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TerribleT
01-08-2008, 04:46 AM
I start re-reading the series a while back. I sat and read The Gunslinger in pretty much a single sitting in one day. It didn't take me a lot longer to finish The Drawing of the Three. I've currently been reading The Wastlands for 2-3 weeks, and I've only finished to the part where they have held palaver with Aunt Talitha, and are heading to Lud. I HATE this book, it's always a difficult read for me. I despise the whole ride on Blaine, it's tedious and monotonous, the trip through Lud bores me to tears, I just generally don't enjoy this book. The only two parts of this book I like a lot are the encounter with Shardik, and when they draw Jake through the door. The part where they are actually drawing him, Jake is in the house, Susannah has the Demon, and Eddie is trying to make the key work. I realize this book is a necessary part of the series, and it contains vast amounts of information that is important to the series, but it's a boring tedious read for me.

Jean
01-08-2008, 04:57 AM
now I understand what DT1 and DT4 lovers feel when I explain how much I dislike those two volumes

and, dear friends, please do not mark DT1 through 3 spoilers in this thread, we are in a spoiler forum.

jayson
01-08-2008, 05:04 AM
The only thing I didn't like about The Waste Lands was that when I finished it the first time there were still years to wait before Wizard & Glass was published. Lud I found very exciting, particularly Roland and Oy's mad dash through the city in search of "Ake." Though I mentioned in other threads about Roland and Jake that I think Roland went a long way towards making up for dropping him in DT-2 when he didn't push him in front of the car, it is his rescue of Jake from Tick-Tock that wipes that slate all the way clean for me. One sacrifice, one rescue.

Jean
01-08-2008, 05:12 AM
Though I mentioned in other threads about Roland and Jake that I think Roland went a long way towards making up for dropping him in DT-2 when he didn't push him in front of the car, it is his rescue of Jake from Tick-Tock that wipes that slate all the way clean for me. One sacrifice, one rescue.
This I am not sure of. Now Roland was convinced that the whole present ka-tet was what it took to get to the Tower; what would he have done if he had believed, just as he had done under the mountains, that dropping Jake was the only way to get there?

"I'm here, Jake," Roland said. He got to his feet, drunk-walked over to Jake, and hunkered beside him. He touched the boy's smooth cheek almost unbelievingly.
"You won't let me drop this time?"
"No," Roland said. "Not this time, not ever again." But in the deep*est darkness of his heart, he thought of the Tower and wondered.
(...)
"I'll never leave you again," Roland said, and now his own tears came. "I swear to you on the names of all my fathers: I'll never leave you again."
Yet his heart, that silent, watchful, lifelong prisoner of ka, received the words of this promise not just with wonder but with doubt.

That was before Lud. We may say that after Lud these wonders and doubts should be dissipated. But the circumstances were all different from what it would take to turn the situation into real touchstone.

Sorry TerribleT, it was off-topic; R_of_G, we might go on with that elsewhere.

jayson
01-08-2008, 05:34 AM
I'm not sure I understand your question Jean. Can you clarify it a bit? You can move it to another thread if you'd like, just let me know where it went.

Jean
01-08-2008, 05:38 AM
which question?

(Now we are making a vaudeville act of two deaf'uns)

my previous post consisted of two parts: in the first I disagreed with your previous statement about Roland saving Jake in Lud making up for letting him drop; the second hinted at the irrelevance of that question to the topic of the thread

::huggling bear::
(shit! will photobucket ever emerge from under their so-called "maintenance"?::

TerribleT
01-08-2008, 05:40 AM
which question?

(Now we are making a vaudeville act of two deaf'uns)

my previous post consisted of two parts: in the first I disagreed with your previous statement about Roland saving Jake in Lud making up for letting him drop; the second hinted at the irrelevance of that question to the topic of the thread

::huggling bear::
(shit! will photobucket ever emerge from under their so-called "maintenance"?::

But the quote you used there was from The Wastelands, it come right after Roland pulls Jake from the door.

jayson
01-08-2008, 05:52 AM
...in the first I disagreed with your previous statement about Roland saving Jake in Lud making up for letting him drop;

Ok, what I meant was it made up for it to me, not necessarily to any other reader, and especially not necessarily to Jake. Personally, I see the score as even there, one drop, one save. I don't know that I didn't expect Roland to "betray" him or someone else again before the end, but I forgave the drop after the rescue. Make sense?



the second hinted at the irrelevance of that question to the topic of the thread


Agreed.

Jean
01-08-2008, 05:53 AM
Ok, what I meant was it made up for it to me, not necessarily to any other reader, and especially not necessarily to Jake. Personally, I see the score as even there, one drop, one save. I don't know that I didn't expect Roland to "betray" him or someone else again before the end, but I forgave the drop after the rescue. Make sense?

it does. Though, come to think of it, on emotional level I though he would never drop him again immediately after that first time; all other instances only helped the feeling grow.

jayson
01-08-2008, 06:13 AM
it does. Though, come to think of it, on emotional level I though he would never drop him again immediately after that first time; all other instances only helped the feeling grow.

i agree again Jean.

Letti
01-08-2008, 06:15 AM
Of course I love them all but if we are talking about least favourite I must say mine is Song of Suannah... however I enjoyed that book too.
I am in love with The Waste Lands. :)

Brice
01-08-2008, 06:18 AM
I refuse to pick. It is one book.

TerribleT
01-08-2008, 06:20 AM
Of course I love them all but if we are talking about least favourite I must say Song of Suannah.

That runs a CLOSE second for me.

Mike Beck
01-08-2008, 06:40 AM
I refuse to pick. It is one book.

bah, taking the easy way out, eh? :pirate:


If I had to pick one volume that I like the least, I would say it's Wolves of the Calla. I liked a lot of the things that were introduced in it, though (i.e. Todash, Dogans, etc.). Some of it moved slowly and (I felt) dragged on a bit. But it was all worth it for Callahan's stories. This book should have been called, "Pere Callahan's Excellent Adventure."

Wuducynn
01-08-2008, 06:50 AM
I am in love with all of the books. There isn't one I hate. To me they are all integral and important to the saga.

jayson
01-08-2008, 06:55 AM
I am in love with all of the books. There isn't one I hate. To me they are all integral and important to the saga.

very diplomatic. balk balk balk!!!

Brice
01-08-2008, 06:56 AM
I refuse to pick. It is one book.

bah, taking the easy way out, eh? :pirate:




If you like you can call it that. I really think of them that way though. However even if I were to seperate them I'd agree with this entirely.


I am in love with all of the books. There isn't one I hate. To me they are all integral and important to the saga.


:thumbsup:

Wuducynn
01-08-2008, 06:57 AM
Yeah, ummm I'm not known for diplomacy...so going from that, that must mean I really mean it.

Mike Beck
01-08-2008, 07:05 AM
I am in love with all of the books. There isn't one I hate. To me they are all integral and important to the saga.

Hey, me too, bro. I cut holes in each of my books so that I can love them even more. However, the title of this thread is "least favorite" not "worst." So, come on. There's gotta be one of them that falls at the bottom of the list, no?

Brice, I hear ya. So let's say that it's one book. Which part of that one book doesn't shine as much as the rest? If (for some bizarre and unexplained reason) one of the Dark Tower volumes had to vanish from existence, which one would you rather have it be?

:ninja:

Jean
01-08-2008, 07:13 AM
friends. did you notice the section all that is in? We are not asked to say which book is our least favorite; we are in DT 3 forum, and Terrible T declared it ws his least favorite and invited us to share his opinion or to argue with it. If it was just "your least favorite", it would be in Gilead.

Wuducynn
01-08-2008, 07:15 AM
Hey, me too, bro. I cut holes in each of my books so that I can love them even more. However, the title of this thread is "least favorite" not "worst." So, come on. There's gotta be one of them that falls at the bottom of the list, no?

Brice, I hear ya. So let's say that it's one book. Which part of that one book doesn't shine as much as the rest? If (for some bizarre and unexplained reason) one of the Dark Tower volumes had to vanish from existence, which one would you rather have it be?

:ninja:

Well, TT was meaning The Wastelands is his least favorite and that he "HATES this book". Thats what I was responding to. I really don't have one that I like less than the others although I do have a number 1 and 2.

Mike Beck
01-08-2008, 07:21 AM
ah thanks jean. maybe the thread title should be called, "this is my least favorite book of the series." just throwing it out there. ;)

i see. so what's number 1 and 2?

Wuducynn
01-08-2008, 07:35 AM
i see. so what's number 1 and 2?

http://www.thedarktower.org/palaver/showthread.php?p=88200#post88200

Letti
01-08-2008, 08:33 AM
I can't even hate any of the lines of this series. Impossible.
I love every single sentence.

I loved the Waste Lands because in this book Roland, Jake, Eddie and Susannah were together at last.

sarah
01-08-2008, 09:04 AM
yes, exactly, letti. They come together at last. I love the wastelands. LOVE IT! The trip through Lud, the Drawing of Jake, the dreams of the Tower. I could and have read this book over and over.

jayson
01-08-2008, 09:10 AM
I'm with both of you Letti & Maerlyn, I love Waste Lands. Jake Chambers is possibly my all-time fav fictional character and this book was largely the reason why. I loved learning about his NY life and his attempt to return to Mid-World.

Brice
01-09-2008, 12:41 PM
I am in love with all of the books. There isn't one I hate. To me they are all integral and important to the saga.

Hey, me too, bro. I cut holes in each of my books so that I can love them even more. However, the title of this thread is "least favorite" not "worst." So, come on. There's gotta be one of them that falls at the bottom of the list, no?

Brice, I hear ya. So let's say that it's one book. Which part of that one book doesn't shine as much as the rest? If (for some bizarre and unexplained reason) one of the Dark Tower volumes had to vanish from existence, which one would you rather have it be?

:ninja:

Jesus, man! Why don't you just tear my still beating heart out of my chest?

Wuducynn
01-09-2008, 12:55 PM
Jesus, man! Why don't you just tear my still beating heart out of my chest?

Does this offer extend to me too???

Brice
01-09-2008, 01:06 PM
Jesus, man! Why don't you just tear my still beating heart out of my chest?

Does this offer extend to me too???

Sure, why the hell not?

Dud-a-chum?
01-15-2008, 12:01 AM
I am in love with all of the books. There isn't one I hate. To me they are all integral and important to the saga.

Hey, me too, bro. I cut holes in each of my books so that I can love them even more. However, the title of this thread is "least favorite" not "worst." So, come on. There's gotta be one of them that falls at the bottom of the list, no?



Sorry, you're not gonna get All_Hail to say what his least favorite is; I think his life depends upon pretending to like every single book equally. If he dares stray from that notion, who knows what maight happen . . . *gasp!*

That being said, I am not life-dependant on anything, so I can easily say what my least favorite of the series is, and it sure as hell is NOT Wastelands. In fact, I think TT ight be the first person here I have ever read type that they hate this book. Very interesting. Hey, at least it's an original thought 'round these parts. Pretty refreshing, really, because I remember at least back in the .net days that the opinions were either "I love the last three books" or "I hate the last three books."

Babymordred121
07-14-2008, 12:34 AM
The only complaint I had about the book was that they never actually went into the wastelands. They just rode over them. You've got to admit that it would have been cool if Blaine had crashed halfway through and the ka-tet had to battle monsters and try to get out as fast as they can before they are irreparably damaged by the poison fumes of the territory.

Jean
07-14-2008, 12:49 AM
that's what I would have hated! action instead of talks??? not for the bear! http://i91.photobucket.com/albums/k291/mishemplushem/Facilitation/bear_grin.gif

Rider_of_Discordia
07-14-2008, 03:14 AM
The Song of Suzannah always felt like a bridging book to me. While all the others stand on their own to a greater or lesser extent, Book 6 is just a connector between Calla and the Tower. It didn't have its own climax, and it didn't have a true beginning (the way the Wolves of Calla did, that started like a independent book that the Ka-Tet wander into...) and things are moving too fast at the end. While this vexed me between Waste Lands and Wizard, (because of the darn wait between the books) it felt worse between Song and Tower. Maybe I was just getting seriously strung out in my Tower Addiction around then!

Spencer
07-17-2008, 11:20 AM
one of the Dark Tower volumes had to vanish from existence, which one would you rather have it be?


This one. :lol:

The Lady of Shadows
07-18-2008, 07:30 PM
blaine can heeeeaaaaaaaaaar you. :lol:

Wuducynn
07-18-2008, 08:06 PM
Sorry, you're not gonna get All_Hail to say what his least favorite is; I think his life depends upon pretending to like every single book equally. If he dares stray from that notion, who knows what maight happen . . . *gasp!*


How did I miss this post?
I don't think Dud-a-chum even posts on this board anymore but just in case he does and reads this someday ------------------------------------------------------------
---- -- ---- --------------------------------------------
-------------------------------------------------------- and may you have nightmares that drive you slowly mad over the rest of your life.

Fathers Face
07-18-2008, 08:27 PM
Waste lands was great i love the scenery in it you could almost smell the decay of the city and the spooky feelings in The Cradle. you get a real sense of how Rolands world has moved on
Its been a while but isn't Waste lands were we are fist introduced to North Central Positronics ?

Brainslinger
07-26-2008, 12:57 PM
Yeah this is a great book. This was the first book where I really started to feel that Roland's world was a real place in it's own right, rather than the dream world we had in the previous books. Ok, the backflash sequences in The Gunslinger were the first to paint a real world, but the present day stuff was very dreamlike.

JQ The Gunslinger
07-26-2008, 03:08 PM
The only part I didnt enjoy of this book was.... ready for it? Aunt Talitha <gasp>. Thats right, that whole scene in that town bored the crap out of me.

William50
07-26-2008, 06:27 PM
That part didn't bore me, but I really didn't like Aunt Talitha as a character.

Letti
07-27-2008, 11:54 AM
That part didn't bore me, but I really didn't like Aunt Talitha as a character.

Why didn't you like her?
She was one of the deepest most fragile characters to me.

bluelph24
08-03-2008, 09:36 PM
I start re-reading the series a while back. I sat and read The Gunslinger in pretty much a single sitting in one day. It didn't take me a lot longer to finish The Drawing of the Three. I've currently been reading The Wastlands for 2-3 weeks, and I've only finished to the part where they have held palaver with Aunt Talitha, and are heading to Lud. I HATE this book, it's always a difficult read for me. I despise the whole ride on Blaine, it's tedious and monotonous, the trip through Lud bores me to tears, I just generally don't enjoy this book. The only two parts of this book I like a lot are the encounter with Shardik, and when they draw Jake through the door. The part where they are actually drawing him, Jake is in the house, Susannah has the Demon, and Eddie is trying to make the key work. I realize this book is a necessary part of the series, and it contains vast amounts of information that is important to the series, but it's a boring tedious read for me.


i agree with you, TT, but it seems that we are in the minority here. i've never understood the love that this book gets. i dislike all of the whining roland and jake do because of their messed up timelines. roland seems like such a sissy at the beginning. in DT1 he was so cool. he was a gunslinger. walked into town, slayed it cause they turned on him. dropped the kid cause he got in the way. in DT2, he had to deal with an addict, 2 crazy women, and a demented pucher, and yet he still finds time to slay some BA mobsters sans 2 fingers. he's awesome. DT3 "i'll never leave you again" nonsense. BAH. where is the roland of DT1 and 2? he's abrely the same. than we get to lud. i actually like lud, the environment and the peopel are cool. but i couldn't care less for roland's chase of jake through the city. it doesn't feel DT1. i like Blaine, kinda. he's ok. no real issues with him. terrible cliffhanger ending. none of the other ones really do that (except SoS, i'll get to that in a sec). next up, WaG. true, it shows that he cares for someone not so unlike DT3, but this roland is still closer to DT1's roland. the massacre at eyebolt canyon? the bar scene with the BCH? yeah, he loves susan and there's mushy mushy lovey dovey stuff, but he's not whimpering like he does in DT3. roland should never whimper. WotC. good book. good battle. some would say that there's a cliffhanger, but i don't think so. everything after the battle was either tieing up of the plot, or a lead in to the next (whereas DT3's cliffhanger was a cliffhanger. the climax never seemed to really happen. blaine was apart of the climax, and it cut off. coulda been pulled off better) SoS. bridge book. doesn't really offer anything important to Dt imho. it could easily have been absorbed in DT7. my second least fav cause i don't really consider it it's own book, but i still see it above DT3. cliffhanger was irittating, book didn't go anywhere and ended before it could. DT7. perfecto. so much happened, ending was terriffic. some will say, judging by my past criticisms of whimpering "what about roland crying over jakes grave?". these tears are understandable. at this point, they have been together and done so much. they are friends, brothers, compatriots. can not one soldiar mourn for his fallen mates? but in DT3, what had they done? in DT1 they talked and jake fell. they didn't really do anything. and jake didn't return until DT3, any tears there are unwarranted.

don't get me wrong, i love all the books, but DT3 feels tainted. to use a good metaphore for it, i feel that DT3 is the flaw in the diamond that is the DT series.

Letti
08-03-2008, 09:43 PM
That's why many of us are so crazy about this book. Because as you have written: "they didn't really do anything..." but they spent so much time together they palavered a lot they were getting closer and closer to each other.

bluelph24
08-03-2008, 09:54 PM
That's why many of us are so crazy about this book. Because as you have written: "they didn't really do anything..." but they spent so much time together they palavered a lot they were getting closer and closer to each other.

they may have gotton close, but i serious;ly doubt, from what i remmeber of DT1, that they could have gooton close enough for roland to cry over jake. he dropped him without a second thought! i'm sorry, but i can't see the source of the tears in DT3 judging by roland's actions in the previous 2 books.

Jean
08-03-2008, 10:01 PM
That's why many of us are so crazy about this book. Because as you have written: "they didn't really do anything..." but they spent so much time together they palavered a lot they were getting closer and closer to each other.
absolutely! being (probably, though I never measured them action-wise, because I couldn't care less) the least "action-packed", it seems, to me at least, the most "packed" with regard to everything else - like characters, or main concepts, or the fabrics of the world - and, of course, just the pure enjoyment I got from every page. (Nikolett: I bet you also loved the "tedious and monotonous" ride on Blaine - because it was superb!)

Letti
08-03-2008, 10:08 PM
That's why many of us are so crazy about this book. Because as you have written: "they didn't really do anything..." but they spent so much time together they palavered a lot they were getting closer and closer to each other.

they may have gotton close, but i serious;ly doubt, from what i remmeber of DT1, that they could have gooton close enough for roland to cry over jake. he dropped him without a second thought! i'm sorry, but i can't see the source of the tears in DT3 judging by roland's actions in the previous 2 books.

I might misunderstand you so please feel free to correct me but when he dropped Jake there was no ka-tet at all. Roland met Eddie and Susannah in DotT and they became a true ka-tet in this very book. And one of the biggest action was when Roland was working to save Jake from the Tick-Tock Man.
I don't say that Roland became a big-hearted unselfish life-guard in this book but he did show love an respect to the others.

Letti
08-03-2008, 10:10 PM
That's why many of us are so crazy about this book. Because as you have written: "they didn't really do anything..." but they spent so much time together they palavered a lot they were getting closer and closer to each other.
absolutely! being (probably, though I never measured them action-wise, because I couldn't care less) the least "action-packed", it seems, to me at least, the most "packed" with regard to everything else - like characters, or main concepts, or the fabrics of the world - and, of course, just the pure enjoyment I got from every page. (Nikolett: I bet you also loved the "tedious and monotonous" ride on Blaine - because it was superb!)

Name something I didn't like - that's much harder. Almost impossible. ;)

bluelph24
08-03-2008, 10:12 PM
That's why many of us are so crazy about this book. Because as you have written: "they didn't really do anything..." but they spent so much time together they palavered a lot they were getting closer and closer to each other.

they may have gotton close, but i serious;ly doubt, from what i remmeber of DT1, that they could have gooton close enough for roland to cry over jake. he dropped him without a second thought! i'm sorry, but i can't see the source of the tears in DT3 judging by roland's actions in the previous 2 books.

I might misunderstand you so please feel free to correct me but when he dropped Jake there was no ka-tet at all. Roland met Eddie and Susannah in DotT and they became a true ka-tet in this very book. And one of the biggest action was when Roland was working to save Jake from the Tick-Tock Man.
I don't say that Roland became a big-hearted unselfish life-guard in this book but he did show love an respect to the others.


but the love and respect for eddie and susannah are waranted. eddie and roland had their whole thing with balazar. eddie dragged roladn up the beach. respect adn love are understandable. love and respect for susannah came of the trials and tribulations of detta and odetta. i can see him loving and respecting those two, but i can't see it for jake.

Letti
08-03-2008, 10:20 PM
That's why many of us are so crazy about this book. Because as you have written: "they didn't really do anything..." but they spent so much time together they palavered a lot they were getting closer and closer to each other.

they may have gotton close, but i serious;ly doubt, from what i remmeber of DT1, that they could have gooton close enough for roland to cry over jake. he dropped him without a second thought! i'm sorry, but i can't see the source of the tears in DT3 judging by roland's actions in the previous 2 books.

I might misunderstand you so please feel free to correct me but when he dropped Jake there was no ka-tet at all. Roland met Eddie and Susannah in DotT and they became a true ka-tet in this very book. And one of the biggest action was when Roland was working to save Jake from the Tick-Tock Man.
I don't say that Roland became a big-hearted unselfish life-guard in this book but he did show love an respect to the others.


but the love and respect for eddie and susannah are waranted. eddie and roland had their whole thing with balazar. eddie dragged roladn up the beach. respect adn love are understandable. love and respect for susannah came of the trials and tribulations of detta and odetta. i can see him loving and respecting those two, but i can't see it for jake.

Warranted? Why would it be? From such a man as Roland love is almost a miracle. He was a killing machine without a soul for hunderds of years.
Anyway I don't think that love is ever warranted. I mean it isn't such an easy thing.. to open your heart to someone.
For my part I do remember parts when Roland had really nice thoughts with touchable feelings about Jake in this book. So it's not just an opinion.
I will try to find them because I guess I know where I should look for them.

The way I see it Roland always loved and respected Jake. From the very beginning.

jayson
08-04-2008, 05:19 AM
The way I see it Roland always loved and respected Jake. From the very beginning.

I completely agree with you Letti. I think just seeing how Jake handled himself at the Way Station showed Roland a lot about his character.

Brainslinger
08-05-2008, 12:42 AM
I agree that they didn't have the father-son relationship in the Gunslinger that they had later, but I think there was a love and respect that grew between them. And then of course he dropped Jake. He might have done it quickly without much thought, but he was guilt stricken afterwards.

When you take into account that guilt, the love between them, and that awful paradoxical mind splitting they both experienced (which is one of the major reasons for Roland's angst, rather than just pining for the Lost Boy- he was gradually going crazy) the emotional impact when they reunited is understandable.

ConstanToweReader
06-18-2009, 04:59 PM
I liked The Wastelands, but I hated the LONG wait til the next.

Delah
09-08-2009, 09:49 AM
Does Roland love and respect Jake in the Gunslinger?

Yes. He admits that he loves Jake from the moment that he meets him ... even if only to himself. And he constantly appreciates Jake's strength, using words like 'amazing' and 'tough' and 'brave' to describe Jake in his mind. He also believes Jake has the ability to become a gunslinger in his own right. I think its pretty obvious Roland loves and respects Jake in this book.

Does he drop him without a second thought?

No. He worries about it after the Oracle, after his first meeting with Walter, after the Slow Mutants, after he actually does it. He dreams of Jake on the beach of the Western Sea. He screams Jake's name for Eddie and Susannah to hear. I think its pretty obvious Roland gives it more than a second thought. As well he should.

Does he appreciate Jake more when he gets him back in the Wastelands?

Yes. Of course, I think a big part of it is that Roland knows now that Jake's a part of his ka-tet. And appreciating what he had lost. But Jake continues to grow in Roland's esteem and affections. It's a different respect that between Roland and Eddie, because Eddie's a grown man and Jake is a child, but its there.

Doe
10-30-2010, 12:52 PM
I loved the Waste Lands because in this book Roland, Jake, Eddie and Susannah were together at last.

This!

haunted.lunchbox
10-30-2010, 01:01 PM
I didn't like Wizards and Glass. The whole thing was tragic it seemed.

Roland of Gilead 33
01-17-2011, 01:32 AM
oh i love the wastelands. i've read it quite a few times. the ONLY thing that pissed me off with it is that when i 1st read it i was in high school i believe. & when i got to that damn cliff-hanger MAN was i pissed! cause "Wizard & Glass" hadn't come out yet. it didn't come out for like i think another 2 years! but great book.

The Gasherman
05-05-2011, 09:27 AM
Definitely my favorite! The awe and wonder unleashed in this book to me are second to none. So says yer old pal The Gasherman, so he does.

Lord_Vertigo
08-26-2011, 01:16 PM
I actually didn't like this one as much. The first book was bizarre, even for King, but creative and philosophical. Just not what I expected from King. The second book, I'm sorry, was just too long-winded ... except that awesome scene of Eddie fighting Balazar's men in his birthday suit. Even Roland was impressed. This third one was getting better, there was a lot more going on. It just didn't grab anywhere near as much as the last four. The fourth book is the one that really hooked me on the series, otherwise I probably wouldn't have bothered completing it. As it is, I'm now a "Tower junkie" and on my third complete read-through of the series.

cupofcoffee
05-01-2012, 10:00 AM
I totally love The Waste Lands. Even, and maybe especially, the "old people of River Crossing" scene. To me, Blaine is the entire point of the book. He's by far my favorite villain (and favorite overall concept, I think) from the series, and the slow buildup to his reveal is handled extremely well. I loved how it starts with Jake and Eddie having vaguely sinister dreams about a monorail train, Jake finding the Charlie the Choo-Choo book, the ka-tet hearing rumors about the sonic boom in River Crossing, and then there's the God Drums, the crazies in Lud talking about Blaine "speaking in his many voices and laughing," and finally Eddie and Susannah reaching the abandoned Cradle. And then, after all that, when they finally meet him, Blaine is totally laugh-out-loud ridiculous.

I wasn't a huge fan of the Tick-Tock man's somewhat abortive story arc, or of the whole Doorkeeper thing, but Blaine makes the whole book worthwhile. To me, anyway. A gunslinger story needs a train, and a post-apocalyptic blend of Lord of the Rings and The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly needs a futuristic 800-mile-per-hour monorail doing a John Wayne impression. Stephen King did just right with The Waste Lands.

BigSchu22
05-01-2012, 05:53 PM
Cupofcoffee, I completely agree with your assessment. One of my original posts in another thread was also about my annoyance with the lack of story for Tick-Tock as well. Tick-Tock has an elaborate entrance and exit, then vanishes in one note in the next book. I wonder if King originally had grander plans for him?

cupofcoffee
05-01-2012, 08:45 PM
Yeah, I wondered about that! I get the feeling he did—at least when he was finishing up book three. By the time Wizard and Glass finally came out, I'm sure the story he wanted to tell had evolved again and there wasn't as much room for Tick-Tock as he'd originally thought. Putting him in the throne room of the Emerald Palace was probably the best King could do at that point, but I guess it wasn't really a big deal. I admit I had completely forgotten about him by then anyway.

Jean
05-02-2012, 12:52 AM
I totally love The Waste Lands. Even, and maybe especially, the "old people of River Crossing" scene. To me, Blaine is the entire point of the book. He's by far my favorite villain <...>
I wasn't a huge fan of the Tick-Tock man's somewhat abortive story arc, or of the whole Doorkeeper thing<...>.
completely agree

BigSchu22
05-02-2012, 05:39 AM
Yeah, I wondered about that! I get the feeling he did—at least when he was finishing up book three. By the time Wizard and Glass finally came out, I'm sure the story he wanted to tell had evolved again and there wasn't as much room for Tick-Tock as he'd originally thought. Putting him in the throne room of the Emerald Palace was probably the best King could do at that point, but I guess it wasn't really a big deal. I admit I had completely forgotten about him by then anyway.

He completely set him up as another Trashcan Man. Oh well. Actually, I'm re-reading The Wastelands right now. They just left River Crossing and I can't wait for them to get back to Blaine!

j-buck
07-21-2015, 08:05 PM
This is my least favorite book in the series (I haven't finished the last book yet, but I already much prefer it to this one). It's simply very unmemorable to me. There seemed to be a lot of unnecessary filler, which can be fine in some cases, and works quite well in some books in the series, but it didn't in this; I kept finding myself wanting it to move along already. And the entire Tick-Tock Man plot seemed kind of pointless after all was said and done; it's like it just...ended and didn't really have any effect on the rest of the story. I did like the ending with the riddles, though; that was definitely my favorite part of the book. And I didn't mind the cliffhanger ending since I was reading it on iBooks and purchased Wizard and Glass immediately after I finished this one!

Xerrand
07-22-2015, 01:55 AM
Like lot of other people here said, I love the Wastelands, it's probably my second favourite. It's difficult t choose the "worst" one of them really, there is none that I didn't enjoy. If pressed, then the Gunslinger would probably be my least favourite one I think - although there are a tone of cool things about this book as well.