The Drawing of the Three
Stephen King
Thriller/Fantasy/Western
To Order: Amazon - Barnes & Noble
All right Guys and Dolls, I just finished the second installment of The Dark Tower Series, The Drawing of the Three. Since my last review followed this same series, and I let my Stephen King power crush shine a little too brightly before, I'll just highlight the differences here.
This is a better book than The Gunslinger, but it would not have been half as good without the foundation of the first novel. This book is probably twice as long, and has three or four times as much action (and characters for that matter). Instead of only hints of other worlds, we get to visit them in this book, look around, and get into trouble (of course!), before having to make a hasty escape. There are still a great many loose ends to tie up, but now the tribulation (team of three...that's what it means, right?) has been formed, and they are ready to embark on the next leg of the journey. A young man, Eddie, who has broken his various dependencies and has joined The Gunslinger as a quasi-brother-in-arms; a young black woman, Odetta - 'Detta, who has struggled with serious self-identity issues and finally comes into her own. And Roland - The original Gunslinger, disciplined, focused, and totally bad-ass.
I can see the strategic placement of these first two books when I take a wide view the series told in a dozen volumes. The first, the leader, the foundation, the spark of interest. The second, the gathering of a team, growing familiarity with characters, budding-taste-of-action, and reiteration of the true goal, not just survival, but The Tower.
After reading the first two books of this series, basically in a row, I've decided to take a break from it. It will probably be a few months before I read the next Dark Tower book, but I do plan on reading the entire series...before I die (morbid?).
This book is going to count towards my R.I.P. Challenge, even though I was technically already reading it when I signed up for the challenge. I think it ties in nicely with a thriller/dark/chilling mood (probably should have read it closer to Halloween), and it was written by the Horror king himself.
I haven't quite decided what my next book will be for this challenge, but you'll see the review soon enough!
3 comments:
personally i'm just going to wait for the blu ray boxed set.
Its been years since I have read the series. I have always loved SK's dark side. He was my author of choice in my teens. :) If you havent read the The Stand I highly recommend it
The Dark Tower series was largely frustrating for me--and I didn't like the second one at all--but the last one made the whole thing worthwhile. Rumor has it that there'll be another, despite his insistence after the publishing of the last one that that was it.
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