Day 29 : The Drawing Of The Three - Book Review

This is book two of the seven part epic fantasy series - DARK TOWER, written by the always-amazing Stephen King.

This book  follows the gunslinger in this pursuit of the all-important Tower. In the previous book we find our hero, Roland Deschain, has finally caught up with the Man in Black and has learnt the secretes of time and space and how The Tower itself is in the center of it all. We learn how 'he who holds the Tower, controls the future/past of the world'. The gunslinger's world has moved on. The things he has loved and cherished is nothing but a distant memory, he is the last of his kind. All he has now is his ka, his destiny, to reach the Tower and defeat the Crimson King. At the very end of his palaver with the Man in Black, the priest tells Roland of the three draws he's been granted. He will have to choose three companions, or ka-tet, that would ride with him during this voyage.

The beginning of the book is quite gritty and dry as any western imaginable. And to add to it quite dark and violent. In the end of which our hero looses three fingers and is poisoned by the venom of huge lobster-like creatures. Now he is weak, thirsty and all he can see for miles is just the dry sand, salty sea and hot sun. Still he drags on, towards the north, for some reason always north. He remembers the palaver with the Man in  Black in the dusty priest's robe. He remembers all of the knowledge he's gained from him. Roland also remembers how even the he wouldn't talk of the Crimson King. How even he seemed nervous to talk about him. All the more reasons for Roland to draw from the three doors that would come his way.

The doors are like a magical windows that opens into another time and somehow always into the same place. New York City. Our hero is tasked with going to their world and draw one person from there to join him on his quest.

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Door #1 - The Prisoner 

When the Man in Black, draws the tarot card for the prisoner, Roland sees a man with a baboon riding on his back. The baboon whips like a slave and the man himself is strong and lanky but nonetheless helpless and chained. When Roland walks through the door, he finds the true prison this man has chained himself to. HEROIN. This man's name is Eddie Dean and he is an addict. The gunslinger walks into his mind, takes control of him. And somehow during the turn of events help each other, him by helping him rescue his equally addict elder brother. And for Roland by getting him the much needed medicine from Eddie's world. In the end, Eddie , the lean and lanky and intelligent addict begins to trust the gunslinger and agrees to join him in his adventure. Just because, he has lost call cause to return to his city, his world. There is nothing waiting for him back there, but another fix, and his own destruction.

Door #2 - The Lady Of Shadows

The second tarot card the Man in Black shows Roland is of a woman. A strong-willed, no nonsense woman who is brave and just and kind in equal measure. When the gunslinger walks into this door and into her mind, he finds himself in a deeper confusion than ever before. When he entered the prisoner's mind, there was shock and confusion and the hunger for another fix. Here too there was confusion and fear, but also a lot of hate. And in measures that did not seem to come from one complete mind. There seemed to two sets of personalities living in this one body. Detta Walker and Odetta Holmes. Alongwith a handicapped body, for the Lady was did not have any legs. She was strong and brave and cruel and smart. But was short two limbs. Roland liked her nonetheless, and decides he cannot proceed in his quest without earning the loyalty of her. And he does earn it in the end, before nearly killing himself.

Door #3 - The Pusher

The final tarot card the Man in Black shows him is of the Reaper. 'Death, but not for you, gunslinger' That is what the priest told him tauntingly. The Crimson King was surely not done with him just yet. When he walks into the third and final door, he returns to the same city New York, only into a more recent time to that of the Lady and of the kid he'd met during the first book - Jake. He loved Jake. He was like a son to him. And this guy behind the third door Jack Mort, a serial killer, the same one that 'pushes' the kid in front of a Cadillac. And also the same one that caused the destruction Lady's mind and loss of her two legs. Jack Mort has by far impacted more to Roland's fledgling ka-tet than anything else thus far. Roland doesn't appreciate that too much.

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At the end of the book. Roland has finally assembled his posse and is now prepared to continue his quest for the Dark Tower. Sure he is short a few fingers, short of resources, short of bullets, is dying of poison spreading up his arm towards his heart. But now, he has the companions he's drawn from the other worlds. He is not alone now after a really long while.

Day 24 : The Gunslinger - Book Review

I think I have mentioned this here once before as well. I am a big fan of the writer Stephen King. He is one of the first writers whose work I became addicted to. Over the years I have discovered more writers and genres that I've liked and enjoyed immensely. But King would always be the one writer who I can honestly showed me how you can pick up just about any book and see yourself disappear into a world of your own. A secret world only know to you and the writer himself.

King's books are mostly him picking up one freakish camp fire horror story and giving it a tale of its own. And with the extensive writing chops as his. Any story he touches become a classic in itself, creating legions of fans with every new book. He has written extensively in horror, thrillers, drama, with hordes of fans reading everything that he output. I am glad to call myself one such fan, a Constant Reader as he calls his fans. And as a loyal Constant Reader I suppose, I shouldn't be putting of reading the work that King himself considers his best work - THE DARK TOWER

THE DARK TOWER is fantasy series of books writer by King over a period of nearly three decades. He came up with this idea when he was at the young age of 19. Yes, the age when you and I were taking long showers and getting rejected/ignored by every hot girl you come across. King was coming up with ideas that would mesmerize of thousands of readers in coming years. Has written in detail about the discovery of this book concept in the Introduction of the book. This book is the revised 2003 edition of the book, in which King polishes a few plot points and hints at the upcoming story events and better portrays the character of the protagonist of the series - the awesome gunslinger - Roland of Gilead.

The story revolves around Roland's epic search for the Tower, a mystical place that acts like a linchpin that holds all of creation in order. The one who hold the Tower holds shapes the destiny of the Universe. In the book, the world has "moved on", things are not the way that you and I, or Roland himself, has known. His voyage into the Mid-World and Out-World in search of this elusive Dark Tower is jam packed with lore and magic and mind-twisting realism. There are parts in the prose that you begin to feel the thirst and heat that Roland has to ride through. The desert is barren, dry and cruel. Our gunslinger has to face through with grit, for that is his duty. That is his ka.

At the begin of this book, we find the gunslinger making/dragging his way through the immense desert in pursuit of the Man in Black. A man of magical craft, and guile. Someone who could give him the directions to the Tower he seeks. But the gunslinger knows information like this wouldn't come easy. He has rode for eons, picking up scraps of information and trail of campfires that the Man in Black leaves behind.

Then we meet Allie, a bartender who works in a broken down drinking hole in a nearly deserted crap hole of a town called Tull. She is smitten by the rugged gunslinger. She gets closer to him. He acknowledges her affections, with thoughts of the Tower and the Man in Black always in the back of his mind. In the end, she was just in the wrong place at the wrong time.

Then we meet Jake, a kid of 12. A kid who does not belong this world in between worlds. He is a smaller blonde version of the gunslinger himself. And infinitely more innocent. Roland likes this kid a lot. He refuses to choose between the kid and the Tower, but in the end he is made to choose. Unfortunately.

Then we meet the Man in Black himself. He is lean and tall and conniving. He knows Roland has been pursuing him for years. He knows more about Roland than the gunslinger himself cares to remember. And with his magic, he even knows of the ka-tet Roland would band together in his pursuit of the Tower. He introduces Roland to the tarot cards and the prophecies they hold for him. He tells Roland about the true significance of the Tower. Of how Tower holds supreme over Time and Size. The universe is shaped by the size and time of contemplation. The Tower is bridge that connects and control it all.

The Tower is where he will meet his destiny. His ka.

This is an amazing book. A solid build up for the origins of what looks to be a mind blowing journey ahead. I blitzed through this book, hungry for more.

I agree with King. This has got to be his best work. Thank you, Steve-o.