Khef, ka and ka-tet - Any Dark Tower fans excited over Book 5? (1 Viewer)

[Carlo_M]

Must...stay...away...from...spoilers...

Finally gave in last night and read chapter 1, talk about emotional...

Finally realized I had burned through 30 pages in like 15 minutes and told myself to stop (it was late).

Not sure about an animated series, though it might be the way to go since to shoot it would be hard (lots of weird sets and SFX needed). Could work, if they take the time to do it right, and get the right screenwriter (paging Frank Darabont...paging Frank Darabont...)

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Larry - no, not really. It would make the experience richer if you have read:
Hearts In Atlantis
but you can get by without it.

 

[Jim_C]

I'm on page 292 and can't stop. I'm still not sure how I feel about SK making himself such a prominent character within his own book. It takes away from the fantasy of it all, at least for me.

Other than that, I'm loving this book! I can't believe I'm finally reading it!

 

[Larry Eshleman]

Thanks, Lou. I gotta say, reading this book is making me an emotional train wreck. I'm now about 340 pages in.

I'm at the part right before the chapter "The Battle of Algul Siento" and the feeling of ka-shume is destroying me. The foreboding that one of the ka-tet, that I've grown to care for (more so than any other fictional character I've read about or seen) through these years will likely die has me short a few fingernails. Gotta hope that if the premonitions are true, the gunslinger in question will at least go out like Pere Callahan did...as a hero, remembering the face of their father.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Hang on Larry there are many things yet to come after that.

BTW King throws in a sneaky shot with Star Wars fans and the Breakers.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I'm at Blue Heaven. Really good stuff so far.

 

[Larry Eshleman]

Just finished the book. Wow. It was fantastic; maybe the best of the series. The ending, while not perfect, feels right to me somehow. I'm going to have to let it all sink in to see if these feelings remain true.

Major spoilers follow:

I can count on one hand (Roland's diminished one, even) the number of times a work of fiction has brought me to the edge of tears. I have to admit that this one had them streaming down my face in a few parts:

* Eddie's final speech to Susannah and subsequent death
* Jake's death and Oy's "I Ake"
* Oy's self-sacrifice to save Roland from Mordred
* The Epilogue, where Susannah meets "Eddie" and "Jake" again

It will take me awhile to fully consider the ending, but so far I like to believe that:

* In the Epilogue, "Eddie" and "Jake" Toren have been somehow imbued with the spirits of the Eddie and Jake of the ka-tet, only without their memories of the quest...maybe imposing my own wishes here, but I think that there are no other Eddies or Jakes in any other worlds; these are now the true ones;
* The fact that in the Coda, Roland's repetition of the quest from the Mohaine Desert WITH the horn this time signifies that he is not necessarily doomed to a Sisyphean fate...all he has to do is renounce the Tower once it has been made safe from the Crimson King.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

I read about

Sheemie. I was moved to tears.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Finished it. Loved it.

 

[Jeff Pryor]

I'm not even on page 100 yet. :frowning:

 

[Jim_C]

I'm on page 629 and I hope to finish it tonight. King is killing me. This is an emotional roller coaster.

 

[Jim_C]

Well, I finished last night. Damn good book. At first I wasn't sure how I felt about the ending. Now that it has sunk in for the past 12 hours I've come to the conclusion that the ending is just right.

You know what they say, Ka is a wheel...

Back later for more comments.

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Finished!

Personally, I still think that Wizard and Glass still resonates with me the most emotionally. And the ending to Dark Tower makes.....sense.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

DT7 was excellent. I do love the story from DT2 & DT3. DT4 is my least favourite book.

 

[StephenK]

Received it on issue date, finished it over the next 3 nights and I still can't make up my mind. The ending initially pissed me off.

King introduced the bit about the horn to let us know that, Yes, each cycle can be different, so there's hope of breaking the endless loop. However, the only way for Roland to win is not to enter the Tower. NOTHING ever hints that this will ever happen. His whole f*cking life is the search for the tower, not just to fix it, but to go to the top and find his answers. He is defined as his quest, he is incapable of renouncing it. Despite the little sham of hope at the end, I still think King has condemned Roland to an endless repeating loop and I think it sucks.



That said, it was moving and an appropriate finale

 

[Dome Vongvises]

Either way, the Crimson King is an asshole.

 

[Jeff Pryor]

I'm only nearing page 300. Slow reader I am, but this book is good, way better than I found Song of Susannah to be.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Stephen - who really knows, maybe the next time it could be like what Susannah got.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I like to consider other ways Roland's next go-round might be different. Specifically, I'm seeing Jake hanging from the trestle, and Roland making up his mind to leave him in order to catch Walter. Just as he goes to move away, he feels the horn, or maybe it drops into the abyss. Either way, it puts him in mind of old friends long forgotten, and maybe his decision there is different. I'm thinking Walter wants to palaver with Roland, and wouldn't let that change stop it from happening. Even if that's not the case, I think Roland and Jake could find their way to the Path of the Beam even without the knowledge gained from Walter.

 

[Hugh Jackes]

Having lost my 15-year-old son to an accident in December, the death of Jake moved me to angry, bitter tears. In fact, the copy of Wolves on my bookshelf was a gift for my Tim, and merry Christmas wishes to him are written on the flyleaf.

As to the ending, I cannot think of anyother ending that would have made as much sense for Roland.

BTW, I felt compelled to reread Insomnia .
upon completion of this book so I havetucked in in my briefcase.