The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower, #4.5)

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The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower #4.5)

4.13 of 5 stars 4.13 · rating details · 15,881 ratings · 2,488 reviews

In The Wind Through the Keyhole, Stephen King returns to the rich landscape of Mid-World, the spectacular territory of the Dark Tower fantasy saga that stands as his most beguiling achievement. Roland Deschain and his ka-tet—Jake, Susannah, Eddie, and Oy, the billy-bumbler—encounter a ferocious storm just after crossing the River Whye on their way to the Outer Baronies. As...more

Hardcover, 309 pages

Published April 24th 2012 by Scribner

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May 10, 2012 Kemper rated it 1 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, craptacular, dark-tower, fantasy, western

Shenanigans! I cry shenanigans on Stephen King!

King put me through years of mental torture with The Dark Tower series, but I was able to forgive once he finally delivered a fitting ending to that saga. So I had a lot of concerns about him returning to the story of Roland. I worried that King had come down with a vicious case of Lucasitis that was going to have him tinkering with this story repeatedly.

However, King’s public statements indicated that it would not change the core Dark Tower story...more

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May 30, 2012 Seak (Bryce L.) rated it 4 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Dark Tower lovers and lovers of a well-written tale.

Shelves: 2012, fantasy

Welcome to flashback town, population - Wizard and Glass and The Wind Through the Keyhole.

(It's a terrible ride btw, unless you enjoy your head getting bashed over and over again.)

Wizard and Glass may have the record for length of flashback, but Wind Through the Keyhole goes Inception* on that flashback with a flashback** within a flashback.

*It's still accepted to reference Inception right?

**Okay, really it's a story within a flashback, but the story is a flashback to an even younger Roland te...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Dan Schwent rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2012

While taking shelter from a storm along the Path of the Beam, Roland tells his ka-tet a story from his youth, about going up against a skin-man with Jamie DeCurry, in which he tells a frightened youth yet another story to bolster his courage...

First off, it pains me to give a Dark Tower book less than four stars but I thought this one was on par with Wizard and Glass.

The Wind Through the Keyhole is really three tales nested within one another. One features our beloved ka-tet, somewhere between t...more

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Jan 27, 2013 Chris rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: sk-group, 2012-read-owned

....

Uummmmm. What do I say? For as long as I've been on GR, I've seen the debate on the Dark Tower. Which story era is more enjoyable? The "present day (sorta)" ka-tet of Roland, Susannah, Eddie, Jake, and Oy. Or the "Young Roland" era when he ran with Alain, Cuthbert, and Jamie?

So as I'm about to start this book, I find out that many of the "present day" crews are disappointed because we get a little time with the ka-tet, only to have the story shift back in time with Roland telling another sto...more ....

Uummmmm. What do I say? For as long as I've been on GR, I've seen the debate on the Dark Tower. Which story era is more enjoyable? The "present day (sorta)" ka-tet of Roland, Susannah, Eddie, Jake, and Oy. Or the "Young Roland" era when he ran with Alain, Cuthbert, and Jamie?

So as I'm about to start this book, I find out that many of the "present day" crews are disappointed because we get a little time with the ka-tet, only to have the story shift back in time with Roland telling another story of his youth, much like Wizard & Glass. That book seems to be either a least favorite or a most favorite with everyone. With me, it was a most favorite. So while they were lamenting the return to the early Roland days, I was excited.

But in the end, Ka got me too. King pulled a double switch on us, giving us a little Roland story within the Ka-tet story, only to have THAT one shift to a storytelling situation about a kid we never heard of from even further back. And I'm like, wtf? It's ok for a little bit, but it takes up half the damn book.

The actual story "The Wind Through the Keyhole" is this thing, a fable about a kid disguised and sold as a Dark Tower novel. Ok, so there are some Midworld references and sayings and society stuff built in, so I can see that. It was Midworldian. It was rather interesting to see some stuff in the long ago, before the world moved on.

But if it's always like that, I can see why it moved on. It was boring. That story didn't even feel like a King story. It wasn't bad. It started out alright. By the end it was even engaging. But the middle slogged on quite a bit to the point that I found my mind drifting.

Then we switch back to Young Roland and get a quick wrap up on that story, which was very intriguing and enjoyable. And finally, we switch back up to modern Roland and Ka-tet, getting a wrap up on it too. Which wasn't a wrap up as much as a "ok, we're done screwing around, let's get on with it" that leads into Book 5.

Crap, it was like reading Inception. Only not as good.

Half this book is 5-star material (Young Roland story, Modern Roland interlude). The other half of the book is 3-star (with some boring 2-star fairy chasing in the middle). We'll average it out and call it 4. I'm being generous, but it IS a Dark Tower related book. I won't call it part of the main series though. It's an extra, like The Little Sisters of Eluria or the graphic novel series.

ETA (1/27/2013): The more this book has settled in, the more I am bothered by my overly generous 4-star review. It simply doesn't deserve it. A 4-star should not leave a bad taste in my mouth 8 months after I've finished it.

It's worth reading, but simply does not measure up to the rest of the series, period. (less)

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Jan 02, 2013 Mitchel Broussard rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: fantasy, parallel-universes, paranormal-and-supernatural, sci-fi, series, stephen-king, time-travel

As a bridge between Wizard and Glass & Wolves of the Calla, this book couldn't be more perfect. It draws on the dark, down-to-earth nostalgia of growing up in a harsh, mean world that Wizard did beautifully, but it also introduces the bat-shit crazy, heady material of alternate dimensions and dense mythos that Wolves began introducing in its later pages. So it may not move the overall plot forward, but it's not supposed to. That plot already ended eight years ago. This is a bridge book. A bo...more

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Jun 08, 2012 TJ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

A wonderful entry into the Dark Tower series that King supposedly completed in 2004. Think of this as DT 4.5, after Glass and before Wolves. We don't spend much time with the Ka-tet, as Roland tells them a story of his past while they take shelter from a storm (a "starkblast"--great imagery behind that name). As Roland tells the tale of hunting a shifter in a small town, King then takes it further and tells a story WITHIN the story, that of a boy who must attempt to save his mother's life. It's...more

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Apr 29, 2012 Jennifer rated it 3 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Kevin

Shelves: fiction

Adding this with some trepidation and suspicion, as the last two books in this series were so bad. This appears to be a prequel and could be better. But if Stephen King appears as a character in it, all bets are off.

Updating this on 4/29/12: I read this today. So much better than the last two Dark Tower books. This one takes place in the middle of things, between books 4 and 5. It is a novella within a story within yet another story. It was a fine quick read, and nice to spend another spell with...more

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May 01, 2012 Melissa rated it 3 of 5 stars

As The Dark Tower 4.5, this book sits right at the point in the series where, for me, it all went downhill. Too much time passed between books back then and the characters stopped being who they were and started being who Stephen King was telling me they were. From Wolves of the Calla on, I could never shake the picture in my head of King sitting behind the words, plinking on about commalas and positronics and swapping consonants needlessly for apostrophes. When he wrote himself into the whole t...more

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May 13, 2012 Kevin Xu rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: 35-until-becoming-an-aficionados

This book can be read as a standalong as this book has nothing to do with the main story of the Dark Tower series, but more of a black story as Wizard and Glass and The Dark Tower Graphic Novels are as a black story. This right after Wizard and Glass as Roland and Company hides from a coming story as Roland tells a story about his past where he brings his mother, and how he hunts down a Magican known as the Skin-Man, who can change into different forms of animals at night, killing people. While...more

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May 24, 2012 Trudi rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-tower, series, stephen-king, science-fiction, fantasy, 2012-reads, hugely-disappointing

Sigh. Well, it's finished. I will now try and express some of my deep disappointments here even though it will hurt me to do so. Kemper's review captures much of what frustrated me and left me feeling cheated by the whole affair. To be promised another Dark Tower installment and offered this underwhelming book in its place, so loosely tethered to the source material as to feel as if someone else wrote it, a comical pastiche in parts that tries too hard to be Dark Tower worthy -- well, it just le...more
Sigh. Well, it's finished. I will now try and express some of my deep disappointments here even though it will hurt me to do so. Kemper's review captures much of what frustrated me and left me feeling cheated by the whole affair. To be promised another Dark Tower installment and offered this underwhelming book in its place, so loosely tethered to the source material as to feel as if someone else wrote it, a comical pastiche in parts that tries too hard to be Dark Tower worthy -- well, it just leaves a girl wanting to cry.

I guess I should have read the dust jacket more closely. Maybe if I had gone into this knowing full well that this IS NOT a Dark Tower story, but rather a bedtime story from Roland's youth (ripped from the pages of Magic Tales of the Eld) my disappointment could have been more tempered.

As it stands, we get a paltry 35 pages of Roland, Jake, Susannah, Eddie and Oy (that's not even a story -- it's just used as a framing device for the rest of the book). We get about 100 pages of a Young Roland Adventure -- a monster of the week story that reminded me of Sam and Dean Winchester and an episode of Supernatural set in Mid-World (awesome idea and if Stephen King ever wants to write the Winchesters into the Dark Tower landscape I would probably die from fangirl shock syndrome). In this context however, it didn't work for me. I'm not the biggest fan of Young Roland anyway, and Young Roland in the first person is barely recognizable. It could have been anyone telling that story.

The remaining 160 or so pages is a fairytale featuring a young boy on a quest to save his mother, that may be vaguely set in Mid-World, but has so very little to do with ANYTHING Dark Tower or ka-tet as to leave one itchy and sore. It's a pleasing enough story, but all while I was reading it, all I could think about was 'the gang' and wishing I were back with them, walking with them, adventuring with them. When Stephen King announced he had another Dark Tower story to tell, I believed him, why wouldn't I? It made sense to me that there would be LOADS of smaller stories of ka-tet adventures that did not make it into the 7 book magnum opus, but nevertheless deserve to be told anyway. I want those stories, dammit! Pretty pleeeeeeease, can't I have those stories?
(less)

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Jun 20, 2012 Alex Maidy marked it as to-read

I just got my copy of the Donald E Grant first edition, signed by illustrator Jae Lee! Limited to 5,000 copies! I cannot wait to start reading it!

5 likes · like · see review

May 08, 2012 Rob Hermanowski rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: horror, audio-book

Stephen King himself narrated the audiobook version of this Dark Tower release, and I am happy to say he does a masterful job! Any fan of the Dark Tower series will want to read (or listen to) this book. It is essentially a story within a story that Roland tells the rest of his ka-tet (fans will know) during their travels. Highly recommended!

7 likes · like · see review

May 08, 2011 Christina rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

OK ... This book has nowhere near come out. SO HOW IN THE HELL CAN PEOPLE RATE IT ALREADY? I'm giving it five stars just to counteract the negativity.

30 likes · like · see review

Jun 03, 2012 Jeanette rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: all-fiction, fantasy

Does this guy ever stop? I sure hope not. Live forever, Stevie baby, live forever.

3.5 stars

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Apr 30, 2012 wally rated it 2 of 5 stars

Shelves: king

I've read the stories about Roland and his ka-tet numerous times. I'd picked up a copy of The Gunslinger, the revised story, while on vacation in 2006, a Rapid City, South Dakota mall, this after coming across Wyoming, Cody, the mountains, Devil's Tower (that has a great Indian--L/Dakota I assume--story about a bear, one of the same size in King's saga), Deadwood, where more than a few gamblers were shot in the back...

...so I was in the mood for a western. What did he do with this one? I asked,...more

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May 25, 2013 Alondra rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: books-i-own

Once upon a bye, before your grandfathers grandfather was born....

There was the telling of tale, within a story, along an adventure of vast proportions. All things serve the beam in the King-verse, even when the Gunslinger tells it. This book is a treat for all fans of the Dark Tower series. A treat of a visit with our favorite Ka-tet, a treat of a younger version of Roland, and an task set before him to be unbelievable; and his telling of The Wind Through the Keyhole.

I felt so much calm and p...more

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May 24, 2012 Joel rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: dark-tower-y, 2012, audiobooks, ride-em-cowboy

I have read a few negative reviews of this book that make excellent points about why this is a disappointing addition to the Dark Tower canon. I can't really disagree with them. And yet I enjoyed this story. The difference, I think, lies more with my expectations than the execution.

My favorite part of the Dark Tower is the world King slowly assembled over the course of the series, and the way he eventually tied it in to a dozen or so of his other novels, creating a vast meta-fictional landscape....more I have read a few negative reviews of this book that make excellent points about why this is a disappointing addition to the Dark Tower canon. I can't really disagree with them. And yet I enjoyed this story. The difference, I think, lies more with my expectations than the execution.

My favorite part of the Dark Tower is the world King slowly assembled over the course of the series, and the way he eventually tied it in to a dozen or so of his other novels, creating a vast meta-fictional landscape. In fact, I'd go so far as to say that I care more about the world than the characters -- I care about the characters quite a lot. But the parts I really like reading are the weird little details of this world that has moved on: rusting heaps of leftover technology, unfamiliar brands of soda, giant bear robots, insane sentient trains. That stuff.

I went into The Wind Through the Keyhole knowing it was going to be a filler novel. I read that King believed it could stand alone, so I was pretty sure it wasn't going to offer up much detail on the ka-tet's between-book adventures. And in fact, I read the main series so long ago I... kind of forgot there was any discontinuity there (me and Stephen King both, I guess).

So my wishlist for this book included one item, which was any Dark Tower lore, but I wasn't expecting it, because I knew it was some kind of story-within-a-story fairytale thing. And then, I got some! Because within these nested tales are more details on the Guardians of the Beam and North Central Positronics, and there's even one of those sympathetic artificial intelligences that I find so endearing (even when they are crazy and murderous -- PATRICIA + BLAINE 4-EVER!). This time, I'm feeling pathos for an ancient GPS*.

* Never mind that it doesn't make much sense that this fairytale, ostensibly from an old book that Roland's mother used to read to him, would include incredibly specific details about the Crimson King-esque shenanigans going on throughout the series. More oblique Charlie the Choo-Choo-style nods would present the information in a far more internally consistent manner. But then again, we wouldn't have any scenes with your friendly neighborhood sentient GPS, so...

Yeah, ok, so the rest of the book isn't the best. The framing sections with Roland, Eddie, Jake, et al. are cursory at best, and almost feel like fan-fiction (though to be totally honest, I kind of feel that way about everything in the series after the knock on the gates of Oz, especially the parts of book 5 with the Harry Potter exploding snitches and the Doctors Doom with lightsabers), but it's still fun to peek in on those characters again while they are all still, you know, (view spoiler).

The second-level framing device (stick with me), featuring Young Roland, pleased me more than I expected, considering I kind of hated the flashback-heavy fourth book in the series. It helped that it was short, action-packed, and not a story of angsty teen love. I still have no idea what is up with the fall of Gilead and the Battle of Jericho Hill and all that jazz though. I guess I have to read the comics for that.

So, yeah. Context. If you go into this one expecting an honest-to-Gan Dark Tower novel, you'll be bummed, because it really isn't one. It kind of seems like it took King about a week to write, and he just had fun messing around with it (which doesn't bode well for his sequel to The Shining). If you are a reader who has spent $25 on the hardcover and invested a chunk of time reading it, that may not be enough for you. If you are me, and borrowed your brother's audiobook copy and listened to it at 3x speed on your phone, maybe it will be. (less)

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Apr 27, 2012 ClubStephenKing rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

**A story within a story, within a story...**

"A person's never tool old for stories. Man and boy, girl and woman, never tool old. We live for them." (Roland Deschain).

"The Wind through the Keyhole" is a novel that stands a little bit aside from the rest of the Dark Tower saga. Its story takes place between the 4th & 5th novels.
If Stephen King concluded the saga about 7 years ago, he seems to find it hard to let it go and not coming back to it.
This is something that anyone can easily under...more

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Aug 10, 2012 Ray Smith rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

If there ever was a reason for a 2 1/2 star rating on Goodreads, this book is it. Stephen King is the most preternaturally talented commercial writer working today, and when he really gets into his groove, his books are eyes-stapled-to-the-pages great (like, say, 11/22/63). Unfortunately, The Wind Through the Keyhole isn't one of those books. In fact, it sort of sucked.

The problem is this story can only be called a Dark Tower book if your stretch the meaning quite a bit. The "Ka-tet" of Roland,...more If there ever was a reason for a 2 1/2 star rating on Goodreads, this book is it. Stephen King is the most preternaturally talented commercial writer working today, and when he really gets into his groove, his books are eyes-stapled-to-the-pages great (like, say, 11/22/63). Unfortunately, The Wind Through the Keyhole isn't one of those books. In fact, it sort of sucked.

The problem is this story can only be called a Dark Tower book if your stretch the meaning quite a bit. The "Ka-tet" of Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy (i.e., the INTERESTING characters) only occupy the frame story, and the frame story is at most 5% of the novel. The five find shelter from a big storm in a stone house, and then to spend the time Roland tells the other four a story.

Fortunately, this story is pretty good: a teenage Roland and his equally young gunslinger partner Jamie are sent to a town to find and bring to justice a homicidal shape-shifter called the Skin Man. Full of eccentric characters and a bravura action ending, this story sort of kicked ass (though it would've been so much better if Roland's talkative friend Cuthbert had joined them).

Unfortunately, though, this story doesn't occupy the remaining 95% of the story. It, at most, occupies 25% of the story. What remains of the last 70% of story, you might ask? It's The Wind Through the Keyhole story, which is what young Roland tells a frightened boy to calm him down. Yes, there's a story within a story within a story!

And this last story, about a young boy's problems with his stepfather and his later quest to find medicine for an ailing person, sucked pretty hard. It's not only the fact that the central character--the boy Timothy--is so boring, but the story itself isn't very exciting. Fully half of the story it seemed involved his problems with his abusive stepfather, and the quest was slow-moving. Yes, the Dark Tower books are often slow-moving too, but you have at least Eddie Dean and Susannah's interactions and dialogue to liven up the occasional monotony. Here, you don't have that, and like I've said, it takes up 60% of the book!

So . . . not one of Stephen King's best. Skip this if you're a Dark Tower fan is my humble opinion. (less)

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Jul 23, 2012 Jeremy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Wizard and Glass is the best DT book, and this sequential follow-up to it is probably the second best. Unlike George Lucas, Stephen King has found gold in the more classical backstory of the Gunslinger. It is an almost perfect mixture of fantasy, western, and horror, followed by a superb postmodern fairy tale. If you're the type to have a conniption because Jake is practicing with a gun on page 2, then these concentric circles of stories aren't for you. There are beautiful stretches of matured w...more

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Jun 09, 2012 Mark Lawrence rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

The headline here is that I almost never read a book in 3 days - but I did this one and I was up past my bedtime turning pages.

Stephen King has written this series across the whole span of his adult life & both the character and quality of the series change across the decades (and also between front and back cover). For me Dark Tower as a whole is often spectacular, sometimes a bit weak, but mostly very good.

The Wind Through The Keyhole (TWTTK) is set just after my favourite of the series '...more

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May 01, 2013 Liza rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: personal-library

I've only recently started writing reviews and read this book when it finally arrived last year. I plan to do a more complete review after re-reading it in the suggested place in the DT series.

I understand many folks frustration about TWTtK not actually being a DT novel. But I'm OK with it. The fairy tale Roland tells wrapped within his Skin-Man story is a glimpse into the past of Mid-world. As Roland says in TWL, "The quickest way to learn about a new place is to know what it dreams of." I'm al...more

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Apr 30, 2012 Kelly Leigh rated it 5 of 5 stars Recommends it for: Dark Tower fans and everyone else

Recommended to Kelly by: Me, myself, and I

Shelves: adventurous-quests, fantasy, how-do-i-love-thee-let-me-count-the, magic-abound, speculative-fiction

Nothing short of amazing, this story within a story within a story. I want to say more, but for the time being, what a bittersweet feeling I'm left with. Having to say good-bye yet again to my beloved Oy, Jake, and Roland. Especially Oy. I sincerely hope there will be more revisits, journeys into the Dark Tower world. And what a journey it was!

And for those wondering if they can read/ enjoy this book actually never having read The Dark Tower series. Here's your answer, in the form of a snippet...more

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Apr 10, 2012 Kevin Michael rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It was good to be back in Midworld, if only for a short visit. This book is three stories in one, and those looking for an expansion of the quest for the Tower will be disappointed. Only the frame story contains Roland and his ka-tet from our world. Roland tells Jake, Eddie, and Susannah a tale from his days as a young gunslinger, but even that story is just another frame for the true story: The Wind Through the Keyhole, a fairytale Roland's mother told him when he was a young boy. The fairytale...more

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May 20, 2012 Chris rated it 4 of 5 stars

I have had some time to think about my review of this book and there is so much I want to say. The only problem I find is the fact that most of what I want to say will spoil the book and the series for anyone who reads this. I can't write a review with spoilers because I want anyone who reads this review or the book to be surprised along the way as I was. So bear with me and I will do my best to write a good review.

Having read the Dark Tower series I know what happens down the beam, having a bo...more

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May 16, 2012 Kit★ rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: fantasy, keep-forever, series

Picked this up the day it came out, and couldn't wait to start. And at long last, I made it through my re-reads of #1-4, and I could dive into reading this one! Man, there's nothing better than that feeling of experiencing a new story for the first time, 'specially when it's a Dark Tower story. That anticipation, the thrill of discovery... it's excellent and I really, really hope that this isn't the last new tale in Roland's world. I could read a thousand more, and then some more after that. I l...more Picked this up the day it came out, and couldn't wait to start. And at long last, I made it through my re-reads of #1-4, and I could dive into reading this one! Man, there's nothing better than that feeling of experiencing a new story for the first time, 'specially when it's a Dark Tower story. That anticipation, the thrill of discovery... it's excellent and I really, really hope that this isn't the last new tale in Roland's world. I could read a thousand more, and then some more after that. I love seeing more of Ro's youth, and his life in and around Gilead, his early time as a gunslinger. It was also great to see Jamie DeCurry as a character. He's been mentioned before, but this time I actually got to 'see' him for myself, get to know him the tiniest, teensiest bit. Would in fact like to see more of him. Their mission in Debaria was fascinating, I could've spent more time happily looking around that town, learning ever more of the old ways. I would've liked more info on the skin-man too, like what'd he see when he went in that crack down in the mine? That reminded me of ol' Tak from Desperation, the glowing spirit hidden in a crack way down in a mine, except Tak was red light, not green. But still, reminded me of it, and made me wonder if it was a similar old spirit/demon. And what violence! People torn apart by the monster, wreaking havoc all over town. It was exciting, and a good little mystery while it lasted. Then, the story within the story, the old fairy-tale of Ro's childhood, The Wind Through the Keyhole. I thought that was the best part of the book. The way the story was told, and the feel of the world long before it had moved on quite as badly, it was fantastic. Reminded me again of SK's talent in telling a story, and also reminded me in a way of The Eyes of the Dragon, with that whole old-fashioned fairy-tale sort of feeling it had. I found Tim's story beyond fascinating, I wanted to know more of the Endless Forest and see some of the strange creatures within, I wanted to explore right along with him. I cared for him and his Ma, and was sad when Big Ross was killed, and in a rage when Kells was abusing Tim's mother. But Tim's quest was the best part, his dangerous and exciting trek through the Forest, going into the Fagonard swamp and seeing the terrible (and yet intriguing) creatures lurking in the muck, and seeing a dragon too! And can't forget the people he met, the mudmen. I would've liked to know more of them, what were their origins, were they muties, how'd they come to be swamp-dwellers? Oh, but the part where one had a 'wound' that erupted with a nasty spider crawling out, and then he plucks the egg sac out of the wound? Gag me hard! That was disgusting. Ugh, shudder to think on it, I hate spiders with a passion. Glad I don't live in a swamp. Onward he goes, only surviving with their assistance, which was awesome, especially how they thought he was a gunslinger with that old gun he had, that made me grin. He's on the path of a Beam, the Beam of the Cat and Eagle. I thought that was neat, seeing a different Beam's path, where it went. He's guided by a small machine left by the great Old Ones, a sort of GPS computer kind of thing that helps him find his way and gives information. It's called Daria, and seems to have it's own intelligence/personality, similar to the robots later on in the series, but contained in a small handheld device. I found this machine fascinating, yet another remnant of the mysterious Old Ones, only giving me more and more questions about them. Well, Tim continues on the path, looking for Maerlyn who might be able to help him heal his mother. But a starkblast is coming, a terrible killer storm, so he has to hurry. The crossing over the little stone bridge over the chasm, and the tentacled monster down there had my fear of heights kicking in, but he made it all right, and ran on. At last he comes to the end of the path, and finds a tyger in a cage with a note from the Covenant Man (another disguise of Flagg's/Marten Broadcloak/Walter) that if he wants shelter from the starkblast, he must face the tyger. Well, Tim's not stupid, and he lets the tyger out so he can get the key on its collar, and just in the nick of time they make it under a magic cloth that shelters them from the storm. When it's over, the tyger motions for him to put some liquid on its tongue, and it turns into a man and explains that he's Maerlyn, and he was trapped in that form, but thanks to Tim he's free. He gives Tim the rest of the 'medicine' to give to his mother, and gives him some advice, as well as a safe way back home. Tim makes it back, and though there's a spot of danger (and the sad loss of an interesting secondary character I wouldn't have minded getting to know better) it all turns out well for him in the end. I really liked the end of that tale how he became a real gunslinger, that was like the icing on the cake. The eensy bits (and they were majorly eensy) where I got to read about Ro' and his current ka-tet of Eddie and Jake and Oy and Sus' were great, and I could've done more journeying with them for sure. Wanted to quite badly really. Sure, I know they're moving on to Calla Bryn Sturgis and yada yada, but there was a lot more of their traveling until they got there that could've been shown. But, getting the privilege of reading this new book was better than no new book at all, so I really can't complain. I just want more. As always. Final answer is I loved this book and the two stories inside, made me happy to read it, and I'll definitely re-read it sooner rather than later. The fairy-tale feeling wasn't what I was expecting, but I loved it immensely. I'm off to #5, onward 'til it's over again. Oh, and had to add that the part at the end, the note Ro's mother left for him, made my eyes tear up a little bit, for his reaction to it, as well as the message in it. Bittersweet sort of, but I liked it.
Oh, and another thing, and I guess this isn't directly the author's fault, but it's gotta be in some way... I felt more than a little gypped to see that there were no illustrations in this book. Especially after all the hulla-baloo over at SK's official site last summer with the voting on who would do the illustrations for this story. I mean, the pictures aren't the best part of the books, but they are an awesome inclusion and I love, love, love seeing the artists' renditions of the characters and the world and events. But after all that build-up seeing artist samples and the big poll where one was chosen, I was expecting there to be some damn pictures in this book! Oh, but no, gotta shell out a buncha extra money for a special limited artist's edition if you wanna see those damn pictures. I was highly disappointed by that move. All the others' trade editions come with the pictures, and this one should have too. Kinda made me mad really. Bad enough the special anniversary edition of IT with illustrations was a limited collectors only thing, but now this one too? I'm sorry but as much as I love SK, I can't afford to be spending $100 on one book. So us poor people don't get to see the amazing art accompanying these excellent stories. It's not fair, and I don't like it. But... the words in the book were great. I just wanted some pretty pictures too :( (less)

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Jun 23, 2012 David rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

I absolutely loved this book. It reminded me of how it felt when I first read The Hobbit AFTER reading Lord of the Rings. It wasn't as dark and menacing as the other Dark Tower books. Had a child like feel to it. The story was simple and easy to read but full of depth and beauty. The story of Tim was my favorite - what a cool little tale within a tale! Anyways, I was skeptical about this newest addition to what I though was a finished series but it fit perfectly and I hope Stephen King has more...more

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May 17, 2012 Germancho rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: kindled

It can't be denied that this is a Dark Tower book, but it's only tangentially related to the tale of the Gunslinger. The main continuity of Roland and his ka-tet only appear as part of the framing story, which is only about 50-60 pages long. Roland appears for about a hundred more pages as part of the first story-within-a-story of his youth in old Gilead, which in my opinion is a thinly veiled attempt to crank out another book of the graphic novel adaptations (Gunslinger Babies). The final neste...more

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Apr 24, 2013 L. Lawson rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Excellent, well-written, matrushka-doll-like DT novel. Wonderfully placed between WaG and WotC. Highly recommended.

UPDATE, 24 April 2013: You know what...no. This novel's not a five. It's a three. I reread this as I'm rereading the series, and for it to sit after Wizard and Glass is GD annoying. The two books have the same damn structure, only this one adds another damn flashbacky story. There's not a lot of tension. Not a lot to keep one turning the pages. In short: it's sort of boring. My leas...more

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May 14, 2013 Rincewind rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

After years of waiting, King takes his fans back to the the series that is clearly his greatest work. As someone who was disappointed after finishing 11/22/63 (King's son saves the book somewhat with the ending), I was in two minds before starting this one. I _do not_ want a bad Tower book (Song of Susannah is one too many) and King does not disappoint.

The Dark Tower books usually pick up where the earlier book left off. However, there is a big gap between the end of "Wizard and Glass" and the b...more

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About Stephen King

Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family...more Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the Goodreads database with this name.

Stephen Edwin King was born in Portland, Maine in 1947, the second son of Donald and Nellie Ruth Pillsbury King. After his parents separated when Stephen was a toddler, he and his older brother, David, were raised by his mother. Parts of his childhood were spent in Fort Wayne, Indiana, where his father's family was at the time, and in Stratford, Connecticut. When Stephen was eleven, his mother brought her children back to Durham, Maine, for good. Her parents, Guy and Nellie Pillsbury, had become incapacitated with old age, and Ruth King was persuaded by her sisters to take over the physical care of the elderly couple. Other family members provided a small house in Durham and financial support. After Stephen's grandparents passed away, Mrs. King found work in the kitchens of Pineland, a nearby residential facility for the mentally challenged.

Stephen attended the grammar school in Durham and then Lisbon Falls High School, graduating in 1966. From his sophomore year at the University of Maine at Orono, he wrote a weekly column for the school newspaper, THE MAINE CAMPUS. He was also active in student politics, serving as a member of the Student Senate. He came to support the anti-war movement on the Orono campus, arriving at his stance from a conservative view that the war in Vietnam was unconstitutional. He graduated from the University of Maine at Orono in 1970, with a B.A. in English and qualified to teach on the high school level. A draft board examination immediately post-graduation found him 4-F on grounds of high blood pressure, limited vision, flat feet, and punctured eardrums.

He and Tabitha Spruce married in January of 1971. He met Tabitha in the stacks of the Fogler Library at the University of Maine at Orono, where they both worked as students. As Stephen was unable to find placement as a teacher immediately, the Kings lived on his earnings as a laborer at an industrial laundry, and her student loan and savings, with an occasional boost from a short story sale to men's magazines.

Stephen made his first professional short story sale ("The Glass Floor") to Startling Mystery Stories in 1967. Throughout the early years of his marriage, he continued to sell stories to men's magazines. Many of these were later gathered into the Night Shift collection or appeared in other anthologies.

In the fall of 1971, Stephen began teaching high school English classes at Hampden Academy, the public high school in Hampden, Maine. Writing in the evenings and on the weekends, he continued to produce short stories and to work on novels.(less)

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“A person’s never too old for stories. Man and boy, girl and woman, we live for them. - Roland Deschain” — 37 people liked it

“In the end, the wind takes everything, doesn't it? And why not? Why other? If the sweetness of our lives did not depart, there would be no sweetness at all.” — 24 people liked it

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The Wind Through the Keyhole (The Dark Tower #4.5)

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