The end is in sight, 10 April 2004

This is an extremely well balanced book. King starts out with unresolved threads from the previous books in the bottom of the cauldron, stirs in a new plot line to add volume, and spices it with some interesting, unforeseen complications. For a while it simmers quite nicely, but then he gradually raises the temperature, making you turn the pages faster and faster, and when you run out of pages to read you feel disappointed that it’s over for this time.

What impressed me the most is that despite the long time in between the different installments King has managed to stay true to (and develop) the main characters all the way. Wolves of the Calla also introduces a new, important character that I really enjoyed. Or really, it’s a person cast out from another of his books that has found a new home in the Dark Tower series. I know some people think this kind of recycling is just pure laziness, but in this case it works out very well.

As you would expect, the suspense lies not so much in whether Roland and his companions will succeed in finding a way to reach the tower, but in which plot line(s) will be resolved in this book, and what will carry over to the final two volumes. I felt satisfied even though I was left hanging there desperately holding on to the cliff, which is the perfect way to end a “middle book”. The tower is definitely closer now.

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Just can't get enough, 17 Dec 2003

By	C. Howell - See all my reviews

If you are a King fan you will also find that as in some of his other books, there are answers to tie up loose ends from his other stories. This is highly entertaining and also has the added benefit of reviving forgotten memories of his past great works.

If I have one grumble (I won't say fault), it is that he states in his notes in the book that this is the fifth of seven, and I now just can't wait for them to be published.

If you liked the past four of the Dark Tower tales, you will love this.