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10 of 11 people found the following review helpful:
Song of Susannah, 10 Jun 2004
Stephen King's Song of Susannah is the sixth in his epic Dark Tower series. It follows directly from the end of Wolves of the Calla. As the villagers deal with the aftermath of their battle, Eddie plans to follow Susannah/Mia, and one of the beams that holds the Dark Tower in place finally snaps. The strength of the narrative is how the characters have divided loyalties: to find Calvin Tower and persuade him to sell the lot containing the Rose to the 'Tet-corporation' and protect the Tower, or deal with the affair of the heart and find Susannah. However, this conflict means the narrative is split three ways: there is little interaction between the groups and the story becomes three separate narratives, with Susannah, not surprisingly, the primary focus. The story mostly takes place our world in 1975 and 1999. Roland and Eddie leave the story around page 314, while Jake and Callahan really only have forty pages to themselves. Each of these three threads ends with a sense of anticipation for the final novel. The story does carry the narrative forward - to a point. Song of Susannah answers some questions, most particularly, the surprising revelation of who the father of Susannah/Mia's baby is, and some remarkable characterisation of the internal conflict between the multiple personalities. Also, very impressive is the gradual transformation of Jake, becoming more like Roland following the death of Benny Stillman. There are some disappointments within the story: one of the strengths of the earlier volumes was the gradual revelation through the retrospective view on the revolution and the fall of Gilead - there is none of that in this volume. Furthermore, the way that King narrates his story - having the characters recognise his conscious indebtedness to other genres is like having a magician explaining how magic tricks are done. Everything seems to have labels attached, and the information on the labels underscored (explaining the relevance of the name 'Calla Bryn Sturgis' and how many fighters were in the trench when the Wolves arrived). The use of the name 'Mordred' carries with it so much legendary baggage that it is impossible not to see the significance of the character. It seems a shallow way to present characterisation. What is most frustrating is the significance that King places on his own importance and in-jokes. The novel is bogged down with self-conscious references to his other novels. There are some potentially distasteful references that the modern reader would understand but that the travellers from New York would not, for example, hiding Black Thirteen in the WTC and saying that it would be safe if 'a hundred and ten stories of concrete and steel' fell on top of it. However, despite the above, it was an enjoyable novel, and it brings us closer to the end of the series. Unlike the first four novels, we only have to wait three months for the conclusion!
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19 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
Just one more turn to go!, 21 Jun 2004
'Song of Susannah' is the penultimate chapter of Stephen King's 'Dark Tower' story. After the crazily (some might say)long 'Wolves of the Calla', book six is extremely refreshing in it's narrative and pace. King proves that he still has the ability to write a 'rollercoaster' novel, with twists and turns all the way, and when he's in the zone no-one can outdo him.Obviously 'Susannah's greatest weakness is the lack of a real beginning and end, but this is to be expected. The series is going to conclude with an epic novel in it's own right (book 7 - 'The Dark Tower'), which should finally give us all 'the answers' (many new questions are raised, of course, in 'Song of Susannah'). Certain negative reviews are still missing the point about this series. It truly is one huge long book split into seven parts. There isn't meant to be an arc within each part, the story is continuous. In fact, no review can really do this book justice as we won't feel it's full effect until we've finished the final chapter. As for King himself appearing in the saga, people are too ready to criticise this as self-indulgence. This story IS his life, the backbone of his writing career, what almost all his other books are about (some moreso than others). You think of 'The Stand' and 'It', two of his most famous books, and they are pretty much side plots to 'The Dark Tower'. Through including himself in 'Song of Susannah' he has elevated 'The Dark Tower' into something far greater than just another novel written by Stephen King. Read it and you'll see...
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6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
The end approacheth..., 11 April 2005
Pen-ultimate books in a series are often the hardest. How do you manage to ratchet up the tension for the last book without giving away your denouement or leave your fans short changed? This is none so true as to Stephen King, who in the manner of Phillip Pullman has unflinchingly upped the stakes for each Dark Tower sequel. He did this in spectacular fashion at the end of Wolves of the Calla by introducing a character from another of his books, and then having him find, well, that book. Existential crisis doesn't really do justice. How exactly was King going to follow this?
Fortunately, King manages the feat amply in Song of Susannah. After the ever-so-slightly turgid Wolves of the Calla, I don't think I was alone in wanting something a bit more fast-paced from the Dark Tower. In that respect I wasn't at all disappointed- there's a tangible sense of urgency and pinch in Song of Susannah, and you are on teeterhooks with all three threads which run through it. Whilst Susannah fights a losing battle with her alter-ego Mia as the demented mother carries her/them and their sinister baby into the lion's den, Jake and his new companion Constanti- sorry, Callahan miserably rush to what they know is a belated cavalry charge. Meanwhile, Eddie and Roland escape meeting their makers at the hands of (reincarnated) Italian gangsters, before going to meet their maker anyway. If you are any kind of Dark Tower fan, you must know that King himself stars in this book. It's very hard what to make of this. A courageous and startling burst of imagination? An embarrassing display of hubris? As the book gently starts to eat itself in the last third or so, I suppose you'll have to make up your own minds. Basically, as with all of his books, King asks us to make a leap of faith, only this time it's a lot bigger. I found that I was so gripped by what had gone before- both in this book and the Dark Tower series in general- that I was able to make it, despite my doubts. And, yes, if you step back from Song of Susannah then its clear that the Dark Tower series is impossibly long (we could have coped without Wizard and Glass and WOTC), he invests himself with a ridiculous amount of self-importance, he beats us over the head with a lot of unneccessary symbolism and in the end what we have is the Matrix crossed with a Clint Eastwood flick.
But I wonder whether you'll be thinking this when its three in the morning and you still can't put this down. End of the world? Bring it on.
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