There was so much of that in Eyes on the Dragon I wanted to throw the book across the room a couple times.
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I hated Mia too. I was never a big fan of Susannah either...I did like Detta Walker though :evil:
IMO, this book didn't do much to advance the series. If the rumors are true and they really are going to make a movie out of TDT series, this book can be covered in 20 minutes. To me, this book was just blah.
Of course, I hate Susannah, so......
many people do, while bears love her
Susannah was never really my fav but I got to kind of like her in this book. Plus I love the whole bit of Jake, Oy and Father Callahan being in New York.
I think it does advance the series because the whole thing with Mia gives more info on the Crimson King and Fedic. Also you have the whole story line with King and explaining Callahan's appearnace.
But each to their own :)
I just didn't get much impact from it and was left really unsatisfied. I tore straight into Dark Tower VII, I have been thinking on this one a lot lately trying to figure out what I didn't like about it and just can't seem to put my finger on it. I think it just comes down to the fact that most of hte other books could easily stand on there own without a reader needing to read the series in order where this one was more of a "serial novel", you needed to know everything about the backstory to understand anything of this one. It seemed almost like it could have been part of DT7 instead of standing on its own.
I don't think any of them stands on its own. I always considered the DT to be one seven-volumes long book.
This is NOT my least favorite of the series. My least favorite was Wizard of Glass. I didn't like the diversion into Roland's past. I liked to have him left in a shroud of mystery. This would probably be my second least favorite, but not my first.
Not to say that the back story for Roland wasn't good, I just thought the parts about his past should have been made into a different book, and then we keep on with more about their journey in that particular book.
I used to not really like Susannah but she grew on me, and I liked that they did more with her character. She seemed 2-dimensional for a while, but that was partly her disorder. True, she was not as well-rounded a character as Eddie, or Roland, or Oy, but neither was Jake and almost everyone likes Jake!
As for his books, I felt the last four were not as rounded, and were more forced - as has been said before - than the first three. The first three absolutely hands down some of the best books ever, the last 4, well I'm waiting for the revised editions. :D
This is not my least favorite of the series, either; that honor goes to Wizard and Glass for pretty much the same reason Lady Hitchhiker had. The reason it is my 2nd to least favorite is a lot of the same stuff everyone else has said: Mordred and Mia.
Some parts of this book are written very, very well; the ambush in Maine, the meeting with John Cullum, the entire sequence with Jake and Father Callahan, but the Mia/Mordred issue just dragged. They spend most of their time bickering with each other about going to the Dixie Pig when we've known since book five that that's what their destination is. Susannah is, in my opinion, far too sympathetic and willing to cooperate with this woman who has screwed with her life and almost killed her husband and ka-tet.
I felt no sympathy and little interest in Mia, a whiny, petulant, stupid spirit who fixated on one thing to the exclusion of everything else and damned her self for it. (And yes, I realize that's one of the themes of the series, but I still didn't like her character.
I find Susannah a very hard character to evaluate because of her multiple personalities. For me, Susannah is a very hard character to understand. I do not dislike her, although she's certainly not my favorite in the books, but I simply dont find her an appealling character and her massive flaws (her snobbishness, her judgemental nature, and her multiple personalities) are simply not enough to balance out her good qualities.Quote:
I used to not really like Susannah but she grew on me, and I liked that they did more with her character. She seemed 2-dimensional for a while, but that was partly her disorder. True, she was not as well-rounded a character as Eddie, or Roland, or Oy, but neither was Jake and almost everyone likes Jake!
I would disagree that Jake's not a well rounded character. Maybe not as much as Eddie, who admittedly was King's favorite, but we see Jake unfold as a character throughout the books. Certainly, I'd agree that in the Gunslinger Jake is not a well rounded character, partially because It's from Roland's POV and Roland doesn't want to see Jake, period; but in other books we see a lot of layers to Jake. He's neglected, abandoned, smart, lonley, and desperate for someone to love him. Throughout the books we see him fight, run, grieve, suffer and play. (And die, or course). It's through Jake and Roland that we evaluate the themes of parenthood and sacrifice.
I think what might make Jake seem like a less dynamic character than Susannah (or Eddie, or Roland) is that he doesn't have some epic personal/moral struggle to overcome like the others do. Jake doesn't have multiple personalities, he doesn't have a Tower obsession; he's not addicted to Heroin. Jake almost goes nuts in TWL and has to trust Roland again, but those aren't moral failings of Jakes. I guess what I'm saying is Jake in TDT isn't that differerent in personality and morality than Jake in The Gunslinger. He's hardened quite a bit, and he's braver, but he's still calm, professional and thoughtful at his core.
But I'm diverting off topic. To summarize; not my least favorite, definitely not my favorite; too much Mia.
I just found that it's my least favorite because a) just like so many people said, I simply liked the other 6 better; and b) the Mia storyline. I actually loved Jake, Callahan, and Oy in New York; Roland, Eddie, and John Cullum in Maine, plus the whole gunfight...Mia kind of soured me on the book. Maybe my blame isn't on SoS itself but JUST the Mia storyline...we've already had "crazy" Susannah, bringing her back was just rehashing IMO. Plus, I felt the end didn't even live up to the hype! I mean, It just didn't add anything to the story in the big picture, just a bit of backstory/history which I think King could have found other, more meaningful ways to do rather than force the Mia/Susannah storyline.
Don't even get me started on the whole adding himself in his own book part, either =)
Sorry for the rant!
Ah it's good to see that folk after all these years of originally starting this thread are still posting their wrong opinions that they definitely have a right to. If Song of Susannah isn't in your top of the series then you simply don't get The Dark Tower Series and must go and read something more stimulating to a mind-set such as yours like Ronald McDonald stories or Sesame Street....
;-)
look who's posting...
bears agree with the essense of the post, though...
:emot-flame::FU: <---These new smileys are great. When did you get them? It's almost as if I've been away for years.
Awwwwwwww Letti, it's good you know what your place is.... :couple:
But of course! :rose:
I just started SOS this past weekend. Im about 100 pages in. I am not enjoying it very much, and I am having to force myself to pay attention and not daydream. The whole struggle interal struggle with Mia/Suze isn't very interesting (at least not 400 pages interesting).
Suze is my least favorite. And it's not because she's black, it's because she's a woman...
I kid...
Seriously, she just doesnt DO anything, really. Its like... she's just there for the hell of it.
Id rather read 400 pages about Oy to be honest.