The Dark Tower by Stephen King - Spoiler alert!

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Frosty
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30 Dec 2007, 2:16 pm

I just finished the whole series and after 3 years off n on reading. The ending was not as bad as I was informed it would be.

Anyone else.


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Irulan
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30 Dec 2007, 3:38 pm

I don't mind spoilers. In fact I was angry because of spoilers only two times in my life: when somebody wrote what's the ending of The Village (but as it turned out it wasn't true) and when during our listening course we were listening to the text of original play written in the 19th century - it was a detective story and one boy from another group told me that it was the inspector who stole the jewels because his group had their lesson earlier.

When the last volume of the Dark Tower series came out I started to look for spoilers to check what's the ending and I must admit that nobody on any forum expected this. I haven't read that volume; I can't get it anywhere in our town, as same as I can't find an e-book in Polish version.



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30 Dec 2007, 4:57 pm

I actually think the ending is interesting, but while pessimistic, it actually leaves things open for a true conclusion.


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30 Dec 2007, 5:14 pm

I loved the series, but was disappointed with the ending.


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30 Dec 2007, 9:54 pm

I don't really think that it could have ended any other way.

One of my favourite SK books was IT. I remember being quite disappointed by the ending - not because it wasn't good - it was... but the rest of the book was brilliant and the ending couldn't possibly compete.

The ending isn't a timeloop... things have moved.



UncleBob
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31 Dec 2007, 8:56 pm

I thought it left a lot to be desired. It felt more like a flawed experiment in metafiction than a coherent series in its own right.



gbollard
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01 Jan 2008, 5:17 am

I'm not sure if it's really a masterwork... but then I can't see the Silmarillion as a masterwork either.



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01 Jan 2008, 5:38 am

You cannot refrain from calling it epic, though.


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gbollard
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01 Jan 2008, 5:54 am

Epic yes...

I'm not sure how much EPIC has to do with running time versus content.

Consider the "Hollywood Epics"

Cleopatra
Ben Hur
Spartacus
The Ten Commandments


I could go on...

It seems like epics need to be
1. Set well in the past.
2. Way too long...
3. Not have sequels
4. Preferably star Charlton Heston

was Charlton in the Dark Tower.... :)



Quatermass
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01 Jan 2008, 6:30 am

Screw Charlton Heston, he's an insensitive NRA prick.


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gbollard
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01 Jan 2008, 6:40 am

Quote:
Screw Charlton Heston


Guns or no guns... he's just not my type.



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01 Jan 2008, 6:51 am

gbollard wrote:
Quote:
Screw Charlton Heston


Guns or no guns... he's just not my type.


I didn't mean it that way. 8O


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Frosty
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15 Jan 2008, 5:07 pm

I have not had time to post my review, I was going to review the series. I was happy Roland survived it in the end.


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ignisfatuus
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19 Feb 2008, 2:47 am

The ending was good. The last three books were poor though. Wizard and Glass was the best of the seven.

As for "epic", I think that appellation gets thrown around too much when discussing fantasy novels. Does it refer to breadth and depth of the fantasy world, prose of the writer, originality, etc.? I wouldn't classify it as such, anyhow. The writing only rose to something approaching exceptional in the novel mentioned above, and the depth of the world is far from expansive.



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19 Feb 2008, 11:51 am

I finished it about 2 and a half years ago since starting the series from book one in 1988. By about the middle of book four, I could see what was happening with the series. --I also wasn't that thrilled with the ending of the series, however it was a somewhat interesting way to end it.


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gbollard
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19 Feb 2008, 4:54 pm

I thought they were all pretty good in their own way and did open up a lot of worlds.

I was a bit sad when they left a lot of worlds with unanswered questions but I guess that's just the way it had to be.

I'd agree that it was EPIC insofar as it spanned worlds in content/scope.

Epic doesn't always mean good though - look at Stephen Donaldson and Frank Herbert - they're supposed to be epic but I wouldn't say that they were great reads.