By the end, did anyone else feel.....

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shakeyman

Member
Mar 28, 2017
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Massively underwhelmed?

Not deliberately trying to be controversial here. I am a fan of Stephen King. particularly the DT complementary books (particually Insomnia) and thought I'd laud DT series as the masterpeice that most feel it to be.

I loved parts of the journey. I loved the characters. The world. The concept of this multi verse, all the many weird and wacky things that can happen in this fictional world.

Then we met the Crimson King.

The way he, Flagg and Spider boy are dealt with made me wish I hadn't read any of the books. I left feeling that the series was a waste of a great concept, a great premise great characters and great villains. While the series was far from perfect, I can't believe the something witch such an epic scale and tremendous build would end as such a wet fart.

I don't even have a problem with what Roland found in the tower at the end. Which seems to be the biggest gripe from readers that I can tell, but I actually think the way all the major villains are treated undo all the promise and build. It's like a joke without the punch line.

I suspect I am massively in the minority, but I had to get this sadness off of my chest.

Curious if anyone has empathy with this feeling?
 

Spideyman

Uber Member
Jul 10, 2006
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Just north of Duma Key
Hi and welcome. I am sorry you feel this way about the journey. May I make a suggestion.... at some point in your life, down the road a few years, take another read of the journey. See if time, differences in your life, might change your impression concerning the villains and their fate. As far as what Roland found-- in my opinion, that was the only way-- Ka is a Wheel. And you must remember:
the journey is not over.
 

taylor29

Well-Known Member
Mar 18, 2014
103
391
I definitely hear you...and actually, I think most of us remember getting to the end. You're so invested and you want justice. So many of us came here because you feel like you have to talk through it....The Dark Tower series, in essence, put us all in therapy. (Welcome!)

If you read the forums, you'll find people had similar reactions. I hated the Crimson King (though I am endlessly amused by spider boy calling him his big red daddy) and his demise-by-eraser. As for our Man in Black...well, he got poetic justice if you ask me. Who is Flagg if not a self-serving bastard?
(Get it? Self serve?)
If Roland has his tower, Flagg has his abyss. In the end, Roland and Flagg are both back where they started.
 

shakeyman

Member
Mar 28, 2017
5
22
36
yep, the more I have gone back and thought into this and conversed with friends. The more I reflect the more I think the series has been a great waste of my time.

How many books did I read building up the CK as this threat, how invested did I get into the rivalry between the Flagg and The Gunslinger.

Book 7 makes all of that investment a waste of time, series as a whole (including the related novels) has been the biggest waste of time since my first marriage. I've not been able to bring myself to read any fiction ever since.