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7 of 9 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
The Dark Tower series takes on a whole new & original level, 22 Dec 2006
Stephen King's novel "Song Of Susannah" is the sixth instalment of the seven part epic "Dark Tower" series. The novel runs for 427 pages out of the series total of 3712 pages. Unlike within the previous installations, the book does not include an introduction from King himself (Wolves Of The Calla delivered his last `argument'). However, the book does finish with a two page afterward. Again, the hardback version includes some full colour illustrations (ten in total), this time by Darrel Anderson.
The story begins directly from where the previous novel left off, throwing the reader once again into the mysterious world King has created. From the very beginning, the tale picks up a fast pace, setting down clever twists and turns for each one of the main characters we have followed closely throughout this adventure. With a similar construction of the storyline to that of "Wolves Of The Calla", the fragmented plot lines that gradually draw together is a lot tighter within this action packed novel.
King develops upon the character of Susannah's multiple personalities, bringing out further layers to their rich personalities. Whilst the three separate tracks of the story weave their way through the book, King takes his almost surreal angle of bringing in the real world by introducing himself as a major character within the book. This brings a whole new and original approach to the saga, which tricky as it sounds, works surprisingly well. In doing this, the Dark Tower series becomes a more involved and personal adventure for King.
The novel draws to a close with a chapter constructed from the pages of the character of Stephen King within his own novel. These fictional accounts detail the real life of the writer in a way that reflects the parallel world from the series. Confusing as it sounds, it does work very well, bringing all the previous books tighter together and linking them to our own reality.
All in all, I found this instalment into the "Dark Tower" series one of the most rewarding and enjoyable reads of all the books so far. Short as it is compared with the previous books, "Song Of Susannah" is rich in its storyline and cleverly ties in almost all of the previous events laying the ground for the final book to complete this epic journey. An absolute pleasure to read.
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4 of 6 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Song of Susanah is the perfect pitch, 14 Dec 2006
The previous book, Wolves of the Calla, was a joy to read; and so is Song of Susannah. The obvious difference between the two is the length of the books (Wolves being almost twice as long as Susannah), which may in a sense relate to the one major difference between the two. Wolves of the Calla had a very disjointed pace, the various parts and interlooping stories made the book a tad tiresome to read in certain areas (Telling Tales springs to mind). Song of Susnnah suffers from none of this, and the book is an action packed thrill-ride from start to finish. It would be expected that the book being split between three different character groups would make the book disjoined in a severly detrimental way when compared to Wolves of the Calla, however Stephen King has formed these three plot lines flawlessly so they read as one, and character switching makes the plot more engaging and consequently giving the story more momentum.
The real wonder of this book though, is the way Stephen King writes himself into the novel. Upon hearing he was going to this, I was doubtful as to how it would work. My worries were laid to rest when I had finished reading, he pulls it off marvelously relating to the real world (as in the world of the reader) pectacularly, and also bringing together his first novel of the saga: The Gunslinger. Many complain that the last three stories break off (and supposedly get worse) at the fifth novel; the inclusion of King himself as the writer brings back those earlier books making the whole universe of the Dark Tower tighter. I could only smile at the seemingly cheeky (or arrogant if you know Stephen King better than I) implication that he is in fact almost the ultimate power of everything.
A spectacular and fascinating read, if you've made it this far no doubt you will continue to the end, but if you feel you failing at those few slow spots in the ealier books, push on; this book is fantastic.
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1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:
1.0 out of 5 stars
The ending to this wonderful series feels like a betrayal, 23 July 2009
It's not exaggerating to say that I had a little weep when I saw where King was going with this series. The hints are there all the way through: the casual dropping in of his name into previous volumes; the ending of Wolves of the Calla which suggests that the author known as 'Stephen King' is to form a key part of their puzzle, their ka-tet. At the end of Wolves I found myself praying that King wasn't going to do what I thought he was going to do. When I started the next book my heart sank.
It's made worse by the fact that the first four-five books are so outstanding. I had invested so much in these characters and their situation; to be reminded - in the most egotistical way - that the whole thing was just a fiction, was like a slap in the face.
Boo hoo, is all I can say. A tragic end to one of the most promising things I've read in years.
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