The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King

Here is a second entry from our dean of students. This series sounds interesting to me, and it is not the typical Stephen King fare. Thank you once again Amy!

Rolland Deschain is the lead character in this 7 book series of John-Wayne-meets-Knights-of-the-Roundtable-while-visiting-LOST. Roland’s character is the essense of what American culture defines as masculine. Throughout the series, Roland is seeking something, not knowing exactly what, but something he desparatly believes in that will change the world. Through that quest, he demonstrates strength, wisdom, hard earned lessons, and persistence through impossible odds. He builds relationships with others and cares for them in that John Wayne sort of manner, mentors the young, and empowers those around him. His will and character are constantly tested and you get to watch as he continues to become more and more human and evolved. The series is long and allows wonderful depth of the characters and miles of action and adventure.

If you are a Stephen King fan, what I found exciting is that he brings in characters from over 15 of his other books! What I found fun was his consistency with his movies in that he has a cameo appearance in the series! The Dark Tower has a huge following and even has a website and a video game that I haven’t tried but you might enjoy. http://www.stephenking.com/DarkTower/ . I’ve also heard rumors that there will be a movie, a 2 year television series, and a final movie telling the story.

If you aren’t familiar with King, don’t jump to conclusions, this series is not horror in my opinion. It does have magic, monsters, elements of futuristic sci fi; with the old west and middle ages; and a lot of action.

The following paragraph is copied from http://www.stephenking.com/DarkTower/:

At the age of 19 Stephen (King) decided he would like to write an epic similar to The Lord of the Rings. The “spaghetti Westerns” of that time and a poem written by Robert Browning, "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came," became the inspiration for his magnum opus. The series written and published separately over a period of 22 years consists of seven books and the short story, “The Little Sisters of Eluria,” published in his short story collection, Everything’s Eventual.