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I started reading the books after Wizard and Glass came out. Not that long after though. (I can't remember how long it was actually, so in this case 'not long' is relative.) In short I pretty much bought them and read them one after the other, and then underwent the long wait for the last three. Still not as long a wait as those of you who had to wait for this book.
Incidentally,I did consider buying them before W&G came out. I never got further than reading the blurb on the back... then returning it to the shelf though. It was actually an extract in Rose Madder, followed by reading the back of The Waste Lands that prompted me to go ahead. Namely Ludd.
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I am just finding this topic so here's my experience.
I first read The Gunslinger in 1988 at the prodding of my brother during a long drive during our family vacation. I went into the 9th grade that August. DotT was already out at that time and we had it as well so I read it as soon as I finished The Gunslinger. I had virtually no wait since The Waste Lands came out just a couple of years later. The wait between III and IV was, in a word, HORRIBLE. I hated it because I wanted so badly to know what was going on, and I feared we would never know. W&G came out, and I breathed a sigh of relief. Then 1999 happened, and I feared for the Tower again. I feared King would not survive. When he did survive, I feared he may never write again. When he got better, I feared he may decide he has had enough and want to spend his life in retirement. Then I was afraid he would simply not pick it back up. That brings us to WotC and the rest is history. So, there you have it.
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These are such cool stories.
I agree with you beeen...12 to 17 is a very long 5 year stretch.
I was all grown up and it felt like agony to me. I had literally almost forgotten about it until a friend of mine came by with W&G from the library tucked under her arm. :scared:
I still read all of the new King stuff at the time when I could, I couldn't believe it was out.
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It was the same for me but I had to wait for the Wolves for so long. I changed so much during those 5 years ( from 13 to 18 ) and it was so good to meet the same loved characters again.
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Younger crowd
I'm a younger reader. At least compared to those who read these books since the very beginning. I read them all over the course of a year. I could not imagine the anticipation you would have endured over those years. The books were a complete different experience for me in comparison to yours I imagine, for better or worse.
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I read the Gunslinger at about 8 or 9 years of age and DoTT and The Waste Lands at the tender age of about 12, just after the Waste Lands had been published.
My older brother is a massive King fan and i'd started working my way through his King collection - IT etc. and had stumbled upon a small paperback of the Gunslinger. I read it more for the cover than anything else and while I enjoyed it, It didn't exactly get my bells ringing.
Drawing of the Three though, is where I became a full junkie. Christ, was anyone else on tenterhooks throughout the entire book? Through Roland's gradually worsening condition to Detta/ Odetta vs Eddie to Balazar and Henry Dean ('Johnny Cash!'); man, I could not put this book down for love nor money. I had the lobstrosities 'Dam-a-cham' in my head for weeks afterwards.
I finished that, flew through the Waste Lands - Jake and the memory paradox, amazing stuff for a 12 year old sci-fi/ fantasy buff to read and had to wait from '91 to '97. Now that was an ordeal.
It was nice though to revisit the first three books when Wizard and Glass was published to reacquaint myself with the Gunslingers.
DT has been with me all through adolescence and remains my favourite - not just book - but story, of all time.
Great thread by the way, I often wonder if there are as many Tower junkies out there as there should be!
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Not sure how many people still come to this thread, but I loved the stories you've all told and felt like sharing mine. :)
I first read The Gunslinger in 1985, when I was 12 (about to turn 13). It was the paperback edition, and it was missing the front cover.
I'll never forget how beaten up this book was. Unfortunately, over the years I lost it. I'm not a big collector, but this book would have taken me right back to that great first line and how it felt when I read it!
My mom had went to a used bookstore and bought a large box of books. Half of them (at least) were SK books. I started with Pet Semetary, and I've been hooked ever since.
I wouldn't say I forgot Roland and his quest, but it was definitely in the back of my mind. I was convinced he would never finish it!
Then when I was in college, I was reading Misery and saw a listing for Dot3. How excited was I when I saw not only that book, but Wastelands too!
I was so into it that I got a couple of my friends to read it. I didn't know how they would feel about it. I shouldn't have been worried. We're still friends today, and I think our friendship became so strong because of our mutual journey to The Tower.
Then...nothing. Just blurbs here and there that a 4th volume was coming out.
Once W&G came out, we were all excited. We had to be careful what we spoke about since someone might be lagging behind.
I look back and hated the wait. Hated waiting for W&G. Hated that terrible feeling that he wouldn't finish the series. Remember being overjoyed when I heard that not only was he finishing it, but in quick succession!
Now? I think the wait made it that much more special for me. The theories! The anticipation! Great memories for sure.
It's also nice to know that even though the series is over, there is still a place to talk about things like this. Great thread! Thanks to everyone for sharing their stories...
Thanks, Rambo, for posting yours and inspiring me!
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Not at all MPatrick. I can't beleive its taken me til now to discover this website...!
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I know what you mean JR...
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I think I read Waste Lands in '92, and I re-read the then-trilogy two or three more times before Wizard and Glass came out. When it finally did, I read the introductory 100 or so pages and then quit about the Western at like page 250 and didn't pick up the book again until 2001, when I read it again from the start. I was appalled at myself for not having finished it in 97, it was so enjoyable to read I can't figure out why I ever set it down. To me the Western section of this novel is probably the best thing King has written. That so many people (myself included initially) don't get that from it is pretty tragic. The love story and the building action and tension is masterful. It's jarring to have a book with two nearly unconnected threads in it, but we knew that was going to be the case years before it came out so it wasn't like it was a surprise. I am glad though that King didn't weave the Western back and forth with the Mid World stuff, that could have hurt it badly.
Anyway short answer to the OP: yes, and I was impatient.
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I didn't have to wait I only started reading them last year and managed to read them all in the same month. I'm quite patient.. I think I might have managed going 5 years<_< with the help of some kind of drug where I spend those years monged out
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Between the release for the Wastelands and Wizard & Glass, I was hit by a car and wheelchair bound for many months, moved to VA, moved to FL, went back to school for voc rehab, recorded two cds and then finally got married. So much happened I all but forgot the series even had existed, despite the fact that I still have the copy of Wastelands that I read when it came out. It's one of the very few things left from that point of my life. When I saw the W&G on shelves I about sht myself thinking, "Wow, he actually did another one". Sadly, it got ganked from me at work and I didn't get another copy for a couple years. The post Blaine part had seemed a tad slow and i was at that point going through a separation, eventual divorce, job loss.....whole life crumbling. After I moved to MD I saw it at an airport and nabbed it again. So I waited, but didn't hang on it the whole way.
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I read everything but the dt series by King for the longest time. I kept resisting and resisting. Then in 2009 I gave in and listened to all the books in about a 2 month span. I didn't have to wait for any of them. I am not sure I would have been happy having to wait between books, and probably would have given up on the series.
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i had about a 5-year wait between TWL and W&G. although i have to admit that not only was the wait longer than the one between W&G and WotC, but it was far more worth it too. No disrespect to sai King, but honestly, I would call him a liar to his face if he attempted to claim that the last three volumes of the series weren't rushed in some kind of panic that he'd never be able to after his accident. even if it was just a subliminal thing and not intentional, it's still painfully obvious that he rushed the end.
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I had to endure the wait, it was horrible....picturing in my mind what was going to happen to the Ka-tet and Blaine! What a wait!!!
As for the rant...wicked cool, I had never seen that before.
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I read The Gunslinger a very long time ago- I'm not sure how I came across the book, but I know it was the original "non-integrated" edition. Then i promptly forgot about it, also for a very long time, although the book itself made an impression on me. By the time I read anything else in the DT series, everything was out but the last two. I apparently had access to The Drawing of the Three for a very limited time (probably a visit to a relative's house) where I read parts of the book. But TDotT must not have made any huge impression on me, because I didn't finish it then or buy it later.
Some years later, I bought a box of King books dirt cheap (less than $10 shipped) on eBay, solely in the interest of getting The Tommyknockers. In the box was a paperback of The Waste Lands and the illustrated trade paper of Wizard and Glass. I read and enjoyed TWL. I also read W&G, although I got hung up on the large center part of the book which relates Roland's loss of his first ka-tet (and still am- I find writing dialogue in dialect very offputting).
As far as the torturous interval between books 3&4 that so many people experienced- maybe King just didn't know what happened as the denouement to TWL, ended the book there, and it took him all that time to figure it out, so he worked on other projects. (And wasn't there an episode in there somewhere in which he got hit by a car while walking on the road and had a protracted recovery?)
Hard to figure, but he isn't the only author to have a hiatus in stories. One of the most famous, of course, is when Conan Doyle just got tired of writing Sherlock Holmes stories, killed him off, and was in time forced to bring him back to life by the incessant demands of fandom.
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well i can't remember if i posted this or not? but i read the original well Paperback version of the very 1st novel as a kid. i don't remember how old? i think it had to be the 1st book my brother let me read of his. i'm guessing to throw a year out there (1990) here's what i mean. i'm 36 now and my brother is 41 now. as of late month he just turned that. but growing up he had to read the book 1st to see if i could read them. he's been reading him since i have no idea to be honest. since the 80's i forget which book was his 1st. i'm going to guess Firestarter? anyways.
he'd read the book 1st and than report to my parents Don is too young for this or that one. and i'd be always pissed off when he'd say that. for obvious reasons.
anyways, than after pestering and begging to read the gunslinger. i was allowed to read it and i loved it. than it was forever it felt like that i was allowed to read the drawing of the three.
and that ended up and still is my favorite in the series. anyways the wolves of Calla by the way is his favorite one i think he told me once? anyways. the 1st time i read the drawing of the three during parts of it i think i kind rushed reading it for some reason? anyways, after Wastelands came out i dunno how many times i'd start it than not finish it. i'd lose interest cause it starts off so slow in spots. Jake in New York kinda drags on a bit.than in i think (1994) when i was a freshman in high school i FINALLY fucking finished it.
and my reaction was WTF ? and i was pissed that Wizard & Glass hadn't been written yet. fast forward to (1997) my brother is away at College i think the 1st King book i bought for myself was that one. i still have it too. it's the trade paperback Pink Cover. anyways i read the opening of it and loved it, and i would get to a few hundered pages into and it and i'd get well bored
to be honest. i can't tell you how many times i read the wastelands before i finished it. and the wastelands as well. cause i'd lose track on what is going on and i'd have to start the book over from the very start.
and than a couple years ago after all these years i picked up Wizard & Glass for the 1st time in years with the motivation to actually finish damn thing he he and i did end up enjoying the hell out of it. it's not a favorite of mine in the series but i did enjoy it. my favorite part of the book is i think Blaine and the riddles contest. i have started the 5th book but i have yet to actually finished it. i got burnt out to be honest by the series. i had started the series reading the revised 1st book. and read the ones after than until i reached the 5th book.
the part i'm on is father C. telling his life story. well that's my story anyways.
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I actually started reading the series in 1994, although I had been reading King since 1982, so I didn't have as long a wait before Wizard and Glass was released so as to be unbearable!
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I don’t know if I should admit this or not but no I did not have to wait to read Wizard & Glass. It was not because of my age, I had been casually reading King since the mid 80’s. The reason is it was the first book in the series I read! I was in the book store looking for a new book and the cover art and title caught my eye and I enjoyed King so I bought. I then realized it was book #4 and read it anyway and loved it. Then read the first 3 and was hooked.
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nothing wrong with that i don't think. i think the gunslinger was the 1st book i read by King to be honest. like i said i had to fight like hell with my brother to read that. cause i wasn't allowed to read other books of his cause of the content. i bought the book "IT" in (1992) i still have the paperback but i read it soo much that the damn cover came off and it's the version with Tim Curry on the cover. that's my favorite "IT" cover and the original cover art as well. my point is i think getting that used was one i had to beg to read. and when i read that it took me a month to read!
i bring that up cause it was also i think one of the 1st books of his i read as well. another series i read in one summer i can't remember what year? was 'the witching hour' by Anne Rice' and that's such a great book i read that a couple times since than. more than a couple i think. i only bring that up cause the 1st book is over 1,000 pages just like "IT" is.