Soundtrack Saturday: Dark Tower's Roland

This Saturday & for the month of October, I am participating in Soundtrack Saturday, a meme created by the blogger The Hardcover Lover. Rather than creating a playlist based on one book, though, I am going to create playlists for my favorite characters from my most recent (and still ongoing) obsession, the Dark Tower. It is kind of a final love fest before posting my review of the final book in the series.

Did I mention how much I love the Dark Tower? Oh yes I did! In the intro here and here and here and here... Are you a fan of epic fantasy? Do yourself a favor and read this series already. And remember kleenex when starting Book 7. And don't hate me too much for getting you hooked.

Before I get started, it is worth noting that someone has already compiled all songs mentioned in the Dark Tower series that is totally worth checking out. 

This week, I'll start with a playlist devoted to Roland Deschain, the last of a long line of gunslingers and the final descendant of Arthur Eld. If you are like me, you'll hate and then love Roland.

If you'd like to listen along, hit play on the corresponding Spotify playlist I compiled:

Roland Deschain:

1. Imagine Dragons - Radioactive: I know most everyone thinks of Roland as the ass-kicking gun-slinging cowboy (and the DT series as a western), but I like the imagery of him traveling through a world that has moved on. Technology is dying, time is unraveling. And, as we see in the first book of the series, The Gunslinger, Roland can be pretty dangerous to the towns he passes through. 

I'm waking to ash and dust / I wipe my brow and I sweat my rust / I'm breathing in the chemicals.

2. KONGOS - Come With Me Now: In the first few books of the series, we see Roland seek his team - his ka-tet. (We later learn that Roland is pretty much a terrible team player, as so many have been lost on his quest.)  But I like the main refrain of the song as a reminder of Roland's beckoning of the ka-tet.

I heard him say / Come with me now / Don't delay

I need to move / I need to fight / I need to lose myself tonight.

3.  Johnny Cash - Folsom Prison Blues: When you are introduced to Roland in The Gunslinger, you see pretty early on that he has killed people. And then you see as he kills more people. But I think a part of him always regrets it. 

I hear the train a comin' / It's rolling round the bend

I'm stuck in Folsom prison, and time keeps draggin' on

4. The Wailin' Jennys - Long Time Traveler: Roland is old and hard. He makes heartless decisions on his way to the Tower. But in the book Wizard and Glass, you see his heart. I liked that this song acknowledged his traveling and his mourning for lost love, lost friendship, lost home (Gilead).

I'm a long time travelling here below / I'm a long time travelling away from home

Farewell kind friends whose tender care / has long engaged my love

5. Milky Chance - Stolen Dance: One of the iconic images of the series for me is Roland dancing the commala*. For whatever reason, the beat / base of this song had me thinking about Roland captivating the crowd in Calla Bryn Sturgis. Also, the lyrics below reminded me of the mourning of the losses in the final book (which I am so not emotionally healed from yet). 

Coldest winter for me / No sun is shining anymore

The only thing I feel is pain /Caused by absence of you

6.  OneRepublic - Counting Stars: I like to think of this song as an ode Roland's obession with the Dark Tower.  

Everything that kills me makes me feel alive.

7. Jeff Buckley - Hallelujah: I think what slays me most about this series is the ending for Roland. I am not going to spoil it (I hope!!), but my heart still feels it. I feel like this haunting take of the song fits accompanying a final scene with our cowboy walking into the sunset.

Maybe there's a God above / But all I've ever learned from love / Was how to shoot somebody who outdrew you. 

There you have it -- seven songs for the seven books in the Dark Tower series! Do you have any songs to suggest for Roland? Thoughts on other songs for the rest of Roland's ka-tet? Leave them in the comments below! Next week, there will be a playlist for wise-guy Eddie. 

*It is worth noting that someone else actually put the commala lyrics from the series to song, to beautiful effect. I'd be amiss if I didn't link to it too!

Dark Tower: Books Five and Six - Mister, we deal in lead...Come, come, commala!

Today's Dark Tower post continues the journey along the beam with Books Five and Six of the series. My Dark Tower introduction can be found here (and reviews of the other books in the series here and here).

Book Five: Wolves of the Calla

Rating: 5/5 - Goodreads

I think in some ways, readers of the series either loved or hated this book. I was definitely in the camp of LOVE, but I can see the frustrations for those who many not have loved it. The ka-tet is on their way to the Dark Tower, when they get detoured in the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis -- where everyone has twins and every 20-30 years a band of people called Wolves come and take one from each set. The kidnapped children come back later 'roont'.

In the Calla, we meet a character from one of King's other novel's -- Fr. Callahan. (On a side note: I've never read 'Salem's Lot, but if you don't want to be spoiled for that story, I'd recommend you read that King book before this story.) The town asks the gunslingers for help, and they, being of the line of Arthur Eld, oblige.

I loved Roland and Jake's relationship growth in this book. The commala dance that Roland performs is one of those images I'll keep with me. And I daresay I even started to like Susannah/Detta by the end.

Ultimately, if you love this series for the characters and aren't too interested in getting-to-the-tower-already-damnit, then this story shines. The ka-tet all get a grand adventure together, fighting baddies in a gritty western style shoot out, which was very satisfying to me. My only complaint is the storyline with Susannah and Mia and the chap -- but by the end of the next novel I understood why King included it (still, not my favorite).

Book Six: Song of Susannah

Rating: 5/5 - Goodreads


Did you feel that? The slight but persistent change in pull in this book? I felt a change when I started; it was when I realized the ending was going to be more dark and less happy then I hoped. And that it was coming, coming way faster than I wanted (but I couldn't stop).

After the battle in Calla Bryn Sturgis, Mia takes Susannah into 1999, and the rest of the ka-tet go after her and a very special rose they must protect in the keystone/modern day world. Roland and Eddie end up in 1977, while Jake, Oy, and Fr. Callahan end up in 1999. Most of this book is spent in this modern world -- with thugs chasing after our ka-tet and shoot outs, there is plenty of action.

And frankly, the story gets really weird in this book. Because Stephen King is in the book. Yes, Stephen King writes himself as a character in his own epic, and it is weird, but at least he doesn't write himself awesome. (Book-King is mostly a stoner / drunk.) It took me awhile to accept it as just how it was going to be.

I did love how you can feel each character missing every other character, how much they are pining for a reunion. Because they are joined in ka-tet and in friendship on this journey that separates them. I think it was here that I realized that there may not be any other characters I've read that I've spent so much time (and so many pages) getting to know, especially in their relationships of non-romantic / platonic nature. It is just so damn epic.

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Dark Tower update: Last week, I finished the final book in the series, but it is going to take me a little while to recover from the emotional ride it was. But sometime in the next month I hope to have the final review out!

Dark Tower, Book 4 and other works in Roland's world

Dark Tower update: I am currently reading the last in the Dark Tower series. And both cursing and praising Stephen King for ever writing it. When you've had 6 books (+ related works) to get to know a group of characters, every triumph is so sweet and every loss is so so sad. I think my husband was almost ready to stage an intervention the evening he came in to the room and I was sobbing into my Kindle.

My previous Dark Tower posts can be found here (intro and book 1) and here (books 2 and 3).

First things first: it might seem weird to combine a review of a book in the series with a related novel and novella, but these stories all share a common element in that they all are primarily flash backs in Roland's life. If you are a big fan of the ka-tet -- Roland, Susannah, Eddie, Jake, and Oy -- then you might be upset to learn that their story isn't really the focus in these stories. But trust me, I think the Dark Tower series truly shines in these flashbacks to Roland's world.

Book Four: Wizard and Glass

Rating ★★★★★ / Goodreads


'Bird and bear and hare and fish...' 

Book Three of this series was left in a wicked wicked cliffhanger. I can't imagine how those reading the series at that time felt, as Three was published in 1991 and Four in 1997, because I basically finished one book and immediately bought the next to start. (OK -- I can imagine it, as I am going through the same with GRRM and the  Song of Ice and Fire series, gah!) We get a resolution in the conflict between Blaine the crazy train and the ka-tet and a little more of their journey  (with a nod to The Stand, one of my favorite King novels)  before entering the wonderful retelling of a story from Roland's youth. 

And such a wonderful, engrossing story it is. I think in some ways, Wizard and Glass is my absolute favorite of this series so far. I love the wild Western blending with magic and sci-fi. I love the characters Alain and Cuthbert. I love the relationship between Susan Delgado and Roland, and the way King was able to capture young love. 

I even love the dark sense of foreboding (because if I didn't, there would be no way I could read this epic). I, like Eddie, didn't want Roland to tell his story but needed to read it. I spent most of the time reading not wanting to know what terrible things were going to happen but simultaneously needing to know. 

It was a big risk in someways to diverge so completely from the main epic, but I think this book succeeds. And the tears you'll shed here are only the beginning.

The Wind Through the Keyhole

Rating ★★★★★ / Goodreads


This novel was published in 2012 after the original series was finished, but it takes place in the time between Books 4 and 5, so many call it 4.5. It is again mostly a flash-back to Roland's youth, which is essential a frame story for another story (Inception much?) that had been told to Roland in his own youth.

I really loved the further mixing of Arthurian mythology and weird Western. It is a pretty quick read (all things King considered), and I am pretty sure I will revisit it again after finishing the series.

The Little Sisters of Eluria

Rating ★★★★★ / Goodreads (within Everything Eventual)

This novella is another flashback of Roland's life -- sometime between the events of Wizard and Glass and The Gunslinger. It has vampire nuns. Do you really need to know anything more?

I'd recommend reading it between Books 4 and 5, as you are already in Roland flashback mode. The story itself is engaging, but as a reader, you also get a chance to explore more of the mythology of Roland's world, which I think is helpful going into the last books of this series.

I found this novella in King's short story collection Everything's Eventual.

Dark Tower, Books Two & Three: Dum-a-chum? & Blaine is a pain.

Dark Tower obsession update: I finished up Book 5 (Wolves of the Calla) last week and I simultaneous need to know how it all ends and don't ever want it finish. Is that possible?

So that this blog doesn't become completely overrun by Dark Tower love (which might not all be that bad, I believe - say thankya!), I've decided that I am going to give brief reviews of the others in the series together (my review of Book 1 is here). Today's post will be Books 2 & 3, and then in a few weeks I'll post on King's latest installment, the Wind Through the Keyhole (which is set in the time between Books 3 & 4), the novelette The Little Sisters of Eluria, and Book 4 (Wizard and Glass). 

There are definitely more comprehensive reviews and read alongs of this series out there, by the way, for other Dark Tower nerds. Tor did a read-a-long of the whole series that is well done -- I recommend it for someone in need of a more substantial DT fix. Ultimately I don't want to reinvent the wheel with my reviews, so I have some ideas of other things I can do to share my love of this series (a song list for each novel? dream cast for a big screen adaptation? reviews of related King novels and the way they tie in to this series?). But I'll start with my meandering and hopefully not too spoilerly reviews! 

Book Two: Drawing of the Three

Rating: 5/5 - Goodreads

The second novel in the Dark Tower series, Drawing of the Three introduces a twist -- Roland enters our world! In my opinion, King successfully shifts the Dark Tower story from a dark and weird western to something akin a real epic in this novel. 

Roland must use three doors that open to different times in our world and 'draw' his companions. Bad stuff happens. (As an aside -- I am not sure if I'll ever be able to look at lobsters the same way again -- thanks Stephen King!)

In my opinion, Stephen King accomplished something special in the characterization of Roland in this book -- he isn't always likable (as a reader your still smarting from his decisions in the first book), but somehow you are charmed nonetheless by how completely clueless he is by somethings in our world. He cannot pronounce aspirin. And his experience with Coca Cola! These are some of my favorite scenes of the series.

Eddie and Susannah/Odetta/Detta are the two main characters introduced in this second installment. Eddie's story in this book is my favorite -- he has a complex and interesting storyline struggling with addiction and family issues. Susannah's storyline (and coupling with Eddie) was less successful for me, but I have grown to appreciate her character further along in the series.

Book Three: The Waste Lands

Rating: 5/5 - Goodreads

Whereas in Book Two you begin to see the epic nature of this series, in Book Three you get to really see the weird. To me the Dark Tower series is not epic fantasy or epic sci-fi... it is epic weird. And I mean that in a good way! In this book we meet a psychotic riddling train, see a certain mysterious and beautiful rose, watch as someone tries to survive a man-eating house, and also observe what happens when someone has to grapple with paradox. What is not to love in all that?

In this book, you also get to meet Oy, the billy-bumbler (dog like creature) who becomes a member of the ka-tet. And you also get to see Jake again. Stephen King is great at writing many things, but I think his ability to write youth is superb.

My least favorite part in this book was a scene involving sexual violence against a woman -- I am not a huge fan of the way Stephen King seems to bring it in many of his works. I think he might do it for the ultimate sense of horror it invokes -- but it is still not my favorite thing.

Also -- I understand that there was a 6 year delay between when this book came out and Book 4 -- which must have been horrible for fans at the time. This book ends in a cliff hanger, so I recommend having the next in the series on hand when you end! 

Dark Tower introduction: All things serve the beam...

I was trying to decide how to start this blog -- and then I realized I should just start with what I am currently reading -- and reading obsessively! As someone who reads a lot, I've started making goals for myself at the beginning of each year. This year, I decided to make an annual goal of reading a published sci-fi or fantasy series -- and this year's selection was Stephen King's Dark Tower series. 

The Dark Tower series is set in a weird (but awesome!) world that combines spaghetti Western and Arthurian legend. It follows Roland Deschain, the world's last gunslinger, in his pursuit of the Dark Tower which is the heart / nexus of all worlds. Stephen King has claimed that the Dark Tower series is his magnum opus, and many other works of his contain references to the story. (If the Dark Tower books themselves are not enough, someone has even made a reading order of other books surrounding the series!) And I am quickly becoming OBSESSED with it. Without further ado, I'll start my reviews off with the books of the Dark Tower. 

The Gunslinger:

Rating: 4.5/5 -- Goodreads

The first book in the series, The Gunslinger is a somewhat difficult and misleading entry into the series. You are only introduced to two of the main cast of characters of the series, and you have no sense of the real reach King is attempting with the universe he has created here yet. 

I have read this book twice: once a few years ago and then at the beginning of January this year. Many suggest that if you are going to give the Dark Tower series a try that you don't give up after reading this first book because it is written so differently than the rest of the series. I would fully endorse this recommendation! 

To me, my second reading of the book was a far better experience than the first, and now that I am halfway through the series I can appreciate all that King set up in this first novel. You are introduced to Roland and his post apocalyptic world with fantastical yet gritty elements. You also meet Jake, but I don't think you can appreciate his character fully until later in the series. 

Overall, this book can be a little jarring in its weirdness, but it is worth the effort if you are interested in the much raved about Dark Tower series or a fan of Stephen King. I believe one thing King does best is invoke the reader's emotions -- horror, impending doom, sadness, triumph. He managed to make this reader feel all these emotions in this first book of the series.

Stay tuned -- reviews of the rest of the series and some related works to come!