Stephen King Dark Tower series

the_monkey

Hi all,
first off I am a big fan of Stephen King and loved The Stand.
I had never read the Dark Tower series cos I'm not big into fantasy (allthough I did enjoy The Lord of the Rings).

Finally started The Gunslinger and 50 pages in.

It's ok but I´m a bit distracted by

the fact that the man in black is Randall Flagg - so is this set in the same universe as the Stand but 1000 years or so later ? is it Earth ? there is references to our world - like the song Hey Jude

anyway, it's strange, I know I should just keep reading , but is it worth the investment ?

Paddy Samurai

While I liked The Stand big time ,I only read the first one in the Dark Tower series a long time back ,and thought it was just ok at the time. Never got around to reading any of the others in the series ,so don't know if they improved. Hopefully someday I might give them another go.

If you liked the stand i would recommend that you try Swan Song by Robert Mccammon .Any friends that have read it including Stephen King fans have preferred it.

GLaDOS

I'm a big fan of the Dark Tower series, though I acknowledge that there are plenty of flaws with it. I just fell in love the universe. For me the first 4 books were the strongest. I suppose if you're not feeling it by the end of the 1st book maybe it's not worth the investment, certainly if you're not convinced by the end of the 2nd it's probably not worth it.

the_monkey wrote: »

It's ok but I´m a bit distracted by

the fact that the man in black is Randall Flagg - so is this set in the same universe as the Stand but 1000 years or so later ? is it Earth ? there is references to our world - like the song Hey Jude

anyway, it's strange, I know I should just keep reading , but is it worth the investment ?

There is a huge amount of crossover between The Dark Tower and other Stephen King novels, including characters and events from other books appearing and being referenced in TDT and vice versa. Some are more obvious than others. I won't say anything about the world itself, just that your questions are answered as you read through the series.

Censorsh!t

I just finished reading them all (Except The Wind Through the Keyhole which I must get to soon), and loved them. One or two of the books weren't as good as the others, but in general a great read. The Gunslinger was probably one of my least favourite - the story doesn't really pick up until the second or third book.

mrsmop1

I loved them all. I started reading Stephen King when I was a teenager then took a very long break from him. The Dark Tower series was recommended to me by a friend a few years ago and I decided to give it another try. I am glad I did, I couldn't put the books down. I too loved the universe, keep going, it's worth it.

Thargor

Paddy Samurai wrote: »

While I liked The Stand big time ,I only read the first one in the Dark Tower series a long time back ,and thought it was just ok at the time. Never got around to reading any of the others in the series ,so don't know if they improved. Hopefully someday I might give them another go.

If you liked the stand i would recommend that you try Swan Song by Robert Mccammon .Any friends that have read it including Stephen King fans have preferred it.

I honestly dont know how anyone could prefer Swan Song to the Stand. The Stand is classic King and Swan Song is just... mush.

Paddy Samurai

Thargor wrote: »

I honestly dont know how anyone could prefer Swan Song to the Stand. The Stand is classic King and Swan Song is just... mush.

Thargor while I respect your right to voice your opinion on Swan Song , IMO its a ludicrous statement to refer to Swan Song as mush. If you search on line including Stephen king fan sites , you will see that even the most rabid Stephen King fan is prepared to give Swan Song its due. On many sites Stephen King fans/followers refer to it as good as The Stand and occasionally as better than The Stand . Equally their are others that feel the opposite, but nowhere have I seen anyone ever refer to it as mush..
I myself have recommended the book to at least 10 people over the years, about half of whom have read The Stand and preferred Swan Song to it. No one I know that has read it considered it anything other than epic.
Regarding King who I admired and read for many years ,my favourite books of his would be Salems Lot followed by The Stand. People are always comparing King versus Mccammon books because of their similar storylines ,more so in America where Mccammon is better known. Myself comparing a couple of their books, I preferred Kings Salems Lot over They Thirst by Mccammon. But I also thought that McCammons Stinger was better than Under the Dome.
But that’s what makes the world interesting ,different strokes……………..

An interesting titbit is that Swan Song (McCammon) tied with Misery (King) for the 1988 Bram Stoker Award for outstanding achievement in horror and dark fantasy

Craigs Book Club rightly notes, "Epic in scope, Swan Song approaches 1000 pages. This may turn some off, but the pages are full and not a word is wasted. Fans of The Stand may scoff at the similar plot, but I can say that, even as a fan of The Stand myself, I was able to lose myself in this horrible world and forget all about Stephen King's."
http://talkstephenking.blogspot.ie/2009/10/swan-song-verses-stand.html

B_Wayne

I finished Swan Song a few nights back, I really loved it. It felt much more visceral than The Stand and I really loved it. Had some minor gripes but loved the vast majority of it.

Wailin

Thargor wrote: »

I honestly dont know how anyone could prefer Swan Song to the Stand. The Stand is classic King and Swan Song is just... mush.

That's your opinion. Personally I thought The Stand was way over hyped and certainly nowhere near Kings best.

Like some other posters here, I read the Gunslinger and thought it was only ok. Not good enough to interest me in the rest.

Lovely Bloke

The Gunslinger is a bit different in tone and style to the rest of the series imo, and the real story only gets going with The Drawing of the Three

nc6000

I'm really enjoying The Gunslinger so far. Just wondering about the ending of the whole Dark Tower series and if it's worth reading them all? I know some of King's ending aren't great and I don't want to get through 8 books to end up disappointed.

RoadhouseBlues

All I can say is that they were part of growing up and in later years the wait for the next one was a fecker:-):-):-). I loved them, but I agree that the story doesn't really get going until about the third one. I guarantee you though if you give them a chance they will be your best friend but at times they will break your heart with grief. Long days and pleasant nights:-)

Snake Plisken

I read them all and thought they were great up until the cop out ending! Really Felt cheated and I'd be Mr Kings biggest fans.