Wizard and Glass – Stephen King
Roland and his band of followers have narrowly escaped one world and slipped into the next. There Roland tells them a tale of long-ago love and adventure involving a beautiful and quixotic woman named Susan Delgado. And there they will be drawn into an ancient mystery of spellbinding magic and supreme menace.
Wizard and Glass is book #4 of The Dark Tower series.
This review is free of major spoilers, but you might want to check out my
thoughts on book #1 (The Gunslinger),
book #2 (The Drawing of the Three),
and book #3 (The Waste Lands).
Review: Every time I review another book in The Dark Tower series,
I say, “This book is my favorite in the series.” This review is no exception.
Book #4 is now my new favorite.
In Wizard and Glass, we finally get to see some of Roland’s
backstory. I’ve been waiting so long for this, and I was not disappointed. I loved
seeing Roland as an overconfident fourteen-year-old. Both his character and the
world become more developed in this book. I didn’t think it was possible, but I
like Roland even more after learning some of his history. He’s a complicated
character. His relationships with Susan and his teenage companions—Cuthbert and
Alain—are very believable. I hope the rest of the series includes more stories
from Roland’s past.
The world is so
well-developed and creepy that I felt a sense of dread the whole time I was
reading. Based on the hints given in the previous books, I knew that not
everybody in this book would survive. I cared about all of these characters,
but I knew that some of them were going to die, so the suspense was incredible.
I also like how
this book overlaps with some of King’s other works. I’ve read an embarrassing
number of Stephen King books, and I enjoyed seeing the references to stories
that I read years ago.
This book does
have some of the same issues as the previous books in the series. For me, there
is a fine line between scary and silly. This book crosses that line a few
times, especially at the beginning and the end. Blaine the Mono and The Wizard of Oz castle made me roll my eyes. They’re just a
little too ridiculous for my tastes.
I’m still having
fun with this series. I can’t wait to start the next book.
I think I left a similar comment on your last review, but MAN I need to give this series another try! I read book one many years ago and it was super weird. It looks like this series really takes off though! Great review!
ReplyDeleteTracy @ Cornerfolds
I think you have to have a high tolerance for super weirdness to read this series. Some parts of it are quite odd and not explained very well.
DeleteAj @ Read All The Things!
I have only read one Stephen King - which I am kinda ashamed to admit. I will have to check this series out
ReplyDeleteMissie @ A Flurry of Ponderings
See, now this one was my least favourite of the series. I binged them all in a year, reading only a few books in between, as I couldn't get enough. I love all the ongoing references to other works (it gets better as you go on), and when reading them I was always jumping up and down going 'Oh Oh It's.....'.
ReplyDeleteMy complete fave is the last one though - much sobbing - not out of events, more that it was over.