‘Go then, there are other worlds than these’ ….

When I started reading the Dark Tower series, I did not anticipate it to so wholly consume me. I was a skeptic to begin with and had to be much talked into reading the first book ‘The Gunslinger’ by my Husband.

I sort of trudged through the first book… Roland’s world, so weirdly different was a mystery with no immediate answers available. I was at times, frustrated with how little I understood of what really was happening. Who was this Gunslinger and why was he following the mysterious Man in Black? How did Jake go from being dead in New York to being alive in Mid World? What really was this world that had moved on? Was it a parallel world or our world after thousands of years? My logical mind could not get over the seemingly apparent gaps of logic in the story. There was no background write up to help the reader build a context of this mysterious new world and I almost stopped reading the book a couple of times. But I am glad I didn’t give up because from Book 2 onwards, the Dark Tower came alive in my imagination vividly and all the pieces, even though not falling into place, started to make a little bit of sense.

‘Drawing of the Three’ (Book 2) was interesting and even mildly amusing in parts. I found Roland’s interpretation of modern New York refreshing. ‘Astin’ always bought a smile to my lips and his surprise at the abundance of our world always made me feel grateful for all that we have and take for granted. With the introduction of Eddie and Detta/Odetta my understanding of Roland and his mission grew but the real submission to this new world happened in Book 3 (The Wastelands).

With Jake and the adorable ‘Oy’ being added to the ‘Ka-tet’ Roland’s Band of Brothers begun to have character and depth. Oy’s amputated repetitions never failed to make me smile and the inexplicable connections that Jake saw in his world to Roland’s world made me wonder about the universe’s grand design. The desolation of Roland’s world, the mutations and the little remnants of a technologically advanced world made me think of movies like the Terminator and Matrix. A world so advanced that it killed itself was not a new thought, but its portrayal in these books is beautifully different.

Book 4 (The Wizard & Glass) was a slight disappointment when I first started it. After the fast paced action of ‘Blain the Pain’, going back to Roland’s backstory with Susan was kind of frustrating. I was so engrossed in the race for the Tower that I didn’t want to waste time on the history of it all, but as I read on, I begun to understand the importance of Book 4 in understanding what went into making Roland. Even so, I still think the whole Mills & Boon angle of the Roland & Susan love story bit could have been edited and made shorter.

Now as I await the delivery of Book 5 (the Wolves of Calla), the Dark Tower grows darker and murkier in my mind and its hold on Roland seems to stretch on beyond him to me.

Sigh… I admit it… I’m a Dark Tower Junkie now.