Review: The Dark Tower VII- The Dark Tower

      Alright... It's over. I hate finishing good series, if only because I love living along with the characters, and finishing means I can't be with them anymore (almost sounds insane, right?). My life, since spring break early this year, has been nearly dominated by Roland, Eddie, Jake, Susannah, and Oy. I'm honestly wondering what it'd be like not reading about their adventures- because they have been such a constant force in my life. Anyway, how do I begin reviewing this 1000+ page book?

      Let's start with the positives. I could go on and on. The character growth among these five is stunningly amazing- even Oy, despite being a dog/raccoon- type creature (called a billy-bumbler). Of course, Eddie is my favorite character by far... His jokes were timely and awesome, and brought an element of hilarity to bad situations. The fulfillment of Roland's dream, laying his eyes on the Dark Tower, was great. Roland's being thrown back to the beginning of the series is a concept I find fascinating, and has me thinking. How many times has he been through the journey? After Susannah's, Eddie's, and Jake's reunion in New York, will they appear in Roland's next journey? Is the Crimson King still trapped as a set of eyes on a balcony of the Tower, or is he back in action? Have the Beams been permanently saved, or will Roland have to stop the Breakers again? Will Roland have to face off with Mordred again? The questions go on and on.

      Here come a few things that set me off a bit. One, I feel like that with the amount of energy put into the fact that Mordred was this sort of evil guy that would help destroy the Tower (or Roland), his death seemed a bit quick and inconclusive to me. I almost felt a bit let down by the fact that he posed so much of a threat throughout this book, yet he didn't really hinder Roland and friends much at all (except for the huge sidequest he caused, in Song of Susannah, but that's another book). Two: I'm still not sure how I felt about the inclusion of lightsabers  (Although those were in Wolves of the Calla), exploding snitches, and all the pop culture references that were put in to move the plot along. (Hey Jude is popular in both worlds?) I'm left wondering whether King had lost inspiration at these parts, or was trying to tie our world and Roland's together.

      All in all, I loved the series. I have it up there with Lord of the Rings as a series (although there's no way King matched the extensive background that Tolkien put into Middle-Earth). Might I add how coincidental it is that I finished the series on the nineteenth of November? (The number nineteen is a big plot element throughout the series.)

Long days and pleasant nights,
Neal

Me, The Vaguely-Omnipotent Blogger

      With this post, I'm going to do a sort of 'profile' of myself. Have fun!

      What can I say about myself? I'm seventeen years old, in high school. I do enjoy writing, but I'm terrible about getting around to doing it (I'm trying to challenge myself by posting something every day). I can be opinionated about certain things, but I prefer not to be very outspoken about those opinions. I can be described as a 'nerd'- I like Star Wars, Lord of the Rings, etc; I'm into computer-stuff, and I am a huge bookworm. Certain things do set me apart from other people (I believe)- I prefer cold weather to hot weather, I'm actually pretty anti-social outside school, I can be very stubborn, I listen to classic rock music (The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Beatles, etc), I would rather use Windows (or a Linux distribution) than a Macintosh.
       I love, love, love keeping up with events around the world. I'm obsessed with world history, and I want to really keep up so I can recount to my children and grand-children what life was like in the crazy beginnings of the 21st century. It would be cool to keep a video diary so my descendants can actually see me in my youth, but alas, I have neither the video camera nor the patience.
      What do I want to do with my life? I have no clue. I'm thinking about going more into social sciences in college, and seeing what happens after that. Maybe living in a small town all my life, one where I know everybody, and where I could walk to all the places I needed. Maybe opening my own little business. I wouldn't be able to do the whole big-city thing. I can't handle the unadulterated chaos, the constant bustle, and the noise of the city. That's just me, I guess, and I'm just fine with that.
      Is that enough? I hope so- I'm out of anything to say.

Long days and pleasant nights,
Neal