Dark Tower VI - The best thus far?

I never thought I'd say I loved a book more than I love The Drawing of The Three. Even as I read the second installment of the still-forming Dark Tower story, I knew I was in love and that no other story (or piece of a story, as the case may be) would ever come close. However, I'm glad to say that I have proven myself wrong. Song of Susannah excels in doing what all the DT books have done so far: giving us great action, making us jump out of our seats, creating a rich backstory, and of course, it will make you turn the pages faster than you thought was possible. Without getting into spoiler material, DT6 clears up a lot of what happened in Wolves. Susannah's bond with Mia is explained, as are some of the Crimson King's desires. Some readers were scared that the story was getting too schticky when Roland and Crew discovered that Callahan and the events in 'Salems Lot were apparently works of fiction from a writer named Stephen King. Rest assured, this issue is dealt with in a decidely appropriate manner. Also, there's always the question of the rose. I won't say much, but the rose is handled. In true Dark Tower fashion, the book ends with multiple cliffhangers, but I think they're definitely better than the excrutiating ending of The Waste Lands. I'm sure it sounds like I've ne'er seen the book, much less read it, but I'm being vague as to not give too much away. Trust me, when you read this you'll love all of the "Holy Crap!" moments. It seems as if each chapter (stanza) is packed with them. All in all, I'd rate it as my favorite thus far, and I am officially a slave to King until the final installment hits the shelves. Hopefully the next few months pass without incident, say thankya.

Fan-freakin-tastic

As luck (or ka) would have it, I was able to read an advanced reader's copy of book 6 of the Dark Tower. Although it may differ in some ways from the final copy, I doubt it differs that much. Unfortunately, I can't say a whole lot with out spoiling the plot since quite a few loose ends are tied up in this penultimate volume. What I can say is that there is a lot of detail on the tower, the beams and the Crimson King's desires although, that is not the main focus of the book. As everyone says, the book's main focus is Susannah and that is the reason this book shines. The book shifts focus from different times and places and deals with all the people hiding in Susannah's head (there's more than just Mia in there). In that respect this book is alot like Drawing of the Three, one of my favorites in the series. As we all worried, the author does indeed write himself into the series. It's actually kind of a nice trick, since it allows King to chronicle the writing of the book, where he came up with the names of characters and towns, why he almost never finished the series, etc. Another positive: King has kept extreme sci-fi/fantasy references out of this volume (which almost ruined Wolves of the Calla for me) with one sad exception: Lord of the Rings (After a mention that Eddie used to like to read the LOTR trilogy when his brother wasn't around, King feels the need to create a character named John Cullum whose house feels as comfortable as a hobbit's hole). The only negative I can think of is King's heavy handed version of foreshadowing which he uses to tell you who's going to die and one reference that I believe reveals the final ending of the whole saga. Other than that this is actually my favorite book in the series thus far.

A little disappointed but feel compelled to finish it.

What started out as a gritty Sergio Leone-esque/sci-fi epic has begun to spin into a tale of philosophy and mind bending, schizophrenic, dimension hopping. SOS picks up were Wolves leaves off, but goes really nowhere in advancing the story untile the last 60 or so pages. Without spoiling too much, a large chunk of the story takes place inside Susannah's head with a conflict (and explanation) of the Mia character. This goes on a little too long. I can handle the "compartmentalization" of Susannahs brain only so much. Eddie and Roland are left to further explore the meaning of the Dark Tower, while the kid, and Callahan search for Susannah. That's it. There was a moment in the book where I had a flashback to the major plot twist in the television series "Dallas" where Bobby wakes up to realize that the events of an entire season were just a dream. Side note to author: Psst...Writing yourself into your own story is a tad self-indulgent.
Bottom Line: The finale for this series is long overdue (I think King even knows it). Enough dimension hopping (it shouldn't be that easy and I liked it better the first time I read it in Talisman). Let's kill some bad guys and stop worrying about including everything in the "King" universe. Focus on bringing this gunslinger back to his Arthurian roots and we'll have a kick-arse finale!