Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, Book 4)

Okay, mathematically, here's how I calculate 1 star for this drivel. FIVE stars for the first 112 pages and the last 61 pages, which is almost exactly 1/4 of the total of 672 pages. So that's .25 x 5 = 1.25 stars. ZERO stars for the other 500 pages. Total stars = 1.25. Round to one star.
Now some advice: 1. find the book in your local library (or the unabrdiged audio version). 2. Read the first 110 pages, which advance the story of the Dark Tower and are great. 3. Use this instead of the next 400 pages: "As a teenager, Roland falls in love with a girl. She dies, and so do his 2 friends." 4. Read the last 60 pages of the book, which advance the story. There, wasn't that easy? You're welcome.
The first three volumes are sprinkled fairly heavily with references to Susan Delgado, and one assumes she is dead. Ditto for Alain and Cuthbert, Roland's two friends. So there is absolutely no suspense, and for me absolutely no interest, in reading page after page after page of juvenile love story.
In books like this, there are several "kisses of death", severl omerta if you will. The first is when I quit a book part way through, because I'm just not into it. (That happened with this book). Then, if I resume the book, I try to find the unabridged audio and listen to it while I exercise. (That happened here, too). Rarely does this fail to get me through the book, but of course... When I got to the audio part about Alain whining about going back to the Hillock because Jonas was destroying it... yuck. So I quit the audio version too, went home and tore out the first 400 pages of the book and put them in the recycling bin. At least no one else will suffer through THIS copy of the book.
Now I have returned to the print versiion, tearing out sections as I read. A sense of accomplishment, don't you know. And so, dear reader, do I plod my ponderous path through this pithy pablum. I really do want to read volumes 5-7 but Mr. King is trying my patience mightily.
I have even started rooting for the bad guys, which is the ultimate kiss of death, I suppose. I mean, maybe the Good Man isn't so bad after all. Keeps a lot of people employed, it seems.
In conclusion, read the beginning and end and skip the rest. Use the saved time to do something enjoyable.

This is the fourth book in The Dark Tower series. It is 670 pages alone. King says the whole story will be seven volumes. I don't know if it's the fact that I'm also reading a book called A SHORT HISTORY OF EVERYTHING that's only 470 pages or that Tolkien told basically the same story as The Dark Tower in a mere 1012 pages, but King seems to have lost his editor. I was bored. Most of this book is flashback, which automatically makes it less engaging. And I didn't really care about the characters so much, the ones in the present, or the flashback. And I thought the writing was heavy-handed and cheesy. King took a long time to write this book after finishing the third in the series. He said in an interview that it was because he was afraid of the love story he had to write. I can see why. It's pretty generic. The only part I liked about the book was that the end, which I won't ruin. I'm surprised so many people have given this good reviews. To each his own, I guess. For me, I'm done with the Dark Tower with this one.

When I had first picked up the Gunslinger series, it was unlike anything I had ever read before. The descriptions of a post- apocalyptic future rang horribly true and real for me, and Roland had the dark appeal of a man with a noble cause doing questionable acts in the hopes that one day it would all be justified by the ends.
The more I read the more I became trapped in the world that King had created, and as a reader Roland's quest became my quest. What was the Dark Tower? What would happen in the final climax? Who would walk away in the after math to start the day anew?
Needless, to say King had me wrapped around his pinky in a manner of speaking.
However, the spell was not to last.
The fourth book came out, and with it came perhaps the one of the greatest insults to story and innovation I have ever witnessed a creator inflict on his own creations.
The DT series went from being a powerful tale that lampooned many of the stereotypes associated with the genre, to one that shamelessly espoused it.
The love interest has always been the bane of almost every form of entertainment be it film or literature. S/he is the anti-thesis of the hero and often makes one either gag or roll their eyes in exasperation at his or her blandness and/or sheer stupidity. Susan here is no different from every other typical damsel in distress we've been forced to swallow since childhood in fairytales. As another reviewer once stated there is nothing particularly beautiful or admirable about her, and we only know that she is pleasing to look at because King tells us so, however other than that she is merely a foil for Roland's own character rather than a real character herself. She isn't smart, she isn't strong willed, she doesn't actively try to refute the machinations of her aunt, nor does she have any real defining qualities but her supposed beauty. The maddening thing about this is that when one reads King's Dolores Claiborne, Rose Madder, and Gerald's Game it is quite clear that he is more than capable of writing interesting and strong females characters and as such one can only assume that he does this on purpose so as not to detract from the main characters.
However, Susan herself isn't the only thing that brings down the whole novel. The very idea that King has written a book about a single flashback into Roland's past that for all intents and purposes has no bearing on the current events is the problem. The concept is inherently flawed, then to devote 400 pages to it plus cliche characters , plus a cheezy love story makes one want to vomit all over the book, and a super sexually charged Roland- that no woman can resist- seems more like an ideal rather than the rugged fanatic he was depicted to be in the previous books... Add all these things together and you have a book that seems more like a Harlequinn Romance rather than a King novel.
The characters of Alain, and Cuthbert are no better than Susan in their cheeziness they are again identified by gimmicks: Cuthbert as the sly risk taker, and Alain as the sweet, innocent boy who would stick up for any of his friends *TM.. and dear god the bit at the end with the ruby cowboy boots was just taking pop culture too far...
The only thing I can think of in an attempt to explain the popularity of such below standard piece of work is the name of Stephen King, like other authors his name has such commercial drive that even if he slapped it on to a turd it would sell..
As I said even after revisting it years later, I find it to be as much an insult to me as a fan, a woman, and reader, as it had been when I picked it up so long ago as it is now, and maybe even more so. I still have difficulty accepting how something so good just went to hell and never came back, and how a creator could be so calloused as to let it happen.
ON a final note:
Please Mr. King go back to Robert Browning's disenfranchised and stoic Childe Roland, literary brother and the heart and soul of Roland of Gilead.

I would give the first three Dark Tower books four stars. This one is offensively bad and to make matters worse, you're forced to read it all to keep up with the tales of the gunslinger. Right in the middle of this novel King makes you muddle through a 236 page Harlequin romance of the chaste Susan Delgado who must sell her virtue to the town mayor at the behest of her evil aunt. Give me a break and get me out of this screed! Just another 120 pages to go...

You can't go much higher in my estimation than Stephen King did with Wizard and Glass. It is the greatest of the Dark Tower books so far--The Dark Tower itself not yet released--and along with Desperation, one of the two greatest books yet published by Sai King. But before I move into superlatives, let me first set the stage for my review by telling you how I encountered this book.

Picture in your mind if you will, a twenty-year-old father. Imagine that this father works 53 hours a week on a four day schedule. Imagine further, that this father also is taking 16 credit hours in college on a two day schedule.

You got it?

Good.

That was me at the time I first read (actually, listened--to a wonderful recording read by the King of audiobooks, Frank Muller) Wizard and Glass. Some nights I came home and only had enough strength to push play and fall into bed. I do not say this to whine, I say it to show the power of story in general, and this one in particular.

By every logical, biological, and plain old commonsense measure, I should have been dead to the world on those nights. Yet Wizard and Glass was story enough to keep me awake well past what should have been my bedtime. Roland of Gilead's longing, once dead, but now reawakening heart held a great affinity for me.

In Wizard and Glass, King captures both the banality and the wonderful, hormone-driven mess that is teenage love. He also fleshes out one of the greatest characters (and my favorite) in the Dark Tower series: Cuthbert Allgood. Roland's fireside chat is quite a thing.

Perhaps it is the best thing King has ever done.

If you have not read the Dark Tower series, do so. This book alone is worth the journey.

I give Wizard and Glass my absolute highest recommendation.

I have thoroughly enjoyed King's Dark Tower novels, from The Gunslinger all the way through the final installment, The Dark Tower. However, despite the overall excellence of this postmodern dark fantasy, that's not to say he made some missteps along the way. Wizard and Glass, while well-written and interesting, fails to advance the actual plot of the series, and it seems as though King is treading water.

Picking up right where The Wasteland's cliffhanger leaves off, we find our Ka-Tet aboard Blaine the Mono attempting to answer his riddle and making a dramatic escape (I won't tell you how). Afterwards, continuing their quest, Roland recounts the tale of his youthful days and his lost love out on the plains long and long and long ago. This is an elegantly-told, bittersweet, doomed saga that includes intrigue, magic, action, post-apocalyptic horror, love and deep, despairing loss worthy of Roland Deschain's bleak universe. It's an integral tale for the series, and is long on character development and atmosphere, but doesn't add anything in the way of plot or advancement to the tale - if anything, it keeps the series at a standstill. However, necessary reading for any Dark Tower fan.

The fourth volume in Stephen King's Dark Tower series is easily the best so far; after the starkness of the desert through which Roland and his companions have been wandering in almost all of "The Waste Lands," it's a relief to see King back in familiar territory: small-town evil and with big-time consequences. Most of the book is composed of Roland's childhood as recounted to his ka-tet, and it's both a welcome break and a spectacular chunk of storytelling; a western horror/fantasy/adventure story that tells of Roland's coming of age, and of his friends Cuthbert, Alain, and his lover Susan. The villains here are particularly memorable, notably Eldred Jonas, as evil and conniving a bully as you could wish for.

By the time Roland finishes the tale and pulls readers back on the path of the Beam, many will find themselves reluctant to leave Hambry and Gilead behind and return to the action of the main story, but King has a number of surprises waiting in the final chapter of the book, especially a gentleman whose initials are R.F.

The idea (mostly vetted by snobs) that King's books are somehow "less literary" than most of the self-important crap that gets paraded around as serious fiction is unlikely to be quelled by this installment in The Dark Tower heptalogy. It's fun to read, and King cares more about narrative and character development than he does about sounding clever or minting new phrases. Still, it's interesting to see that the man who was constantly vilified and shunned as both immoral and unimportant has proved himself not only a master storyteller, but an unpretentious moralist as well.

Oh, go read it.

Earlier this year, upon hearing that Stephen King had completed the Dark Tower series and that the last 2 books were to be published in 2004, I chose to finally crack up this series. I was immediately enchanted by the truly grandiose landscape that King was painting and thought the first 3 books were excellent, especially #3 The Waste Lands. It is in this third novel that the path to the dark tower finally became clear and oh so much happened in that book to advance the story. The fourth novel Wizard and Glass, although a fine literary achievement, does practically nothing to advance the series.
The story of Wizard and Glass picks up immediately where the third book left off, with Roland and his companions trapped aboard Blaine the monorail, a suicidal train running at a speed of about 800 miles an hour. Blaine, who adores riddles, cuts a deal with the group whereby they must ask him a bunch of riddles and if they happen to stump him on one he'll let them off the train safely. Once safe and sound, the group sit around a campfire and it is here that Roland will tell them the tale he had promised to tell. It is a tale of Roland at the age of fourteen and two of his friends, Cuthbert and Alain, who leave the land of Gilead after being sent west on a mission by Roland's father. They settle into the county of Hambry, where Roland will fall in love with a woman named Susan, and make enemies with almost everyone in town.
I was aware before diving into Wizard and Glass that the majority of the novel was set in Roland's past and welcomed the idea with open arms, wanting to learn more about Roland. The book focused on the wrong things however. I was hoping for things like character development on Roland's parents and on his mother's affair with the wizard Marten that devastated family dynamics. Or of Roland's training as a young gunslinger at the hands of Cort. Cort appears to be such a fascinating character and this would have seemed to be the best opportunity for King to develop him but alas he barely gets a mention. Or how about digging into the roots of Roland's obsession with reaching the dark tower? Nope, not in this book. The 500 pages focus pretty much on events that bear little to do on the quest to the dark tower. Roland falls in love. Great. Him and his companions battle forces of evil in a small town. Great.
To be fair, King does weave an enchanting tale that is fun to read, therefore that's why I still gave this book a high rating despite my frustrations. The town of Hambry is vividly captured, the setting feels magical, the characters really burst to life. The love story between Roland and Susan is heartfelt. I also found Rhea, the witch who lives on top of a cliff, to be an amazing character. Every scene with her was great, and lent some much-needed gloom to a story that otherwise would have had all the gloom of a harlequin romance novel. One problem that bordered me immensely: Roland is narrating the tale to his friends around a campfire. So how does he know all corners of the story? Such as all the things that happened between closed doors in Rhea's lair, or in Susan's home, at the Sherrif's office, all events where he was not present. Around the campfire, Eddie Dean asks him precisely this question, to which Roland replies:"I don't think that's what you really want to know Eddie". A one sentence cop-out for something that just doesn't make any sense. Or maybe Roland knows all these things because he saw them through the crystal ball? It's not explained and I've given up trying to make sense of it.
My final analysis of Wizard and Glass is that although still good, so far this is the weakest entry in the series especially after the absolute high that was "The Waste Lands". Wizard and Glass reads well as a singular tale, but for those looking for advancement towards the dark tower I would actually go so far as to recommend reading only the first 112 pages and the last 60 and skipping everything in the middle. It would be a much better use of time.

This was the first book I EVER READ FROM King. and I was astounded! What a love for words...What a story to tell and what a way to imagine it...I read it because I had broken my leg...I had to spend time besides sleeping and watching TV. and this book was the only one in my reach...I remember being regretful.Reading a lousy horror chap's book? God, how wrong I was...I never thought King might be so passionate. The story flows like nothing else..simply pulls you in...period. Pity for Suzan and Roland...how they are similar to many Suzans and Rolands in the past, in present and in future! Bravo, King, you've created another addict.. you deserve your crown very righteously and you who dislike him go and eat your fingers! Now I am on full way to the first book Gunslinger and King's back catalogue. I heartily recommend to anyone who has never read a King. You will not regret. He did not only make me a fun of him but the entire horror genre (Of course I've found no one that tops him so far)

When I first finished The Waste Lands and picked up Wizard and Glass, I was ultra-excited to continue on with the series. Then I read that Wizard and Glass was basically one huge flashback about Roland's life before the Dark Tower became his sole motivation. When I read that, I almost considered skipping the book entirely, and just reading a summary in the argument in the next book, but now I am really glad I didn't do that.

Wizard and Glass starts out immediately following where The Waste Lands left off. Roland, Eddie, Susannah, and Jake are aboard Blaine the mono, and they are about to engage in a riddling battle to the death. Blaine the mono is a really cool character, and I was a little sad to see his story cut short. Once Blaine has been dealt with, the ka-tet arrives in a version of Topeka, Kansas that has been ravaged by the Superflu. The ka-tet moves through the abandoned town and eventually starts to catch glimpses of a huge green palace in the distance. But before they get there, the group palavers one night, and Roland tells them his story.

Roland's story is largely a romance between he and a girl he meets when he and his two friends (Cuthbert and Alain) are sent out west by Roland's father. Roland and Susan fall in love with each other, but their love is forbidden, of course, and meanwhile, Roland is losing focus on what is really important in the Barony of Mejis. There are a group of men trying to use the town's resources for John Farson, the Good Man, to wage war on the rest of the world.

Wizard and Glass is a very long, very in-depth love story at its heart. Sure, it's got action and suspense and gore, but the meat of the novel is devoted to fleshing out Susan Delgado and the love she shares with Roland. Obviously, she weighs on Roland's heart all the time, and King wants the reader to understand why. In my opinion, the reason that the novel is so well done is because of King's patient writing style, and his ability to demand patience from his readers. The whole book is basically a build-up to about 50 pages worth of climax, but still, once you get there, the previuos 400 pages are all worth it.

This novel, I can tell, is where the series might start to go off the deep end. But that's ok. The weird situation at the end is still exciting, and it makes you want more. So as long as there are answers at the end of this, I'm loving the ride.