King of Pain

Bianx took issue with me saying that The Dark Tower series (which I mistakenly referred to as The Gunslinger series) ended badly. Yeah, I felt let down pretty much after Book 3 (The Wastelands, probably my favorite installment, with Blaine the Mono and all that riddling).

King took a long time between Book 3 and Book 4 (5 years, I think), and it shows. It's like he couldn't decide how to advance the story, so he bought himself some time and wrote a prequel-of-sorts instead. Then another 6 year hiatus between Wizard and Glass and Wolves of the Calla--and a different direction again. There were some clever touches in Calla (such as the sneetches! You half expected Flagg to pop up saying he was Voldemort...and he still could be, come to think of it) but again it felt like a filler book.

Things finally got moving in Books 6 and 7 (especially 7!) but the fates of Randall Flagg (a kickass character) and Roland were ultimately unsatisfying to this reader. Maybe it's because I was expecting a showdown between Roland and Randall Flagg, just like the Westerns that heavily influenced the series. I wanted an epic battle, something that would make up for all of Flagg's evils in books like Eyes of the Dragon (my favorite, and the only King book I own) and The Stand. I wanted a real ending, darn it, not the ending which I saw coming a mile away.

Instead, I got an ending that felt like a cop-out. Which is one of King's biggest problems: a lot of times he doesn't know how to end his novels. It happened with It, and it happened here (sorry, Bianx).

Despite my disappointment though, I can say I still enjoyed the series. It didn't turn out to be the epic I was expecting after Book 3, but still quite readable. YMMV, obviously.