Fantasy Novels

Roland’s journey is coming to an end and he can hear the song from across the Field of Roses. The ka-tet that he was involved with along the road is no more and the tower with its secrets is only his to witness. But first he must fight the Crimson King who has been locked out of one of the tower balconies. The Crimson King possesses powerful forces – forces Roland hadn’t dare dream of.

Another danger is also lurking in their tracks, one that can barely wait to sink its teeth into Roland – the son of the Crimson King, who also happens to be Roland’s. This son was born with the single purpose of destroying Roland.

For any reader there is bound to be a lot of impatience now just to see how King ties up the knots. The 7^th and final book in the series offers up one surprise after another and ends unexpectedly. Without disclosing too much, some readers would probably have preferred a different ending, as this one is certainly not your average “hero saves the day”-type, but leaves some room for the thought process to kick in.

To quickly recap the entire series: as a fantasy reader I have a weakness for attaching myself to an epic plot spanning thousands of pages. Stephen King has been known to drag it out, but never for this long. For those accustomed to King, there are lots of references to his other works – not just glimpses here and there but actual names and places. It doesn’t matter if you’re a King fan though; this story is worth your time.

Susannah became pregnant when she stopped a demon to save Jake in book two. This is the story of Susannah’s struggle for her own body – a body which is now occupied by the entity known as Mia. Mia is a spirit without a body that has been promised a physical body provided she gives birth to a child, her “chap”.

The child she carries is the Crimson King’s, who is destined to kill Roland according to the prophecies. Mia is in control at night, while Susannah retains control during the day. At first Susannah is oblivious to Mia’s existence, but as the child grows inside her, Mia grows exceedingly powerful and eventually it becomes impossible for Susannah to ignore the truth. A drawn-out battle for control of the single body begins, and this of course makes Susannah an unreliable gunslinger.

Song of Susannah picks up the main plot where Wolves of the Calla left off – it is somewhat chaotic at times, but manages to keep some amount of focus. There’s a lot going on right now, and jumping into this book without having read its predecessors is definitely not recommended. It’s almost hard to give a quick summary of the book, but it is still a story that needs to be read and is worth reading, even if it occasionally feels like a bump in the road on the way to the grand finale.

The companions are nearing Endworld and have reached a rural peasant village named Calla Bryn Sturgis. Callas is haunted; every generation or so, immortal beings in wolf masks raid the village to abduct some of its children. The children are later returned, but “roont” as they call it – they have been stricken with horrific diseases and are growing so fast that you can hear the bones stretch, only to die early and painfully.

Roland and his friends promise to put a stop these so-called wolves, which are expected to return within a month. The villagers are hesitant, because should they fail, the wolves will punish them, burn their houses to the ground and take all their children. Slowly but certainly Roland persuades the villagers to join him, but among them is a traitor. Finding out the traitor turns out to be a no less demanding task than stopping the wolves.

Parts of the story are a bit slow, even if it the novel as a whole is exciting. Somehow it seems to drift too far outside of the main storyline and feels by and large unnecessary to complete the journey to the dark tower. There’s an overall impression the story has escalated beyond a point where King no longer drives the plot forward.

This might sound disastrous but it really isn’t. The story in itself is interesting even if it takes a detour around the central plot – it stands on its own with a vivid and compelling story.

Wizard and Glass is the fourth installment in King’s The Dark Tower series. It is something as unusual as a fantasy love story written by the master of horror himself, Stephen King.  But even if it’s a theme the author rarely touches, he does it exceptionally well.

Here’s a quick recap (with some spoilers!): Eddie finally outsmarts Blaine – the mad monorail – with a riddle it cannot answer. Blaine becomes so infuriated by the question that the computer that controls it explodes and brings the train to a stop. When the companions get off, they discover that they’ve ended up in a city where a terrible plague swept through, killing all the inhabitants of the formerly great city of Topeka.

The path or the beam travels along a highway, making it easier for the band to get around with the wheelchair-bound Susannah. During Roland’s poisoning by the lobstrosity and subsequent delirious fever, he often talked about Cuthbert, Alain and Susan. Along the highway, Roland tells more of this story and his first mission as a gunslinger.

To summarize, this book was the best so far in the series. It paints a captivating picture of a world that feels something like a post-apocalyptic version of the Shire. Like I mentioned earlier, it’s the first by King (at least to my knowledge) that’s essentially a pure love story. It’s beautiful and sad all at the same time. At any rate it’s great, and fits perfectly into the middle of the series – now it’s impossible to put it away.

And so I’ve reached the third book in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series. Roland, Eddie and Susannah continue their journey towards the tower, and this time they add two new companions to their merry band of travelers (yeah that’s irony for you; this band is anything but jolly). The road is full of demons and strange disfigurations of would-be humans – a classic Stephen King setting in other words.

In this desolate country – aptly named The Waste Lands – things are starting to clear up as to why they have to reach this tower and what exactly is wrong with Roland’s world. True to the Stephen King spirit, explanations are vague to keep the mystery alive, which makes you want to keep reading just to see what’s on the next page. The characters’ personalities start to emerge and some of the pieces of the puzzle start to come together. It’s becoming increasingly apparent that King has left nothing to chance.

Something that is somewhat unusual with these books is Roland’s companion Susannah and her legs – or lack thereof. It’s more than rare to read about disabled people in the fantasy genre, which is a welcome change. She’s not portrayed as a victim either, but rather as a strong heroine type. Her disability is only mentioned when it has an impact on the plot. Anywoo, now it’s on to the fourth book in short order.

The Drawing of the Three is the second book in Stephen King’s epic fantasy series The Dark Tower, following the first part The Gunslinger.

It continues right where The Gunslinger left off. Roland has to keep traveling and find the three people who are key to his quest for the tower. He finds a door in the middle of a beach that leads to a completely different realm, which happens to be our world. Through it he is able to see through the eyes of Eddie and take over his body. When Roland brings Eddie back to his own world, they are able to continue on and locate next door, and the tale continues.

There’s a major difference between The Gunslinger and The Drawing of the Three. While the former borders on lackluster, the second book is much more appealing. It also feels like King is back to his customary style, even if it’s certainly no horror story.

Unfortunately, the book loses some of its initial pace in the second half. The stepping through the first door and the subsequent encounter with Eddie is described in depth, whereas the other two characters do not get the same treatment. Even so, I still enjoyed the book and I’m actually looking forward to the third one.

The Gunslinger opens up Stephen King’s fantasy epic The Dark Tower, a series in seven parts of which the first four are the most unswerving. Since the entire series is now complete, my plan is to read all of them in more or less rapid succession. This is something you don’t normally do with fantasy novels, since there is usually a few months (or even years in some cases) between the parts.

Stephen King is an old favorite of mine, and being a fantasy geek I particularly enjoyed The Eyes of the Dragon. The series on the Dark Tower has long been on my horizon, mostly because I heard so much good about them, but I’ve also had a trove of other books to plow through. In other words, it was about time I took on King’s fantasy epic.

The book is set in a post-apocalyptic future. Our achievements and technology are almost completely gone barring a few relics here and there. The most advanced piece of technology is the revolver. The world has moved on and left the land barren save for various mutated creatures. It is a dark but magical world that suits the characters well. We are introduced to The Gunslinger in the middle of the desert, and he is searching for the man in black. What follows is mainly about this hunt and the events that push the Gunslinger and his companion forward.

King himself has allegedly claimed that the series is inspired mainly by Tolkien’s books, but there is a very minute amount of classic Tolkienesque fantasy to be found in The Gunslinger. Surprisingly there’s not much of the horror genre either. It is more of an allegorical novel in a style unique even for the multi-faceted King.

Still I’m undecided about The Gunslinger – the story in this first part is somewhat weak. Although narration is first rate the story so far fails to captivate. On the other hand, both its characters and the interesting post-apocalyptic setting are aspects that make me want to keep reading.