Just Finished Dark Tower 7 Want Opnions (TOTAL SPOILERS)

[Zulithe]

Hey all, finished Dark Tower VII earlier this week. The ending left me shellshocked because it was both disappointing (mostly in how the major plot points are resolved, not the actual telling of it) and left you with a feeling that you read 7 books just to see the main character left back at square one. Sorry but after so much reading and getting to know these characters, you want to see more of a resolution. It leaves far, far more questions than it answers, and it is very unlikely they will ever be answered since King has now washed his hands of the whole Dark Tower thing (which King goes out of his way to stress in the writer's note at the end).

I'm still glad I read this series, because it really is amazing, and I agree that book 7 was a real page-turner, but the ending is a disaster. The way Walter is finished off ... really tarnishes his character and how powerful he was built up to be. The Crimson King ... don't even get me started. Pathetic, just pathetic. Big deal so he screams and throws Harry Potter weapons ... WHO CARES!? Give us something more memorable and dreadful than that.

I will say though, the Dandelo part was good. It's just a shame that Dandelo turned out to be more of a threat than Walter and Mordred who King spent far, far more time fleshing out only to have them go out with almost no effort at all.

Have you ever seen a series that went on for so long yet ended in such an unsatisfying way? What were you thinking, Mr. King?

 

[drothgery]

I'd have to agree with the consensus here -- the ending was very unsatisfying.

Other minor annoyances --

• King kept dropping 9/11 references in Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower, but never lets Roland & co. in on why that date's important.
• King's grasp of history seems to be failing
  1. Eddie thinks of Microsoft and Intel as giant, hugely successful corporations. Eddie is a poor, 25-year-old junkie from 1987. In 1987, neither company was well-known outside of techie circles, which Eddie certainly didn't travel in. In particular, there's no reason for him to think investing in Microsoft would be a great idea; the company had just gone public in 1986.
  2. Jake makes references to video games as a really cool thing. Jake's from the 1970s -- we're not even talking Atari 2600; we're talking Pong. Anything beyond that, he heard about from Eddie. And 1987 is still pre-NES days.
  3. In the alt.Earth, Gary Hart was elected president in 1980, and Eddie mentions the affair that (in the real world) ended Hart's run for the presidency -- in 1984.

 

[Merlion]

I think its especially sad because really since his accident, most of what SK has written (Dreamcatcher, From a Buick 8 etc) has not held my attention like his older work. The exception to this was the newer Dark Tower stuff, which lived up to his old standards.

This one did as well in that it was an enjoyable and arresting read, but he went and pooped out on so many things. Especially Walter and the Crimson King. He should have either left their nature a big mystery, or done something bigger with it.

I mean, in Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susanah we're led to believe that Black 13 is like the Eye of the King or something.

I guess thats what annoyed me to is that a lot of these things werent just disapointing, they were inconsistent, both with previous DT books, and with previous books that werent actually part of the Dark Tower directly, but that still had information about it.

In particular, Black House told us more about the DT storyline than any book up to that point had...but much of what happened in DT7 was inconsistent with things said in Black House, especially as far as the Crimson King and all.

 

[The_Universe]

I don't think I was quite as dissatisfied with the final ending as everyone else here. Sure, Roland is back at square one, but there is at least a signal that this will be (could be) Roland's last trip to the tower.

I thought the implication that the Dark Tower (Ka) would put the fate of reality at risk for the sake of one man (over and over again) was interesting, and tells the reader a lot of how King thinks about God.

However, like almost everyone else, I was disappointed as to how King got us to that end. Walter O'Dim's death was far from pleasing, and a villain that has been as built up as the Crimson King should have been...more.

I think I would have been more pleased if the series had continued, rather than ended how it did. The endings seemed incomplete in every way, with almost all of the "loose threads" tied off hastily, at best. King seems to shrug and say, "that's the way the story ends - I'm not in any more control of it than you are" but we all know that's not really the case.

I understand the allure of completing the series, but I think I would have rather waited another 10 years than get the ending I got.

Wolves of the Calla and Song of Susanna both seemed to build well off of the momentum of Wizard and Glass (easily the best of the series), but the final book fumbles where the preceding volumes excelled.

Too bad. AS much as I found the story disatisfying, I have to note that I'm still in awe of how well it was written.

 

[Merlion]

I don't think I was quite as dissatisfied with the final ending as everyone else here. Sure, Roland is back at square one, but there is at least a signal that this will be (could be) Roland's last trip to the tower.

My problem with this is that we dont really know for sure what happend. Did all of existence reset entirely?

Did Roland just get sent back and memory-wiped, but everything they did in the proceeding books is still in place?

Or was the quest completed long ago, and Roland is in some sort of purgotorial punishment for his willingness to sacrifice people for the Tower?

A little more clarification would at least have been nice.



But really, I would have been happier if he'd just left the Coda off, and just had Roland going in to the Tower, and Susanah getting to have a life in the other earth.

That, and fixed the other inconsistencies.

 

[The_Universe]

I think a lack of Coda would have only been dissatisfaction of a different flavor.

As I said above, it's not the actual end that's so bad - it's the end for so many loved characters and villains that's left a bad taste in our collective mouths.

If Jake and Eddie can beat death so easily (albeit on a world other than the Keystone world) I sincerely hope that the Crimson King and Walter/Randall Flagg/Marten are given the same consideration. These are characters who deserved ends as mysterious as Roland's, at least.

 

[Merlion]

As I said above, it's not the actual end that's so bad - it's the end for so many loved characters and villains that's left a bad taste in our collective mouths

For me as I said above the worst part is, I dont feel I know exactly what happend.

Did all time in all realities reset? If so, the whole series has been invalidated.

Did nothing change except for Roland? In this case I have to ask why, since if the quest is done, whats the point?

The only thing that would make any sense would be that the quest was completed long ago, and Roland is now paying the price of his decisions again and again in his own private limbo. But even that makes you wonder...was what we read what actually happend?

 

[The_Universe]

For me as I said above the worst part is, I dont feel I know exactly what happend.

Did all time in all realities reset? If so, the whole series has been invalidated.

Did nothing change except for Roland? In this case I have to ask why, since if the quest is done, whats the point?

The only thing that would make any sense would be that the quest was completed long ago, and Roland is now paying the price of his decisions again and again in his own private limbo. But even that makes you wonder...was what we read what actually happend?

I agree - just trying to justify it to myself. I wasn't expeting to be so...let down.

As I have said elsewhere, I find it sad that I liked From a Buick 8 better than the culmination of the Dark Tower. After all, From a Buick 8 was about nothing less ridiculous than a magic, evil car.

Ugh.

 

[JRRNeiklot]

Why in hell didn't Patrick draw Susannah a pair of legs, and Roland a few fingers?

And throwing a gun made from the melted down Excalibur in the garbage? WTF?

 

[Merlion]

LOL

good question