Yeah, I really began to hate the Dark Tower series somewhere around the middle of the 4th one. I'm always holding out for more on The Stand though. By far my favorite SK book. WHo knows? Maybe he'll make one last money grab, and write a sequel.
Just finished "Wizard and Glass" last night. Absolutely loved it. I'm big on character development....so getting some in-depth Roland back story is right up my alley. Also loved bookending the flashback story with the Blaine and Oz interludes. I'll take a break for a few months before starting up on "Wolves of Calla". I know most people don't like the later books, but I am keeping an open mind.
I really enjoyed Wolves of Calla. Different than the first few, but very entertaining none the less. Songs of Susannah on the other hand was a bit of a disappointment. Not a major one, but I hold the gunslinger series to a high level of expectation and while it was a good book in the series, it just didn't live up as well as the others. Don't even get me started on the final installment. It felt rushed, poorly put together, and honestly just kind of pissed me off. You'll need to read it to finish the series, but don't be a bit suprised if your a little let down.
King does a lot of things great. Finishing stories isn't one of them. I read a while back that he doesn't plan his stories in advance.....he just writes and sees where it takes him. The result is you get fantastic set ups, like the first third of "The Stand", and then less than satisfactory conclusions. I'll stick with it, but I know he will screw up the ending.
The ending itself was fine, albiet a bit rushed. My problem without giving anything away was with the characters. The new ones out of nowhere and, well.... nevermind it'll give too much away. Let's just say character devolpment.
I'd be curious to talk with anyone that did enjoy the later books. Given the length of time that passed between them and the accident he had its almost like he died and another author finished the series. It's ironic that after all the people clamoring for him to finish the series it probably would've held up better if he didn't. It really is a let down to read them, especially after the brilliance of the 2nd and 3rd books.
The Shining was an amazing book. Kubrick screwed the pooch refocusing the story on Jack. Apt Pupil is great. Anthrax made an awsome little ditty out of that.
Given the nature of some of his stories, palpable endings are hard to come by. IT was really great. Until the End. The Shining, and even The Stand ended well (the finger of God thing was a bit contrived...It would have been better had Trashcan man been touched into a moment of lucidity and set the bomb off himself....)
You hit on the exact thing I hated about the end of The Stand. No reason to have it end that way. Agree on It. That is my second favorite King book, but I hated the ending. Some conclusions were OK. I liked the ends of Tommyknockers and Needful Things. I happened to pick up a used hardback copy of The Stand (in great condition) at a huge book sale today. Nice to have it for my library.
All you King fans go pick up The Long Walk and read it if you haven't already. One of my favorite books of his. After I finished the gunslinger series i decided to pick up a few i missed. The Long Walk was def on of his best. I also enjoyed cell. I read The Talisman about 15 years ago, and read part 2 Black House a couple of years ago but I didn't think it was as great. King is also working on another dark tower book. It's supposed to happen between Wizards of Glass and Wolves of Calla. I think the working title is Wind through the Keyhole.
The Long Walk and The Running Man (both Bachman Books) are excellent. I just finished reading Duma Key and it was no good. The pacing was ok, but it was 400 pages of build up and then 200 pages of finishing off the bad guy. Awful book. His recent books haven't been great, starting with Bag of Bones or Dreamcatcher, whichever came first. Buick 8 was bad, Cell wasn't bad, but wasn't great. Haven't read Under the Dome yet or the Sunset short story book. Dark Tower was good. I thought it was paced fine, I just wasn't crazy about "him" being in the book. It worked, but I didn't think it was going to happen this was. If you couldn't tell, I love me some SK.
This morning, I read a book review that King wrote. The book is called The Passage by Justin Cronin. I didn't have shit to do today, so I went to the bookstore, bought it, and sat by the pool reading it all afternoon. It's a damn good book. It combines elements from Salem's Lot, The Stand, The Road, I am Legend, and other stuff like these stories. So far, it one of the best vampire books I've read in a long time.
I read a ton of King books a LONG time ago. I don't remember what book made me lose interest, but It, The Stand, and most importantly The Dark Half were incredible. And The Shining is still one of my all time favorite movies.
I started reading the Dark Tower series 3 years ago and just finished Song of Susannah a few weeks ago. I was really anxious to get #7, but the store didn't have it in so they ordered it for me a couple of weeks ago. The posts in here have made me even more anxious. I'm hopeful that I don't feel the same about the ending as some of you did, because I am fascinated by its potential right now in how he may wrap it up. It's hard to build something up for 6 books and then deliver on how huge the moment is when the goal is actualized I guess. I actually liked his appearance in SoS.
Ron Howard planning to make a movie trilogy and TV series out of The Dark Tower. I think the idea has potential....but in all likelihood will get f*cked up. http://www.deadline.com/2010/09/universal-lands-stephen-kings-the-dark-tower-and-plans-unprecedented-featurenetwork-tv-adaptation/#more-65742
