Londons Falling

UGH!

Rating: 1/5
Comments:
Most of the one and two star criticisms are accurate. I won't repeat the ones with specific content or spoilers, you can go check those if you want. What I will add is that the story lines do feel rushed like King is trying to unburden himself of the Dark Tower series. He cuts corners, contradicts earlier books, characters amount to nothing or are inconsistently written and the ending doesn't make any sense. In general, just a steaming mess.

King inserted himself as a character in the previous book - he's back in this one and expands on that by occasionally breaking in with unnecessary second person narration. Even more bizarre, he admonishes the reader directly in the Coda. It gets to the point where he doesn't let you forget this is a book written by Stephen King, which had the affect of pulling me out of the story and thinking about the strings he has attached to the characters. I read a comment in a forum that King considers this book and Song of Susannah as published first drafts. If that's the case, then you're better off waiting on these two books until an editor gets their hands on them.

WHAT WAS KING THINKING??

Rating: 2/5
Comments:
Wow, where to begin? First off, it's been over six years since this book was released, and I have read it several times. I only mention that so you know this wasn't written in the heat of the moment. O.k., books 1-4 were great. King created an epic series that kept me waiting through the years for his next book. I was in my late teens when I first read book 1, and in my early thirties when I read book 7. As has been written by other readers, King lost the magic at the end of book 4 (Wizard And Glass), and except for a few moments here and there, he never recaptured it. To be fair, there were some things I liked, such as Ted Brautigan being in the book and Blue Heaven, where the Breakers reside. There were however too many things that just ruined what was once a great series.

1. At the end of book 4, King started referring to the Wizard of Oz. He kept it up through the last 3 books and also added Harry Potter to the mix. That might of been o.k., except it seemed as though there was no reason to do it, except to do it. I suppose it's not ripping them off it is so blatant.

2. What in the world was King thinking when he added himself into the story? I could go on about that, but is there really any need to? Huge mistake!!

3. He created the mother of all bad guys with the Crimson King. So what does he do? He devotes a few paragraphs to him at the end of book-7. He would have been better off never revealing him at all. He turned him into a saturday morning cartoon of a cranky old man who is dispatched simply by being drawn and then erased by another annoying character in Patrick Danville.

4. Mordred (another example of King borrowing from other works). Not sure if I liked his involvement in this book or not.

5. Walter. Another bad guy who is given a few paragraphs in the book and then gets eaten by Mordred. What is the point of building these evil characters up over many years and many books just to have them killed off so easily.

6. It seemed like King killed off the good guys just for the sake of doing it. "Look at me, I'm unpredictable." No your not, that was predictable.

7. The ending. I realize this was a no win situation. He had no way of pleasing everyone on this one. However it seemed like he used that as his excuse to make an easy, bland ending.

Some people have said he waited too long to finish the series, and was uninspired by the end. I would argue he should have taken longer. Even though it was a long frustrating wait between books, at least they were worth waiting for. By rushing to get them done, he wrote the last three books at once and ruined what was once an exceptional story.

Stephen King The Dark towers series

Rating: 5/5
Comments:
We had the first three books of this series, and my husband wanted to read the rest of them. I hunted at the stores we usually purchase books at and could not find them. So I went to Amazon.com and found the books (4) to finish the series. They came in good condition and in a reasonable time frame, given the holidays. Good purchase, he thought the books were great, so I am satisfied.The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (v. 7)Wolves of the Calla (The Dark Tower, Book 5)Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, Book 4): and book 6