Group 1: The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah

[mae]

The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah, 2004

Please grade The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah in the following three areas using the grades A, B, or C:

• Strength of Plot
• Character Development
• Quality of the Story's Ending

If you haven't read this book yet, please vote Never Read. Feel free to discuss your votes in this thread.

Please base your vote only on this book's own merits, not how it fits into the series as a whole.

IMPORTANT: Please make sure to select only one grade in each grading area. For complete instructions, see this post.

[Daghain]

Straight B's for me. I thought it was good, but I think there was some room for improvement there.

[mae]

Straight As here. As I've said again and again, this is my second favorite DT novel.

[Jean]

Straight As here. As I've said again and again, this is my second favorite DT novel.

same here! same here!

[turtlex]

I'm with pablo and Jean on this one. One of my favorites.

[Sam]

CAC for me. Great character development, but weak everywhere else.

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

CBC

[Riostar]

All B's for me. This is my next to last least favorite book or the series.

[John_and_Yoko]

Three choices are so not enough....

B for plot because I enjoyed it but the plot doesn't end in this volume, nor does it even really start in this volume. Besides which it isn't really a "plot" volume per se, and the short-term goal here is somewhat off the point.

B for character because I'm considering it in terms of this volume in particular, not the series as a whole up until this point, and I don't recall a whole lot of character development within the pages of this particular volume.

B for ending because there IS no real ending, but I've seen worse (and better).

[Melike]

All B's for me. This is my next to last least favorite book or the series.

Same here. BBC.

[Jean]

gr gr gr

[Melike]

gr gr gr

Oh.

Spoiler:

[Jean]

Spoiler:

[BROWNINGS CHILDE]

gr gr gr

Oh.

Spoiler:

Spoiler:

Mushygushygagmewithaspoon.

Spoiler:

[mae]

Three choices are so not enough....

Well, that's the restriction of the poll. But I think it's fine. Keep in mind the books in the second round have all received scores in the first round, and the lucky ten will be graded further in the third and final round. I think the final scores should truthfully reflect how we all feel about Stephen King's whole oeuvre.

[John_and_Yoko]

Three choices are so not enough....

Well, that's the restriction of the poll. But I think it's fine. Keep in mind the books in the second round have all received scores in the first round, and the lucky ten will be graded further in the third and final round. I think the final scores should truthfully reflect how we all feel about Stephen King's whole oeuvre.

Oh, I'm just ranting, don't mind me.

I'm just kind of curious as to what'll make the top ten....

[mae]

I'm just kind of curious as to what'll make the top ten....

So am I. That's why we do this. However, I'll be (pleasantly) surprised if it's vastly different from last year's: http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/...ead.php?t=7219

I'd love to have Pet Sematary crack the final 10 though It ended up at 14 the last time.

[SynysterSaint]

CBC

I'm with Brownings on this one. The story seemed lack-luster to me after all of the events of the first four books (especially the ending battle sequences in W&G and WotC). On top of that, the story was centered around saving Susannah (gunslingers shouldn't have to be saved in that manner), who is my least favorite character in the whole series. King could have done much better with this book.

[pathoftheturtle]

(gunslingers shouldn't have to be saved in that manner)

Well, we could ask some of the original gunslingers whether that's true... if only there had been any other survivors besides Roland.

King did a great job with this book. It's plot is tighter than either V or VII, and I think that it contributes a lot to the series.

[SynysterSaint]

(gunslingers shouldn't have to be saved in that manner)

Well, we could ask some of the original gunslingers whether that's true... if only there had been any other survivors besides Roland.

They all fell nobly in battle. Susannah was being led along like a pack mule. I'd say those are totally different, but I see your point

[DoctorDodge]

Strenght of Plot: A
Yes, it doesn't really have a beginning and an ending (more on that later) and is primarily plot development, but it's great development, at least. The action scenes, the revelations, the twists: all nicely preparing us for the final volume, whilst still being a great volume in its own right. I think it's only fault is that it doesn't have as much as an identity as the other volumes do: TWL was mainly half the journey, W&G was a western romance, WotC was classic western gunfight etc. Still, a great read nonetheles.

Character Development: B
There's some character development in this novel, especially of Mia, but...at this point, I think all the characters have reached a point where there's not much more room to develop. Even Callahan's story was mostly dealt with in Wolves. That's not to say that they don't develop at all, just that it's very minor in a lot of places.

Quality of the Story's Ending: B
Now, it's not really an ending, but...I do love cliffhangers. Especially ones that have been suitably built up, so it feels as if some things have been partly resolved, at least, only to show us that it's about to get a whole lot worse. So no, it's not really an ending, which is why it doesn't get an A, but it's a suitable enough cliffhanger to better than a C, in my opinion.

[mae]

The poll has closed. This round The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah has earned an OAG (overall average grade) of 2.291666667 or 76.39% in addition to its FAS (final average score), making it 6.140503876 or 76.76%. In 2009, The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah received an OAG of 2.363984674 for a FAS of 6.345466155, so it lost 0.204962279 (-3.23%) this time.

Grade breakdown:
Strength of Plot: 2.208333333 (73.61%)
Character Development: 2.500000000 (83.33%)
Quality of the Story's Ending: 2.166666667 (72.22%)