont see how this can be made right.  Even if its done properly, most people wouldnt "get it" and it wont make money. Maybe Im wrong. Great book series, though.

I've been touting the Dark Tower connection in Lost since day one!!

Charlie had a bit of Eddie all over him. Just a shame he couldn't deposit his drugs in Mid-World when he was in the toilets... Wait, not that it actually mattered. Err... Locke was in a wheelchair... Err... No, seriously, I saw it loads. Once apon a time I thought that the Dark Tower was the answer to the whole thing... I kid you not!

Yeah Charlie/Eddie similiarities are definately there. Also, I keep having Ben/Marten vibes too. And..ahhh! they all are so very King-like.

There was a very direct Dar Tower referance ( or rather, just an easter egg) at some point during the first season.(or was it 2nd)
The balloon that had crashed on the island was sponsored by Nozza-la cola, of Dark Tower fame!
There is an entire page dedictaed to Lost/Dark Tower connection at lost's wiki hub actually.
It just might be more or less paranoid fan driverl but hay, its cool read.
http://www.lostpedia.com/wiki/The_Dark_Tower_%28theory%29

The Dark Tower is Kings best work to date. The series is one of (if not the) best series ever.

The LOTR was three long books. Three great books. Three long movies.
Dark Tower is seven.

I have serious reservations about trying to make these into movies or a mini-series.
Only because if it were movies, it would have to be at least four movies minimum. And a mini series wouldn't do it justice, even if it were seven parts long, imo.

If you've read the books, you'd expect LOTR type movies.

Try nine!

... Seriously though. I guess that, if you absolutey had to, you could dispense with Wizard and Glass. The latter trilogy, WoTC through to DT could possibly be condensed into two movies...

But The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three and The Waste Land would have to have their own movie each !!

So I get five. And that's at a push.