I’ve just finished listening to the third installment in Stephen King’s The Dark Tower series: The Waste Lands. No that’s not a typo. Apparently.
It’s amazing. I’m so into this now. I feel like book 1 and 2 were weird, a bit strange, not off-putting but just crazy enough that a lot of people probably wouldn’t carry on with the series.
But book 3 is where it begins. Book 1 sets up the world, the entire universe around The Dark Tower, and introduces us to some key players. Book 2 brings a few more of the keys players onto the field, and by book 3 – we’re off!
I haven’t started #4 yet, but I’m really looking forward to it.
It’s such a rich, vast world. King has this extraordinary ability to write so much about, what seems like, so little. In one sense, I feel like I can break the whole book into not only four parts, but four scenes. (They are more than scenes, but you get what I mean). It’s something I don’t think you could the other way around. If these were huge, big scenes where lots of stuff was supposed to happen, you couldn’t drag them out like this, but because they’re not–because they’re so minuscule in a sense, the scenes can last forever. And it doesn’t feel weird, or forced. It’s good. Soooo good in fact.
Like I said, I’m really invested in this series now. There’s so much I want answers to, much of which I doubt ever will be, but I really look forward to seeing this whole thing unfold.
If you’ve read my previous reviews of the other books in the series, you know I saw the film before I read any of this. I both sad and glad to say I hate the film more and more. Not because it’s not a good film. I just can’t see why they’d go the way they went with it. Maybe it makes more sense later, when I read more of the books.
But anyway – if you haven’t already, I absolutely recommend getting started with this series. Me, I hadn’t even read any of King’s work before this, so this has been an amazing introduction. I look forward to more of his writing.
Read my review of book 1 here.
Read my review of book 2 here.
Trey Stone, Author 