May 2012's SK Flavor of the Month - Wizard and Glass

This month it's book 4 of The Dark Tower, Wizard and Glass.

Scanning through my shelves, I realized I don't have this one yet (plus I'm finishing up another book) so I'll be a little behind.

This is the first Dark Tower book I really enjoyed, but hated that I knew one thing that was going to happen at the end. The spoiler was in the very first Dark Tower book. Got to give Stephen King a break though. He wrote 'Wizard and Glass' 20 years after the first Dark Tower book.

I have only read the first five. I need to finish the series.

Happy reading everyone.

Just got this from the library today. Probably my favorite or second favorite out of the series. I love Bane and the riddles, they are fantastic. And of course the Susan narrative is really good.

I just started the book on Friday. RL has really cut into my reading time these last few months and I don't like it. Blaine has just arrived at The Hounds of the Falls and is recharging his batteries.

#2 - I don't remember the hint from the first book and I'm glad of it!

Blaine and the riddles reminds me (obviously) of Riddles in the Dark from The Hobbit.

Okay, our quartet (pardon me, ka-tet) arrived in Topeka and Jake has delivered the news. Uh oh... two of my least favourite King works are crossing over...

Okay, I'm near the middle of the book. Roland and Susan just net at the Drop and discussed the number of horses.

While I think this is easily the best of the Dark Tower books yet, I do find myself bored with Roland and Susan. The tension it causes to the plot is good, and I do like reading about Susan's conflicts while she is on her own. But Roland wandering around mooning about Susan or Roland and Susan together... it gets a little cheesy at points for me.

I do think that King finally found a good balance between the traditional fantasy elements of his story and the Old West elements. In the earlier books it felt a little like he would veer to far towards one or the other.

Finally finished yesterday. That was a month spent on the book.

I've never said it about any other Stephen King book, but Wizard and Glass was just too long. I didn't care much for Roland and Susan and their scenes felt too Harlequin romance to me.

Honestly, I'm glad to be done.

I finished this around Memorial Day and forgot to comment. Jseger, I too have to say I did not enjoy the Susan narrative as much as I did when I was a teenager and read the book for the first time (not surprisingly given the harlequin nature of it). Overall the book is great and again the riddles, Eddie's triumph over bane and the confrontation with Flagg is excellent. The ending is really good as well. I think King could have trimmed some fat in the middle, but overall it still remains my favorite book in the series.

I also read King's new book that connects with Wizard and Glass and it was good to read them together. They dovetail well.

Unfortunately I wasn't that into this one. It was a bit of a slog for me; not entirely sure why as when I let myself get immersed in it I enjoyed it, but I found it hard to pick up while I was working on other things.

One of my favorite parts was when Roland called out Eldred Jonas, and later there was a mention of something to the effect of how, "the real gunslingers are here."

I read Wizard and Glass last summer in Kansas and loved it. I was still reading it on the way home on the plane. I sat next to a woman who couldn't contain herself as we were getting off the plane, and had to tell me she reads lots of books but this one is her favorite. I love how books connect us.