The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King

[cheetahdriver]

personally, i think (his latest) Duma Key is one of his best, although The Stand has to take the cake as the most frightening book i have ever read. did it in 20hrs straight in college, and i don't think i slept for 3 days afterwards.

only Stephen King could start off a book with the end of the world, and THEN have things go downhill.

however, i will stand by my original contention that of all the books i have read, and all the books i have, the Dark Tower series is recommended over all others.

 

[MarkC]

Originally Posted By: moribundman
Originally Posted By: MarkC
Right now I'm reading a volume of short stories by H.P. Lovecraft.
Very good, if only he hadn't been so fond of exclamation points.


That's just too bad!


I'm not lying!!!!!!
So far each story ends in a small paragraph in italics and the last sentence is always ended with an exclamation point!!!!
Shades of John Browning.

Back to Mr. King, I enjoyed The Long Walk, as well as The Running Man, which was far, far better than the movie.

Several movies based on his books were filmed near my hometown. Silver Bullet and Maximum Overdrive come to mind, as well as The Night Flier.

 

[moribundman]

The Cthulhu is hiding in the basement!

The Long Walk was good for an early work. I believe the entertainment industry is getting close to realizing this particular vision of the future. The same goes for The Running Man.

 

[rpn453]

I thoroughly enjoyed the first few books of The Dark Tower series, especially the first. That was many years ago though. I should probably re-read them and then finish the series.

I'm not a fan of most of King's novels, but I loved his older short stories (Night Shift, Skeleton Crew, Nightmares and Dreamscapes) and the Bachman books. It's been awhile since I read any fiction.

 

[Beehive_Poker]

I first read The Dark Tower when I was in grade school, and it floored me. Then when the second book came out, I enjoyed that as well but not on the same level. The third book bored me to tears, the fourth was an improvement, and the rest of the series was all downhill from there.

Without giving away too many spoilers for those that haven't read yet- the first book was a post apocalyptic fantasy western, and it really worked. (Absolutely stay away from the "revised and expanded" version that came out twenty years later- pure hack work). The rest of the series went from building on the original premise and getting away from the core of what made the first book work so well. By the end of the series, which King stupidly tried to tie in to every other book he had ever written, I just sat back and wondered what went wrong. By the time I'd finished the last book I was severely disappointed that I'd wasted several hours of my life on that series to see it end in a blaze of cliche and deus ex machina cornballing.

I felt like the guy that had been courting a woman for twenty years only to find out on their honeymoon she had male genitalia.

 

[rpn453]

I hear you, Beehive. That's why his short stories are so good; he doesn't have time to get off track.

 

[Camu Mahubah]

So I'll just read The Gunslinger and leave it at that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !


! !

! !

 

[Shannow]

Then go read the Gemmell Jon Shannow novels.

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted By: Camu Mahubah
So I'll just read The Gunslinger and leave it at that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! !


! !

! !


read books one to three, the rest are questioanle

i don't like how he tried to tie all his books together. toom complex. there was enough of it already before the darkt ower series. if you look carefuklly

 

[moribundman]

Throw me a cold one, crinkles! I'm parched.

 

[crinkles]

how'd ya know mate

twas a looong day

 

[moribundman]

I'm psychic.

 

[crinkles]

Originally Posted By: moribundman
I'm psychic.

wow!

 

[moribundman]

I knew that was coming!

 

[crinkles]

what the...

 

[Pablo]

Originally Posted By: Camu Mahubah
So I'll just read The Gunslinger and leave it at that!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


Just get Robert Jordan's "Eye of the World" and start there.