I really liked the "fairy tale" part of the story but the parts with Roland and ka-tet were way too short and didn't really add much to the mythos (like how Jake got so good with his guns). It might have been better to just tell The Wind Through the Keyhole tale as a separate tale in Roland's world sort of like The Eyes of the Dragon. That being said, I did like the story within a story within a story (which makes sense since Wizard and Glass and The Gunslinger are my favorite Dark Tower books and there is a good bit of storytelling in both). I guess my issue was simply that there was not enough to Roland's part of the story to make it an official 8th Dark Tower book and not just a "related" book.
Also, there were some definite timeline issues involving certain characters and I feel like despite dedicating the book to Furth and Marvel he directly contradicted some of the stories told in the comics. Anyway, overall it was a good read it just left me wanting more of the main storyline.
SPOILER ALERT !!!
Ok im confused ????
I read all the DK books and comics so heres my question ??
My take on Tims story is that Randall Flagg somehow lured Tim into the swamp so he could rescue Maerlynn the wizard.My take on it was Maerlynn had a dissagreement or confrontation with the crimson king and the crimson king turned him into a tiger and locked him into a cage,and only i guess Tim was able to free him? For some reason Flagg could not open the cage himself due to some black magic.Maerlynn was portrayed in this book as a good guy.If you read the comics ,he was the first villian who tried to bring down the tower..and also is responsible for Flagg and the crimsion king to exist.Did Maerlynn eventually turn into a good wizard??? because it seems after Arthur Elds rule Maerlynn seems to quit his desire to bring down the tower and live in his cave,hence the crimson king seem to take over his work.It seems RF seems to take sides with Mearlynn in ths situation by helping to release him from the cage.I thought it was really weird as well that RF and Maerlynn were so nice to Tim and even kind odf encouraged him in the end to be a gunslinger as a profession. I thought this was an awesome tale because there is still alot of mystery surrounding RF,CK,and Maerlynn back stories. if some one has an answer PLEASE tell me im clueless on this one ????????????
I just finished this book like ten minutes ago...lol...I liked the book....Ranking, I would put it before W&G...(3rd) The only issue I had with it is that the story about Tim could have been a book by itself, the story around that could have been a short story he could have put into one of his short story anthologies like he did with Little Sisters...
as for this...Spoiler:
Does whatever a spiderman does.
I really liked TWTTK, but kind of wish that it had only revolved around Tim's story. As much as I love hearing more about present-Roland, Jake, Eddie, and Susannah, I think the novel would've felt more "focused" if we were only told the story of Tim and his quest.
A NEW GAME BEGINS
Nice story not my favorite at all i would put it last in fact but it did keep me turning pages for a couple of days
i did think it was too much like the talisman with a young boy searcing for magic to save his mother but i guess that is what King does
mixing all his stories so the intertwine but like i said nice read it will be going back to the public libray soon
For any interested, I have just completed my detailed personal real-time review of THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE (thus completing a similar examination of the whole DARK TOWER series novel by novel, chapter by chapter): http://nullimmortalis.wordpress.com/...-stephen-king/
DF Lewis
I was underwhelmed. Yes, it was nice to visit with the ka-tet again. However, it just felt like a cheap ploy to exploit money out of everyone (see woodpryan's post about having 2 different copies.) I do not want to see an entire line of books devoted to the minutae of Roland's long life just so there can be upteen different versions for people to collect. To me, if something was vital and important, it would have been included in the main body of work.
People love frozen yogurt. I don't know what to tell you.
Just finished TWTTK and I enjoyed it a lot. I agree it did feel rushed at times, especially the conclusion of Roland's first story and the aftermath.
Inevitably, it felt akin to the Little Sisters of Eluria - Dark Tower Lite. I kept thinking that the meat was thin on the bones for any King novel, let alone a DT novel!
But again great stories and lovely to have another window into Mid-World opened for us.
“All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl.” - JLG
Luckily I read the UK edition which is more than decent. I don't have the Grant AE yet to compare it but the inclusion of b&w illustrations and tasteful, crisp fonts with good page formatting it read and felt very well.
I'm not a fan of the UK 1st cover, however, Scribner wins that battle hands down!
Although the UK 1st does include a miniature snapshot of me and my baby daughter!
“All you need for a movie is a gun and a girl.” - JLG
First recorded mention of this proposed link between this book and Henri Rousseau?
The Naive Art of Stephen King - that is very much to the point, I feel, in TWTTK.
The painting above is “Tiger In A Tropical Storm” or "Surprised!"
Can you see the keyhole?
DF Lewis
I agree, it takes all the story of what happened with hs mother on its head. I you had just finished W&G with all the guilt etc, and then read this - well it would just cancel all that guilt out.
I didnt rate W&G its down on my list of favourites, and to come out of one back story and go straight into another would really have killed the whole story for me. My sister is on her first read and she whizzed through the first three in weeks and its just taken her 4 months to finish W&G, she asked to borrow WTTKH to be one of the first to read them in the intended order. When I explained it was another back story she changed her mind and as almost finished wolves in a weekend.
For me the whole style of this book was wrong, I was not expecting any great flashes of knowledge on what happened to them, and fully expected a 'filler' book, but the WTTKH was just an excuse for King to write a little story and wrap it around Mid World.
The Flesh eater story didnt even read as a DT book, it didnt sound like Roland speaking and for me I would have preferred for Roland to tell his KaTet the story of little Tim and his tyger, which would have made more sense and would have given me more time with the Katet.
Having said that, the whole speech of Roland, Eddie etc sounded wrong and forced, it didnt come as easier to my 'ears' as it used to, I firmly believe that if they had been in the book more then they would have come back to King more naturally.
I feel very sad
I have the Scribner hardcover. On the back of the dust jacket, you can see some humanoids with pointy ears squatting behind some bushes. Are those goblins, mutants, low men...? (I have just decided to pull a straight read through of the series, so I haven't cracked this one yet).
Do you really want to know, or is it sufficient to say "they are characters described in this book"?
They are actually clones of Roland from when he was afflicted by the Crimson King's black magic in his youth. Living in the swamp, the mini-Rolands, or "Molands," as SK calls them, have been reduced to hiding and the murky water has started to change their appearance.
A NEW GAME BEGINS
The thing that bugged me was that the Molands all had three fingers on their right hands. That's not a genetic condition, so it doesn't really make sense at all. And before anyone says it, the Molands aren't "magical copies" of Roland. Flagg says on page 137 (of the Grant Edition): "You just take a little adenine from here, a bit of guanine from there, and soon enough you have yourself a little gunslinger. It's quite easy once you know how." So, he's definitely talking about genetic clones. I don't know why I bother with this garbage.
Yeah, that kind of bugged me as well. And you'd think that the Molands would've had some of Roland's memories as well, if he was cloned mind and body. The lack of attention to detail on SK's part is incredibly frustrating.
A NEW GAME BEGINS
Finished TWTTK last night and LOVED IT. I especially loved the things that Maerlyn said about The Red King. Lots of interesting tid-bits and lots of heart. I loved the story, within a story, within a story aspect.
"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
I thought it strange thatSpoiler:
Anyway, I just finished this story last night. I loved it. I would have liked to have read more from The Skin Man sections of the novel, but all-in-all a good read.
As for those stating "this doesn't add anything to the main story"... well... no. That story is already told. And as for 'when did Jake get so good with a gun'? The same as the rest of the ka-tet. Innate ability and lots of practice. Bear in mind, each of these books are snapshots, or maybe more accurately, group of snapshots, into that world. There's lots of everyday stuff happening between the books* and scenes**. It may have been nice to see some of those lessons like we did with Susannah and Eddie, but then again that might have gotten a bit repetitive. Also those scenes with Suze and Eddie led quickly into the confrontation with Shardik. They had lots of other lessons before off-page before then.
It left me wondering about the comic continuity though,Spoiler:
*Except where stories lead directly into each other of course like The Waste Lands and Wizard and Glass.
**They often have a poo between scenes too, albeit that's a lot less exciting than shooting practice. Except for that time Eddie crouched on the thistle. Not the stuff of legends and mythology granted.
Anyone get a feeling that the "Green Light" from the mine could be a Tommyknockers connection.
I was thinking it was more of a Desperation/Regulators tie-in.