The Dark Tower

I read The Gunslinger when it was first published and thought it was quite good. The next two books in the series were good enough for me to move on to book four when it arrived. Years passed and then I heard Stephen King was going to (finally) finish the series. I was looking forward to reading through to the conclusion. Unfortunately, he decided to take the Robert Jordan route – dull, poorly edited and worst of all he lost sight of who his characters were. I won’t even waste time on the arrogant disaster of writing himself into the story, the ‘deus ex machine’ or the horribly sappy wrap-up. I am quite serious when I say it would have been better to leave the series unfinished.

The end of a series that began for me with the first three books, found in a thrift store in almost new condition. It's taken my eight years to finish it up (granted, King's hiatus on the series was a contributor) but what a journey it has been. There may be a lot of criticism about the most recent books. King's (despised) "metafiction" and the ease of which a few hyped villains are dispatched but overall, it's a journey with characters you've grown to love and know well. Seeing them to the end of it all is only fitting, even if it might not be the ending you were looking for. Nor expect. It ended the way it ended. It is what it is.