The Dark Tower is now a major motion picture from Dreamworks starring Idris Elba as Roland and Matthew McConaughey as The Man in Black In his New York Times bestselling The Wind Through the Keyhole, Stephen King returns to the spectacular territory of the Dark Tower fantasy saga to tell a story about gunslinger Roland Deschain in his early days. The Wind Through the Keyhole is a sparkling …
The Wind Through the Keyhole is a sparkling contribution to the series that can be placed between Dark Tower IV and Dark Tower V. This Russian doll of a novel, a story within a story within a story, visits Roland and his ka-tet as a ferocious, frigid storm halts their progress along the Path of the Beam. Roland tells a tale from his early days as a gunslinger, in the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death. Sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, a brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast’s most recent slaughter. Roland, himself only a teenager, calms the boy by reciting a story from the Book of Eld that his mother used to read to him at bedtime, “The Wind through the Keyhole.” “A person’s never too old for stories,” he says to Bill. “Man and boy, girl and woman, we live for them.”
And stories like The Wind Through the Keyhole live for us with Stephen King’s fantastical magic that “creates the kind of fully imagined fictional landscapes a reader can inhabit for days at a stretch” (The Washington Post).
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It was great.
This is a great adventure story, and highly recommended for any fans of fantasy, fairy tales, or Stephen King. I do have to say, this is sort of a coda to The Dark Tower series by Stephen King, and would best be enjoyed as part of that series. Now that I think about it, though, it doesn’t really have much to do with the main story, and could perhaps be read on its own, the way his other books such as The Eyes of the Dragon and Insomnia can be seen as connected to the Dark Tower series, but not dependent on reading order.
My first Dark Tower book.
Quite a different ride to the Stephen King fiction I’m used to.
It took a few pages before he sucked me into this new world, and then I was hooked. Now I will have to read the whole series!
I adored Roland’s story telling, and the world building done around those stories. There was enough gore (!) in the book to mark it as a Stephen King novel, but the fantastical elements were a surprise. I wasn’t expecting dragons and faeries and all the other peculiar and wonderful creatures.
I was told that this one book could be read as a standalone, and I didn’t feel that I was missing any important information as I took a tentative step into the Dark Tower world.
Another five star review from me.
A wonderful view into the past life of one of Mr. King’s greatest character.
the entire series is one of my favorite ever!!! But do NOT take the advice of the internet and read the books out of order! That is just lazy and removes the best part of the whole series!
I like the story-in-a-story construction. We root for Tim, and hope Roland and his mates can find the skin-changer.
Kept me up even though I had work the next day.
Another great book in the Dark Tower series. I just wish there were more…., This book takes place between book four and book five in the series and stands alone, but will be more interesting if you have read the series. The hidden meanings and twists will have better effect.
Simply the best of one of our greatest storytellers. I’ve read it three times already and recommended it to anyone who’ll listen. It’s both what you expect from Mr King and totally different. He is a wizard with words.
I’d stop reading the Dark Tower/ Gunslinger series a while ago (too long between books) but this book reminded me why I had enjoyed them so much. King is at the top of his game, great pacing, characters & story. There’s a real twist here, a story within a story within a story and King makes it work! Each of these would have made a great short story by itself.
If you haven’t read any of the other stories in the series, I highly recommend you do so before starting this one and now I’m on to the next book in the series (King finally finished the series, now if he could tell George R.R. Martin to get busy with Game of Thrones, life would be good).
This is not a stand alone book. I recommend reading the other books in the series The Dark Tower before reading this book, or else you will be lost. I highly recommend this series, however, and I have read it three times myself.
I read this after I finished the Dark Tower series. You could definitely read it after book 4 or just wait till the end. It makes no difference. This is a story of Roland’s first duty as a gunslinger. Interesting and captivating. I really enjoyed it!!
The Dark Tower series is my favorite series. I love everything that Stephen King writes. I read my first King novel when I was in high school and have been a fan ever since.