Tuesday, August 21, 2007

The Dark Tower

 



The Dark Tower Series contains 7 books. This review only discuss the first three books (The Gunslinger, The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands) for clarity, brevity,and other ek-ek.

The first 3 books are fine. I think they are made for introduction purposes - it gives you enough juice to get you interested but not enough for you to be contented. This does not mean that you can skip these books though. You would miss a lot if you do, and you would miss the fun these books offers. Mostly, these books contains connections between characters: Roland, Eddie, Sussanah, Jake and Oy. It is in these books that made a picture in our minds: what they are and WHO they are. Besides, it's the adventure a true reader seeks, not the tower itself...

The books constantly feed the readers' curiosity at the utmost level. There might be mistakes at first, as I will explain later, but all in all, the mistakes are minor compared to the enormous wonder the story provides.
WARNING!!! SPOILERS AHEAD
First, the cons (because there are only few of them). I noticed that there is a wide gap between the first book and the rest. This is confirmed by the author itself (read the Afterwords of each book), and this gap is somewhat understandable. What is disturbing about the gap is it confuses readers when they read the books successively (meaning everyday). Take Roland for example (he's the only character who appears in every of these 3 books). Roland has a different "culture" in the first book and the third book, and in some disturbing way he was inconsistent. In the first book, he's quite like us, with an ignorance of our technology, but in the second and third, he was really DIFFERENT from us - his language, his knowledge, his terms, his CULTURE. However, this inconsistency does not defeat the beauty of this book, because his behaviour and his purpose remained the same. I guess this is because of the said gap (almost a decade). Again, do not allow this change in Roland to defeat the book, because it's just really minor when you come to it (but still disturbing).

Another is Stephen King's lack of research. Again, this is another minor drawback. I realized that because he's writing a book with MUCH COMPLEXITY on it, he left some areas unresearched. In the second book, the part where the Lady of the Shadows (a lady with two personalities) is, I noticed he used a very wrong term - schizophrenia. I accepted this error first, thinking that the characters who used it were mediocre people (gangsters), and Eddie (smart, but received little formal education). I thought that they used the term because SCHIZOPHRENIA is misunderstood by almost 90% [an assumption] of the world's population. Schizophrenia, unlike the misconception of "split-personality", is a mental disorder of psychosis with a disturbed perception of reality [for more info, click here] "Split personality" is not schizophrenia but DID (Dissociative Identity Disorder), where a person has multiple personlities, each with own memories, behavious, etc [for more info, click here just like the Lady in the Shadows. So, like I said, I accepted it first, and then a DOCTOR used the term. Should a doctor know better? This is where I reached to a conclusion that Stephen King failed to research this, and erroneuosly used the term. Psychiatrists and doctors might laugh at your book, Mr. King, so you better watch out... hehehehehe...

But, then again, these mistakes are not enough to pull this beautiful books down...

The series gave Robert Brown's poem (Childe Roland) a wider, fuller, and more intimidating meaning to it. It gave a new meaning towards the UNIVERSE. The series argues how COMPLEX our universe it; how TIME, SIZE (or space) cannot be merely understood by science alone [although time and space is complex in science alone!]. It succesfully bewilders the readers their limitations to grasp even the mere psychology of Roland - even though Roland is as blunt as a rusted knife, yet there is REASONS behind it, REASONS not even Roland can fully understand.

The series is beautiful. Its concept is new (or INNOVATIVE, this is safer to say), and this newness can leave the readers breathless. Truth to tell, it is captivating that it can disturb you in your whole life.

What is the UNIVERSE? Does the worlds in it "moves on" towards it destruction?

Surely, this series will not answer you, but provied even more tantalizing questions leading to it - leading to the Dark Tower...

I recommend this book for all - it is complex, but the adventures and thrills balances its complex nature. A must read (and good luck, do not let the author's mistake pull you back - though these mistakes are insignificant anyway)...

I am anticipating for the next 4 books (I don't have the savings to buy them yet, hehehehe). And, I'm very EXCITED!!!!! (What could be the riddle that saved them from Blaine? Hmmmm, I bet its Eddie's stupid joke/riddle {why did the chicken cross the road...}, I bet Blaine would kill them if that's the riddle they would ask)...