Monday, April 20, 2015

Review: Wizard and Glass – Stephen King


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.

4 comments:

  1. 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!

    Tracy @ Cornerfolds

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    1. 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.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. I have only read one Stephen King - which I am kinda ashamed to admit. I will have to check this series out
    Missie @ A Flurry of Ponderings

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  3. 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.....'.
    My complete fave is the last one though - much sobbing - not out of events, more that it was over.

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