I read Everything's Eventual (the short story) definitely before getting to DTVII and it does help a lot with understanding Dinky's character. i'm sure you'll appreciate the backstory on him.
I read Everything's Eventual (the short story) definitely before getting to DTVII and it does help a lot with understanding Dinky's character. i'm sure you'll appreciate the backstory on him.
Human kind cannot gain anything without first giving something in return. To obtain, something of equal value must be lost. That is alchemy's first law of Equivalent Exchange. In those days, we really believed that to be the world's one and only truth.
Jean, we are in agreement yet again.
Letti, you won't be let down by the collection as a whole.
And as for enjoying the story without prior knowledge of the mythos, well it's very possible. It stands on its own, and serves as a nice introduction to those who have never heard of the series. However, since I'm a rabid devotee of the series it was hard for me to enjoy in conjunction with the rest of the series. This is not like "Young Zaphod..." to the Hitchhiker's Trilogy.
My favorite bands can kick your favorite bands' asses.
The horizon is right and motionless like the EKG of a dying woman.
(sorry people - just another very little bit off-topic, and then back)
Fruno, you may not believe it, but when I was reading All That You Love, I was actually thinking of you and of how you must like it, too - it seemed just one of those things you and I could thoroughly enjoy
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Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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Yes! I was just re-reading that a few weeks ago to take a break from my slow but pleasant trudge through Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell and thought the same thing in a name-reversed format! Awesome!!
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My favorite bands can kick your favorite bands' asses.
The horizon is right and motionless like the EKG of a dying woman.
I liked it a lot, and I'd go along with the others in suggesting you get the Everything's Eventual version, for reasons given.
Little Sisters can certainly be read as a stand alone story without prior knowledge of the Tower since it is set in the time period when Roland is casting about for Walter's trail before The Gunslinger.
It could puzzle new readers though as to what the overall quest is that Roland is on, but then that could draw them into the novels series and serves as an advertisement.
As for canonicity, (spell check doesn't like that, I think I might have invented a new word, but I'm sure you know what I mean) I'm not sure I agree with the concept, as it's kind of like saying, which of these fictional works are more real than others (although I can understand the reasoning when several different author contribute to a work like, say, the Star Wars novels, in establishing continuity.) Little Sisters certainly fits in with the other books though in that it is actually referenced in the later books (Song of Susannah, I believe.) I agree it's a separate work though.
Everything's Eventual (the titular story starring Dinky) was one of the more interesting stories in the book I reckon. Very original in concept.
I think if I had not read the entire series first I probably wouldn't have liked it. But I did read the entire series first and like others have said it filled my DT fix. . . for the time being.
I felt it was a good side story. The muties and the interactions between Roland and that one Sister were my favorite parts. It really just adds a bit more to Mid-World, and not so much to the main story.
"It's his eyes, Roland thought. They were wide and terrible, the eyes of a dragon in human form" - Roland seeing the Crimson King for the first time.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi" - From Song of Susannah
My version of The Gunslinger has TLSoE as prologue and as such, I read it before starting TDT itself. To me it seemed to be part of The Gunslinger. It just seems to fit and the setting (the location, the muties) was really good. I really enjoyed it. I recently got Everything's Eventual and am going to read that as a whole soon.
I don't see any reason why you shouldn't try TLSoE.
"It's his eyes, Roland thought. They were wide and terrible, the eyes of a dragon in human form" - Roland seeing the Crimson King for the first time.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi" - From Song of Susannah
It is indeed a UK version, but I bought it in the Netherlands (where I live). Bookstores sometimes import (sparingly might I add) the English version of books, which I'd much rather read than their translated version.
Credulous at best, your desire to believe in angels in the hearts of men
Did you get it in the end Letti? How do you (did you) like it?
The Little sisters is indeed quite entertaining HOWEVER I would not want to read a copy of the gunslinger that did not begin with "The Man in black fled across the desert and the gunslinger followed."
Not having that as the first thing u read is an abomination, like seeing a star wars film that didnt begin with "A long long time ago in a galaxy far away..."
When I first read that book in the unrevised form THAT sentence is what immediatly hooked me, its the perfect begining and I feel sorry for the poor apprentice-tower junkie who picks up a copy that doesnt begin with that
if the worlds gonna end then let's get it over with, i got shit to do
I have to pipe in and say I really enjoyed the story. And Letti, it sounds like you love Roland as much as I do. Its a good fix and it explains him being on foot instead of horseback.
"It's his eyes, Roland thought. They were wide and terrible, the eyes of a dragon in human form" - Roland seeing the Crimson King for the first time.
"When the King comes and the Tower falls, sai, all such pretty things as yours will be broken. Then there will be darkness and nothing but the howl of Discordia and the cries of the can toi" - From Song of Susannah
but if its a prologue people will read it BEFORE the opening lines of the gunslinger
if the worlds gonna end then let's get it over with, i got shit to do
Credulous at best, your desire to believe in angels in the hearts of men
right but you cant read the other dark tower books before the gunslinger and I view the little sisters of eluria to be more along the same lines a wizard and glass, a flashback of roland before the gunslinger
having it before the gunslinger throws off the ending of dt7 leaving the reader to wonderSpoiler:
if the worlds gonna end then let's get it over with, i got shit to do
That would only be true ifSpoiler:Which I suppose he did, if you count him getting clobbered on the head. But that really doesn't count.
I kinda know what people mean when they speak of the introductory line of the Gunslinger coming first before everything though. It's such an (iconic?) line. If you're going to put the two stories together in one volume though, you might as well put them in chronological order.
I won't be buying this though. I own both in different books, so I'm happy to stick with that. (I can see the attraction of having DT stories together though.)
Hey friends. I just wanted to let you know that I do have this book now because it was my Christmas present from my godmother.
Soon I can join the conversations.
Roland would have understood.
I'll send a picture of it.
Roland would have understood.