“The man in black fled across the desert…”

“…and the gunslinger followed.”

Possibly one of the best opening lines of a book ever. Shame the rest of the series didn’t live up to its promise….

Well that’s possibly a bit harsh – it’s a good series, a very good series...but not a great series.

A Tower of Towers

Book 1 was good, book 2 was really good, book 3 was okay, book 4 was really dull, book 5 was really good, book 6 was really good, and book 7 was good.

The ending really let it down – no spoilers, but where was the promised show-down???

It is incredibly ambitious, let’s praise that up front. What other series can offer you gunslingers, killer robots, mutant monsters and time travel?

It’s detailed, it’s wide ranging, it doesn’t shy away from doing unexpected and brutal twists – which leave you shaken but so much more drawn into the narrative.

There are some amazing images, some beautiful characters and the series is littered with incredible ideas, but it just could have done so much more with them with a little more planning and editing. Not to mention a little less ‘up-my-own-arse megalomaniacal metafiction…

I know Mr King writes it as it comes rather than having a plot planned out, but you know what? That shows, and not in a good way. So much wasted potential, so many needless pages of bland garbage. Wizard and Glass was a particular low point for me (though I’ve spoken to others who disagree) as I couldn’t give two figs about the love story, and none of the other characters involved are developed. And it has little bearing on the rest of the series! I would say that Cuthbert and Alain deserved more but you what? I don’t know whether they do – I never got to know them past a few quirks (Cuthbert’s funny and Alain is deep. Full stop.).

Well worth reading, but I’m glad I borrowed them rather than bought them. I would recommend them to people but I doubt I’ll re-read at any point.

I’m glad I read them. I’m glad I went on that journey with those characters, but I don’t feel I’ll carry much of it with me, thankee sai.

*Quote from  Stephen King