The Drawing of the Three (Dark Tower Vol 2) - Stephen King

by Harbinger

I apologise for not having posted anything for a while. Dissertation worries you know. I've been busy dissecting the interview a 'Bevin Boy' very kindly let me conduct, amongst other things. So i am going to get straight to work, doing one of the things I love best annoying people! As you can guess from the title of the post Stephen King has returned. ~Evil laughter~. I did a review of the first book in the series a while ago if you want to read that the link is here:

http://hagelrat.blogspot.com/2009/09/gunslinger-dark-tower-vol1-stephen-king.html


I Now have all the Dark Tower Series and have read most of them and I've enjoyed them. Fortunately as one book almost seamlessly leads into the next, i have yet to encounter a 'duff' ending these being the only King books I have ever read. Perhaps I am meerly postponing the inevitable as I have yet to read the last book. Roland the Last gunslinger wakes up after the reading of his Tarot cards by the Man in Black. He is attacked by monstrous creatures, which loses him two fingers of his right hand and a big toe. His wounds become infected and he struggles along the beach, until he discovers 3 doors. All the doors lead to New York City in different years (1987, 1964, 1977). Each door is related too person Roland needs, to help him in search for the tower.


The First being Eddie Dean behind the door marked 'The Prisoner'. Eddie is a cocaine addict an incurable joker, neither of which are traits Roland holds in high esteem. Eddie is Roland's antithesis. In Roland's eyes he is weak willed and and incapable of seriousness.

The Second is Odetta Holmes behind the door 'The Lady of Shadows'. Odetta is confined to a wheel chair after an incident in which she lost her legs below the knees. She also suffers from an undiagnosed multiple personality disorder. She is completely unaware of her second personality Detta Walker. Detta is dangerously violent and manipulative, and Eddie and Roland end up having to try to control both sides of her personality.


Finally the Third door, 'The Pusher', contains Jack Mort. Jack Mort is a murderer, not least of Jake Chambers from the first book (which led to his appearance in Roland's world). Roland still feels guilty for his role in Jake's eventual death, in Roland's world.

This book gives an interesting twist on Roland's Character, which i feel is an improvement. In the first book, he was quite unfeeling about allowing Jake to die and the other deaths he caused in his search for the tower. However in this one he does display elements of feeling guilty about his part in Jake's death, though interestingly he does not rule out doing it again for the sake of his mission. What I also enjoyed was how he had to rely on Eddie after 'drawing' him, something which neither Eddie nor Roland are exactly happy about, as Eddie detests Roland as much as Roland is disdainfull of Eddie. However, he does grudgingly begin to respect the other man.


Finally, I think it is important that the other characters have made an appearance, as they are such interesting figures they counter Roland's one-dimetionalness. It now requires Roland to be much more imaginative in achieving his goals as the group he gathers round himself does not have the same goals or values as himself. However I am glad that the feeling of emptiness and desolation of Roalnd's world is retained, as that is what made the last book special to me.

All in all a good book, but i am still watching for a 'duff' ending.

Any way it is good to be back, and I hope your all still speaking to me. ;-)

TTFN