Topic: Dark Tower, Stephen King (minimal spoilers)

[David E.]

just stop after book 4.  the rest of the books do not exist.

but really, after his accident stephen king's writing really changed.    I wouldnt say worse, but the dark tower took a hit as he was halfway through the series when it happened.

Agreed.

Except for maybe Martin and Tolkien, who I consider on a whole different playing field..."The Dark Tower" series really is right up there with some of the great fantasy series.....for the first 4 books....

I'm about half-way through book 5 now, and I'm not seeing the massive dropoff in quality that has been alluded to.

The change in narrators has been disappointing (though also not as bad as Audible reveiws would have me believe), but I'm still really enjoying it.

The only drop is in book 6.  Song is the least of the series.

[amysrevenge]

Just crossed over halfway in Song of Susannah.  Seems fine to me, if a little strange at points.  The Mary Sue character wasn't treated particularly well and didn't come across as particularly heroic or anything...

[Xenon]

Awesome serie!

[amysrevenge]

Finally reached the end, although "finally" is a relative term - the wait was only 7 months for me, but it was 34 years for some. 

I am very satisfied with the way it finished.

[superdave]

I just preorderd book 4.5 yesterday

[amysrevenge]

I've been avoiding the graphic novels until I finished.  Looking forward to eating those up now (the local Library has plenty of 'em).

[amysrevenge]

Wind Through the Keyhole is narrated by the author. He's obviously no pro (at narration), but it is getting better as I get into it.

[David E.]

Finally reached the end, although "finally" is a relative term - the wait was only 7 months for me, but it was 34 years for some. 

I am very satisfied with the way it finished.

The end that was the beginning, just a bit hornier.   

[amysrevenge]

I really enjoyed Wind Through the Keyhole.  Two very satisfying stories, with some nice little nods toward the main storyline.

[Skeptress]

I've been avoiding the graphic novels until I finished.  Looking forward to eating those up now (the local Library has plenty of 'em).

I'm so jealous.  A friend lent me the first and I really enjoyed it.  I started reading the regular series many many years ago and I don't know that I have the fortitude to go back and start over.

[amysrevenge]

If you're an audiobook sort, that's how I did them.  Takes a bit less fortitude. 

There's a narrator shift half-way through that was jarring, but nowhere near as catastrophic as screaming internet reviewers suggest - the original narrator does all of the ancillary characters far far better (his Eddie and Susannah are pure bliss), but I like the second narrator's Roland better.

[DeepGlue]

Neil DeGrasse Tyson on sciency stuff in the Dark Tower (kinda):

http://stephenkingfan.com/2012/07/04/neil-degrasse-tyson-on-the-science-of-stephen-kings-dark-tower/

MJ: This question also applies to the last bit of story line. Considering the universe is ever expanding, and everything in the universe is moving away from each other, that implies, not only a time of origin (the big bang), but also a PLACE of origin. Is there currently research being conducted to find such a location within the universe as we know it? If so, are their plans to build a large, black tower in that spot where one could travel to other “dimensions” and/or time streams?

NDT: The center of expansion in space exists in a dimension higher than our own, and is therefore not accessible to us. That’s like asking a balloon-person, who lives on the 2D curved surface of an expanding balloon,  ”Where is the center of your expansion?”  It’s not on the balloon at all.  It’s in a third dimension away from the 2D balloon surface.  So if we up everything by a dimension, then we would just need to travel perpendicular away from our three spatial dimensions, back toward the expansions beginning.  But this coordinate is not accessible to any of us since we are prisoners of three dimensions.  We can locate the beginning of expansion in time, however. That was 13.7 billion years ago.  The time of the Big Bang.