Originally Posted by
TerribleT
I've thought long and hard about this since King's near death experience, and since the release of the final three books. In the afterword of The Wastelands SK kind of apologizes for the book ending where it did. He says that these books are writing themselves, and he implies that finding the keys to Rolands world is difficult for him, and it requires him to "set his wits to it". He talks about Rolands world holding him "in thrall" maybe more than any of the other worlds he's created in his imagination. He alludes to this in the foreward of W&G as well. I think he meant for this to be epic, that maybe this was THE series of books which was the quilt that all his other books combined made up. That every single character he ever dreamed up lived someplace along the path of the beams. I think that SK, always had a basic outline for where Roland and his Ka-Tet were going, and what would happen to them, but that it took time for the stories to flesh themselves out, like a fine wine that must be allowed to sit and ferment. The first four books have a very different feel to them, than the last three books do. The first four books feel as though they've simmered to perfection. That they came when it was their time. The last three books have a lot more of an assembly line feel to them. They feel like that stew that's fresh off of the stove. It's good, but it'll be WAY better tomorrow, after it sits in the fridge overnight. I've also noticed a lot of the comments about the last three books seem to indicate that there is some discord for others here as well (Walters death). To sum it up, I kind of wonder if prior to his accident SK really allowed the books to simmer to perfection, and after the accident he rushed them. Didn't allow them to evolve completely in his mind, and pushed them to come out before they were really ripe. I'm kind of torn between wanting to know what Roland's fate would be, and King taking to time to allow each story to fully develop in his mind. I would almost rather he had taken the time to allow the books to "write themselves", and take the risk that we might not ever know the final fate of Roland.