[Walker]

I won't say the ending and ruin it for anyone who hasn't read the book yet. If you haven't read it yet, there is a paragraph from Stephen King himself where he says that readers should accept this one spot as the ending, and shouldn't read any further. Trust him, and me on this point. DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER.

King started this series of books decades ago. I cannot fathom how he could end it in the manner he did. And to make it worse, almost all of Kings books have some connection to this "Dark Tower" series. So whenever we read one of his other books we are reminded yet again of the terrible, terrible way the "Dark Tower" series ended.

I accept that I'm the type of guy that likes to finish a book or movie with happy thoughts, but I can tolerate tragic endings when they are written in a forthright and believable manner. The ending to the "Dark Tower" series is equivalent to a stupid horror movie where there is always that last thing that happens that ruins the entire movie.

I've read virtually all King's books. The Dark Tower was his best work--until the damn ending. Now the whole series is crap.

lw

[Disgruntled Head of C-3PO]

I think ALL of his horror is total crap.

His best work is the non-horror.

[euchomai]

I love his writing and style, I have always hated his endings. They just seem to hang there, no real clarity on what has just happened. I like total conclusions on my books.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
I think ALL of his horror is total crap.

His best work is the non-horror.

The Dark Tower series isn't horror, though.

Ahem. If you go even further than the Coda (the part which he warns people not to read) then you get an Author's note. DO NOT READ IT if you didn't read the Coda, because it gives away what happened there. But it does say that King himself didn't like the ending from the Coda either. At the same time, he says that it needed to be there.

I'm not really sure what it is people don't like about it though. I understand that the point of the series was the journey, not the destination, but even so I don't really see any flaws in it.

Yes, I've read the Coda. My wife, however, did not. Out of respect for the non-Coda-reading folks here, I ask that no one spoil what happened there.

[f1000]

The first book was great and had a romantic, even mythical feel to it. It was the Legend of King Arthur, but with cowboys. The subsequent ones weren't as good. They were too gritty, explicit, and dependent on technological crutches.

King should've just kept the series to a trilogy of three short books instead of one short one and several long ones.

[Kilbey]

I stopped reading King after finishing "From a Buick 8". That was the worst book I had ever read up until that point in my life.

I did enjoy some of the gunslinger books King wrote.

[MacGorilla]

I thought the first two books were pretty good, especially "The Drawing of the Three" but it went downhill after that. I couldn't finish Wizards and Glass.

I've heard in many other places that the final Dark Tower was Bad.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Kilbey:
I did enjoy some of the gunslinger books King wrote.

That's the series we're talking about. "The Dark Tower" is the official name of the series (and the title of its last book), but it's also sometimes called the Gunslinger series.

[Kilbey]

Originally posted by Millennium:
That's the series we're talking about. "The Dark Tower" is the official name of the series (and the title of its last book), but it's also sometimes called the Gunslinger series.

I guess I am talking about the books from about a decade ago then. As it's been at least that long since I have read them.

[Fiend]

Originally posted by Kilbey:
I guess I am talking about the books from about a decade ago then. As it's been at least that long since I have read them.

All the same, the series is very long running in time.

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Kilbey:
I guess I am talking about the books from about a decade ago then. As it's been at least that long since I have read them.

Those were the first four books of the Dark Tower series, and you've got the timeline just about right. It was always planned for there to be seven books, but after the fourth one he stopped for a long time, and moved on to other projects.

After his car accident, he decided that he needed to finish the series, and so within the last couple of years he wrote and released the last three books. The various endings have caused a lot of controversy, but it's worth noting that even King himself doesn't like the ending from the Coda.

[Rev-O]

The beginnings of the Dark Tower series is a bit odd as well. The Dark Tower was a limited edition, never to be reprinted. Sure, Stephen, sure. Just like Cycle of the Werewolf was a venture into the collectable book market, never to be reprinted. Uh-huh. Then the money started rolling in off of 'em, and a thousand editions later. Never read the Dark Tower stuff. Wanted to have all the books in the series available before I sat down with them, and in that time I have completely lost my taste for Stephen King.
I stopped reading Stephen King because it seems he can't finish a book. He writes himself into a corner and then comes up with an ending that makes you feel cheap. He cheats on his endings, like he decides "Well, I gotta get this thing wrapped up in the next chapter. I've met my page quota."
The Stand: more build up than you can shake a stick at, only to be resolved by a floating handed dues ex machina. First time I felt cheated by Stephen.
It: good book, but the ending was actually silly. Not triumphant, not exciting, not tension filled. Just silly.
Tommyknockers: ummm... nevermind. It was just lame all the way around.
Needful Things: Another entertaining story. Another cheese ending.

I know not all his books end like this, but I'm tired of taking the chance. Read several hundred pages, just to have the ending of the book ruin the entire experience. No thanks. Even with all my bitching about Stephen King, I did read the Green Mile and enjoyed it. While the story was obvious, the serial novel format made it an entertaining read.

[MacGorilla]

This is how the Dark Tower ends: SPOILER!!!


SPOILER!!!!!!!!




























Roland gets to the top to the Dark Tower and opens a door and he is right back at the beginning of his quest, just before the first line in the first book. No kidding. I guess he gets to do it again. and again. and again.

[gumby5647]

For my 1, 567th book....this couple gets attacked.......by ....a LAMP MONSTER!!!!


you're not even trying anymore are you???


RARGH!!


*Sigh* when can i have it...

[Rev-O]

Originally posted by MacGorilla:
This is how the Dark Tower ends: SPOILER!!!

That's my point. Like you need invest time reading 3 or 4 books to get an ending like that. The story of Sisyphus was a few pages long and probably more poignant. Yay! I read how ever many books in the Dark Tower series and it ended with a mulligan! Yippee! Maybe people could just mail checks to Stephen KIng and save themselves the time reading such tripe. What crap.

[Baphomet]

Some people may not like the ending, but I don't see how anyone can say it wasn't completely appropriate. Ka is a wheel, after all.
It doesn't matter how King would have ended The Dark Tower. People would complain regardless. I personally love every DT book, book 4 being my favorite. A work of fiction has never pulled me in like Wizard & Glass did. Amazing stuff!

[videian28]

I just spent the last few months listening to the whole series on my commute (thank god for Audible.com and my iPod)

I was very fond of the series, ending? meh, kinda anti-climatic...but not sure how he coulda done it

[Shaddim]

Ending made perfect sense to me. I really don't see any other way for it to end and was actually expecting something like that.

[Eriamjh]

He wakes up and it was all a dream?

[meelk]

I stopped at wizard and glass as well. They were good up until that point and it suddenly turned sour and stupid.

Originally posted by MacGorilla:
I thought the first two books were pretty good, especially "The Drawing of the Three" but it went downhill after that. I couldn't finish Wizards and Glass.

I've heard in many other places that the final Dark Tower was Bad.

[turtle777]

Originally posted by Disgruntled Head of C-3PO:
I think ALL of his horror is total crap.

His best work is the non-horror.

-t

[Millennium]

Originally posted by Rev-O:
The story of Sisyphus was a few pages long and probably more poignant.

Way to miss the point. The ending is decidedly not Sisyphean, in that it offers Roland a way out, unlike our 'rock star' friend. Most of the point of the series is that ka is a wheel, but not an inescapable one.

[Rev-O]

Originally posted by Millennium:
Way to miss the point. The ending is decidedly not Sisyphean, in that it offers Roland a way out, unlike our 'rock star' friend. Most of the point of the series is that ka is a wheel, but not an inescapable one.

Well, that was my initial thoughts from reading someone else's description of an ending, and if I missed the point, then, c'est la vie. Did I read the book myself? Good God no. From what I've read here in this thread has acted as a reminder as to why Stephen King hasn't darkened my bookselves for years now. It sounds like an interesting idea, but I am quite certain that the execution of said storyline would be somewhat less than satisfying. At least for me.

[MacGorilla]

The Dark Tower books were one of those books I read and thought, "Good idea for a story. Too bad you ruined it."