Book(s) Review: The Dark Tower by Stephen King

Stephen King's fantasy saga The Dark Tower is one of the longest, most ambitious works in a genre that is home to long, ambitious works. Fantasy writers just can't seem to keep their creations to a single volume.

I started the series back in the 1980s but decided to put off reading the entire thing when I learned the extent of King's plans for the story. Beginning in 1982, the first four volumes were released over spans of five, four, and six years; I can't remember the details that long, so I waited 'til I could read it all at once. King finished the series with a flurry, with volumes five through seven all published in 2003 and 2004. I think his near-fatal accident in 1999 (he was hit by a car) caused King to truly get down to business on The Dark Tower, the first line of which he wrote back in 1970. He said he didn't want an Edwin Drood in his catalog.

And, after 3,948 pages, it turns out the first line ("The man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed.") was the best part of the entire series. As King himself wrote, "The rest might have been puff and blow, but, man, that was clean." It also turns out, however, that the author's assessment wasn't entirely correct. The ending was brilliant. But the middle - if you consider the 3,946 pages from the second line to the final two pages the "middle" - really was just puff and blow. The Dark Tower was a promising idea, a western/fantasy hybrid, but it wound up being standard fantasy from an author whose writing talent can't possibly catch up with his imagination (something King himself has admitted, if I interpret his remarks correctly). There were the doorways between worlds, characters with Methuselah-like life spans, magic talismans, and, of course, the strange creatures, both terrible and lovable, that inhabit any fantasy epic worth its salt.

The ending, as I said, was brilliant. It was brilliant because, unlike the rest of the book, it wasn't the typical fantasy. Without going into details, we learn on the final page that Roland, the hero, is doomed both to forget and repeat his history, so his whole quest for the Dark Tower is one he has likely repeated countless times before and one he just might repeat into eternity. King did throw in one hint, one ray of hope, that Roland's next trek to the Dark Tower just might be his last. At first the ending maddened me, but, as it sunk in, I began to realize it was perfect. The ending was almost shocking after investing so much time reading all seven volumes, all the while assuming I knew how it would turn out.

I'm glad I finally read the whole series, but King sure could use an editor to tighten things up. As with all of his work, The Dark Tower could have been much more concise, much more intense. But it's Stephen King. You don't read his books for literary fulfillment.