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Attention: Contains major spoilers if you haven't read
The Gunslinger,
The Drawing of the Three,
The Waste Lands,
Wizard and Glass ,
Wolves of the Calla and
Song Of Susannah.
Yes, we have finally reached the end of the
quest. Along with Roland and his ka-tet, the reader has achieved his
journey. It was long, mostly fascinating, sometimes fun, sometimes
scary, sometimes (rarely) a bit tedious (but which quest isn't?
Frodo's quest was sometimes tedious too after all), and all in all
very worthwhile... The last page is turned and it is with a little
sadness that we've parted with the characters we came to know and
love...
In the last episode,
Song of Susannah,
we had witnessed the search for Susannah. Taken over by Mia, she escaped to 1999 New York, in order to give birth to her chap. By a
whim of ka, Eddie and Roland, who intended to go and save Susannah,
found themselves in 1977 Maine instead. They went looking for
Calvin Tower and Aaron Deepneau, in order to secure their possession
of the Manhattan's lot in which the precious rose is. Father
Callahan and Jake were the ones to go after Susannah/Mia. Callahan
took care of black thirteen, left by Susannah in a hotel bedroom's safe...
After convincing reluctant Calvin Tower to part with his lot, Eddie
and Roland knew they had to meet with their and Father Callahan's
maker: Stephen King. Scared at first by this two strange men, King
has no option but to listen to them, and promise them to tell their
stories, whenever he will hear the Song of the Turtle. As it turns out, King is not a God, but rather a messenger, channeling higher
messages through his writing: King is a wordslinger... As for
Susannah, she tries to gain time by convincing Mia to palaver with
her. Mia explains how she came to be a mother, and who the chap; her
son, really is: the son of two fathers. His physical father is
Roland (the explanation for this puzzling fact is a bit complex so I
will skip it), and his "true" father is no other than the Crimson
King. But Susannah can't postpone anymore, and soon the baby is due.
Susannah/Mia is driven to a place whose underground belongs to the
low men, taheen and other malevolent beings... (Please
forgive any mistakes in this summary: I have read SOS a couple of
months ago and King ceased to provide helpful summaries at the beginning of
each book after volume IV...)
The Dark Tower begins where we left
off, with Callahan and Jake ready to take a stand against all the creatures gathered to witness the birth
of the Crimson King's heir; Mordred. Roland and Eddie, for their
part, know they have to insure the future of the Tet corporation
which will take care of the rose. For this they decide to contact
John Cullum, the man who helped them after their bumpy arrival in
1977 Maine. To say the truth, I was a bit worried for the 150 first
pages or so, and this for a couple of reasons. First, I found that the pace
was a bit slow, and I was eager for the ka-tet to reunite in order
to move on. Then, I was disappointed with the quick demise of one
of Roland's archenemies, who did not deserve, in my opinion as a Constant
reader, to be disposed of in this unworthy manner... Then I got
acquainted with one not very convincing and rather boring villain: Mordred, son of Roland, heir of the Crimson king. On these matters, I think I share the opinion of many readers...
But after the first 150 pages or so, the pace
picked up and I was completely bewitched by the story, unable to quit
reading, unable to go to sleep, and unable to think about something
else while not reading. Better not to tell anymore about the story,
except that Constant reader will be happy with Ted Brautigan's
reappearance, that characters will die within the ka-tet, that we
meet King again, that one new and very original villain makes up for
weak Mordred, and that the ending is great, whatever other people
think. I agreed at first with Stephen King that there could
not have been another ending (he said he had the ending in mind
since the beginning), but thinking back, I realized there could have
been another one, an "alternate" ending. I will even go further by
hinting that he prepared it in the last chapters, even if he will
never admit it (in fact the presence of the character helping Roland
toward the end makes even more sense with this other ending I
suspect...) My guess is that at the last minute, he had his editor
or his wife choose the one they thought best... I can understand why
he choose this one however. But maybe I am completely wrong
after all, I'll never know... Anyway, I had guessed the actual ending at
one point amongst the many conclusions I imagined for the book, but
this did not make it any less good...
At first I could not understand King's
afterword explaining his choice of ending. I thought he should
trust Constant Reader and not care about other people's reception
(after all a writer is supposed to accept bad critics too...) Why should he
justify himself? But after reading the strong reactions from readers
almost going Annie Wilkes concerning the ending (see for
instance the discussion board in his official website or some amazon.com reviews...), I could
understand his need to make a point and his exasperation toward a
certain kind of readers: people invading his and his family's privacy,
sending angry letters, etc. Remember Misery? People who
complain that he appears as a character in his own fiction should see that
sometimes, fiction and life really have a frightening way to
resemble each other... To the crazy Annie Wilkes out there: chill
out! leave the man alone, and if you don't like how the Dark
Tower ends, use you own imagination and invent another one for
yourself! After all, a more suitable ending (whatever this could
have been) wouldn't have improved your love life nor grown hair on your bald spot, as King himself wrote...
To Stephen King, should he read this review,
which I doubt (I hope he has better ways to pass time than browse
the web for reviews of his own books...): Thankee
Sai for this journey and the many others, long days and pleasant nights...
Rating:
© Discussing Books, 10/14/2004
NOTES CONTAINING SPOILERS, DO NOT READ
UNLESS YOU HAVE FINISHED THE DARK TOWER !!!
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- Concerning puzzling character Patrick
Danville: Patrick Danville is a late deus ex-machina that will
probably puzzle many readers by His late appearance and amazing
powers. My guess is that King wanted to show that like the
writer, the artist has the power to create, and the
responsibilities coming with this power. I think Patrick's
appearance is a way for King to pay tribute to the several men
who illustrated his books throughout the years... And just to
echo a question I read somewhere and found relevant indeed: why
didn't Patrick draw some legs for Susannah???
- Here is the alternate ending I was
thinking of: Roland enters the tower, climbs to the top (nothing
different here). On the way up he sees the eyes of the king
floating, apparently powerless. Roland opens the last door, and
in the room at the top of the tower he finds nothing but a
mirror. Coming across the mirror, Roland sees his face: his
bombardier eyes are gone, replaced by the red eyes of the king.
"Death Roland, but not for you..." Roland's fate and the price
to pay for a lifetime obsession is to be the new ruler of the
universe, from the top of the Dark Tower. The Crimson King is
dead, All hail the King!
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