Soon to be a major motion picture starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba The fourth volume in the brilliant Dark Tower Series is “splendidly tense…rip-roaring” (Publishers Weekly)—a #1 national bestseller about an epic quest to save the universe. In Wizard and Glass, Stephen King is “at his most ebullient…sweeping readers up in…swells of passion” (Publishers Weekly) as Roland the … (Publishers Weekly) as Roland the Gunslinger, Eddie, Susannah, and Jake survive Blaine the Mono’s final crash, only to find themselves stranded in an alternate version of Topeka, Kansas, that has been ravaged by the superflu virus. While following the deserted I-70 toward a distant glass palace, Roland recounts his tragic story about a seaside town called Hambry, where he fell in love with a girl named Susan Delgado, and where he and his old tet-mates Alain and Cuthbert battled the forces of John Farson, the harrier who—with a little help from a seeing sphere called Maerlyn’s Grapefruit—ignited Mid-World’s final war.
Filled with “blazing action” (Booklist), the fourth installment in the Dark Tower Series “whets the appetite for more” (Bangor Daily News). Wizard and Glass is a thrilling read from “the reigning King of American popular literature” (Los Angeles Daily News).
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Wonderful!! I am very glad I started reading this series. Volume 4 gives background on Roland. Very entertaining, captivating, page turning and creative. Stephen King drawers you in, makes you love the lovable characters and hate the loathsome characters.
Wizard and Glass, the fourth installment in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series, might have the strangest structure of any novel I’ve read.
The story begins by resolving the cliffhanger ending of The Wastelands, which saw Roland and his ka-tet of gunslingers about to engage in a riddling contest with Blaine, an insane, self-aware monorail. After surviving that encounter, the heroes resume their journey to the Dark Tower, but go astray when they cross from Roland’s world into the version of Kansas decimated by plague in King’s earlier book The Stand. While they search for a way to cross back, Roland tells the tale of his first love, which involves an epic flashback of several hundred pages. Wizard and Glass then concludes with a short sequence that returns the protagonists to their quest.
It’s… pretty bonkers.
Let’s start with the jaunt into an empty Kansas. Earlier books in the Dark Tower series laid out how the barriers between the parallel planes of King’s cosmos are eroding, causing elements of different existences to bleed into each other. Roland’s world is the core world, though, and in it resides the Tower, the lynchpin of the multiverse. Roland’s (still vaguely defined) mission is to reach the Tower and halt the galactic collapse.
But while previous Dark Tower novels included cameos by nonxad-Dark Tower characters (notably Randall Flagg, the big baddie in The Stand), Wizard and Glass is the first book in the series to meander its main storyline into that of a seemingly unrelated work. “I am coming to understand that Roland’s world (or worlds) actually contains all the others of my making,” writes King in his afterword to Wizard and Glass.
I’m not quite sure what to make of this. It’s a wildly ambitious idea, but because most of King’s stories take place in different (if similar) realities, few interact in ways that matter. The strongest connection seems to be simply an invitation into the full expanse of twisted wonderland that is his imagination.
Then there’s the gargantuan flashback to Roland’s youth. This tale within a tale is a decent yarn on its own, and it reveals more about Roland’s character and motivations for pursuing the Tower. But the reminiscence doesn’t move the larger narrative along, and only thinly relates to the final scenes of Wizard and Glass, when King returns us to the ka-tet’s present, story-hopping circumstances. Most authors would have saved such memories for a prequel.
And yet… I still enjoyed Wizard and Glass. It shouldn’t work, but King is king, so somehow it does.
It’s his world (worlds?), folks. We’re just reading in it.
(For more reviews like this one, see http://www.nickwisseman.com)
Out of all the Dark Tower books, this has been my favorite of the series from the day it released. It was great to re-read it once again because it’s like visiting old friends once more.
Long days and pleasant nights.
I listened to the entire audiobook series, back to back. Strange but i was sucked into the characters and the quest.
This is probably my favorite in King’s Dark Tower series. The novel is phenomenally written. The story within the story is among the best writing by the master of horror storytelling. Read the series in order for the best effect. But read the first 3 books quickly so you can get to Wizard and Glass; then slow down and savor this marvelous novel.
This is one of my top 20 books of all time! The Dark Tower series is great, but this book could stand alone and it rivals The Stand in storytelling prowess! If you love fantasy and adventure, or even old westerns, you will not be disappointed.
Whenever I recommend the Dark Tower saga to people, this installment is the reason why.
My favorite installment of The Dark Tower Saga, seeing Roland’s tragic trials really moved me. I never warmed up to Roland in the earlier books, but this book won me over and he’s one of my all-time favorite literary characters now.
I have been pushing through the Dark Tower series and recently finished book 4. Most of the story is a flash back to Roland’s younger days and his true love, Susan. It is really fascinating how King was able to shed light on why Roland is the way he is and sets the stage for the future novels. Gut wrenching romance that could only end one way. Book does not disappoint and is a great addition in the series. On to book 5!
Another fantastic installment. Pure back story, this one, and what a story it is. It’s also long, very long, hence the lengthy hiatus since my last review (about two months), and to keep my attention for all that time is no mean feat. You’ll find more wonderful characters, some of whom you’ll love to hate – the witch, Rhea, still haunts me – and some of whom you’ll just love. Brilliant book, Mr King. I loved it as always. Onto the next…
Fantastic series.
Can’t say that this was my favorite book in the Dark Tower series but it gave some back story that explained more about Roland. Probably could have skipped it but at the time it came out I was more than ready for the next installment in the saga.
The whole DT series is worth reading – starts slow and then it grabs you and won’t let go
Whoa. Amazingly well-told story of young Roland and how he came upon his quest to find The Dark Tower. The story was sad and complicated, but even in its flashback style, it fit with the Roland we’ve come to know in the first three books. Questions are answered (some of them) and things have definitely taken more turns for the strange, but even in “going backward,” temporarily, the story has moved forward.
Great series
Stephen King at his best. The entire Gunslinger series is phenomenal, right up there with ‘the Stand’ in terms of depth and concept. They are permanent fixtures on my shelf and I’ve re-read them several times. If you haven’t read them, where have you been???
The dark Tower series was going to be great. You knew that by the time you put down the gunslinger but this book in particular was an aside that was absolutely necessary for me to love Roland. Initially I was disappointed with being diverted from the trek to the Tower for some silly back story but not only could this book stand alone it also provides the background one needs to understand a characters motivations as deeply as your own.
Excellent addition to The Dark Tower books. Well drawn characters. Interesting from start to finish.