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Sep 20, 2011

Kemper rated it:

“Would’ee speak a word of prayer first, Roland? To whatever God thee holds?”

“I hold to no God,” Roland said. “I hold to the Tower and won’t pray to that.”

Damn, I love that line. It so perfectly sums up Roland, his quest to find the Tower, what it’s cost him, and how he knows he isn’t done paying yet.

For years, it seemed like Dark Tower had been walking in aimless circles during the long breaks between the third, fourth and fifth books. We knew that King More...

4 comments like (15 people liked it)

Apr 16, 2007

taarak rated it:

Steven King's magnum opus. I've given a short review of all the books below. Based largely on the strengths of books 1, 2 and 4, I rate the whole series of seven books a three.

On "THE GUNSLINGER" His first book in a very long series starts out well enough.

On "THE DRAWING OF THE THREE" Gotta chuk!? Gotta up-chuk!? Okay, not so bad but not as good as the first.

On "THE WASTELANDS" The series improves with fast-paced, difficult to More...

0 comments like (6 people liked it)

Jul 28, 2011

Dan rated it:

The 2011 re-read:
Susanna/Mia uses Black Thirteen and flees to New York to have her baby. Roland, Eddie, Jake, and Callahan get the Manni to open the Unfound Door and end up in the wrong places. Can Roland and Eddie convince Calvin Tower to sell them the lot where the Rose grows? Can Jake and Callahan find Susannah before she has her baby?

Song of Susannah was my least favorite book in the Dark Tower series the first time through. Susannah has never been my favorite character More...

4 comments like (18 people liked it)

Jun 19, 2008

Cindy rated it:

This review has been hidden because it contains spoilers. To view it, click here

0 comments like (4 people liked it)

Apr 30, 2008

Kara rated it:

The story wasn't bad, some of the new characters were interesting, but I cannot give it a higher rating because of the author himself.

Stephen King has indulged in the ULTIMATE form of ego stroking in this volume and it pissed me off. The plot could've been structured some other way to avoid what he's doing right now - you *can* adjust plot, much as it sometimes hurts to do so - and the fact that he went ahead and wrote what he wrote is annoying and... well, gross. It's gross.
More...

0 comments like (9 people liked it)

Mar 09, 2009

Maureen rated it:

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2 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 19, 2008

Robert rated it:

Stephen King, Song of Susannah (Donald M. Grant, 2004)

It's quite ironic that, less than a year after announcing his impending retirement, Mr. King has graced us with one of the best pieces of writing he's put out in years (excepting "Blind Willie," one of the strongest stories of his career). After a string of books ranging from the mediocre (From a Buick 8, Wolves of the Calla) to the out-and-out bad (Dreamcatcher), during which, one can assume, King decided to hang up his h More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Apr 17, 2008

Greg rated it:

As of this writing, I've just finished Song of Susannah and am about to start the 7th and final book in The Dark Tower series, and I'm scared. Not scared in a "oh, stephen king is scary" sort of way, but scared in a "maybe I should've listened to what everyone told me and stopped reading the series after book 5".

And really, I can't say I wasn't warned, but how the heck are you going to stop reading a fantastic book series after getting 5 books in, and knowing the More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 17, 2009

Andrew rated it:

If you want to read an amazing seven-book series of epic proportions where the main character is a gunslinging loner and he fights amazing crab-creatures and pulls people through magical doorways while on his way to save the entire universe, then stop reading this series at book 3; skip book 4 and read book 5 and imagine the ending for yourself.

Seriously though, Stephen King did a fantastic job of recovering this story after so many years of it sitting on the shelf--though book 4 wa More...

0 comments like (2 people liked it)

Dec 16, 2009

Jason rated it:

I love the Dark Tower Series. However, this book really did seem incomplete. In the past all the books have had a beginning and end with a continuing story arc. Except for maybe Wizard and Glass. This one just felt like an unfinished story. Plus it took him so long to get this series completed, I'm going to have to go back to remember all the characters he refers to. I know he is trying to create a joining mythology for all of his fiction but I really wished he didn't bring himself into th More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Dec 21, 2008

Stacey rated it:

I've enjoyed this series immensely, all the way up until this book. Now I am reading the last one just to see if he can straighten out the mess he made here. What was he thinking? This is the ultimate in mental masturbation an author can produce. I liked the parts Eddie and Roland right up until they left Tower, and I kind of liked the bits with Jake, but the rest? Crap. It's crap!

I know authors of serials sometimes put themselves in the story (Clive Cussler comes to mind,) but it's More...

0 comments like (5 people liked it)

Aug 22, 2008

Josh rated it:

This is more like it! After the dreadful Wolves of the Calla, my expectations lowered dramatically for the rest of the series. This volume, however, makes up for lost time. We get another old-fashioned shoot out with Roland, and a whole lot of answers to longstanding questions about the world this series is set in. There are a few clunkers - Susannah taking over a listening station in her mind was a little weird, and I'm not terribly gung-ho about the surprise guest star that appears in thi More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 05, 2011

Brian rated it:

Series: 5/1/2005 8/10

The Dark Tower series is Stephen King's magnum opus. It ties together a lot of his books. The gunslinger, Roland, is an interesting character and so is the world the series is set in. I've really enjoyed the early books, re-reading them many times. I thought the series ended kind of weakly though. But then again, it would have been difficult to live up to expectations.

For more info, check out:</b>
Official Stephen King page
Stephen King FAQ
Fan site
Dark Tower site
Dark T More...

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Feb 28, 2009

Dreadlocksmile rated it:

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 tim More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Jan 01, 2012

Ricky rated it:

The story starts to come together, and there couldn’t have been a more perfect time for it. The baby, the Crimson King, End-World, the wolves, everything starts to stitch itself together in a very satisfying and intriguing way. It was quite a cliffhanger, and I’m very thankful that I have the final novel right before me on the table. I don’t know if this one was my favorite or not, because they all make up one story—it may as well be one huge novel, for real. But as I start to become comfort More...

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Nov 21, 2011

Jac rated it:

I found that I loved this book for many of the same reasons other reviewers said they didn't like this book.

I really enjoyed the relationship between Susannah and her "personalities". I had resisted liking her character throughout the series, but I found in this book I finally felt the connection I had been looking for. Her story was great, it's difficult for me to really vocalize what I loved about her without giving away too many spoilers. But I think King threw some gre More...

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Nov 01, 2011

Joe rated it:

When I first started reading the book, I could not put it down for the first half. The second half of the book seemed to drag on and it was a chore to get through. I could not believe that Stephen King actually adds himself into his own story and has his own characters acknowledge him as their creator. It completely removed the entire fantasy aspect of the story for me and made me very conscious of the fact I was reading characters out of an authors head, and I therefore have lost enthusiasm for More...

1 comment like

Aug 06, 2011

Paul rated it:

After facing down the Wolves at the Battle of Call a Brynn Sturgis, Roland's ka-tet finds itself separated--though not yet broken--when Susannah is taken over by the entity known as Mia, and forced through (yet another) enchanted door, this one leading to New York City in 1999, where Susannah is to give birth to her and Mia's shared child in the not-so-tender care of the minions of the Crimson King. Whatever he may want with Mia's "chap" is unclear, but, whatever it is, it certainly i More...

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Jul 17, 2011

Bre rated it:

To borrow a Sai King word sling,I thought this book was pretty darn "unputdownable." If you haven't read the previous 5, save yourself a bottle of "Astin" and a mind blower of a headache, and start with the Gunslinger. We aren't at the Tower yet, but it feels closer all the time...glad I started this series after King had finished writing it, because I'd be mightily PO'ed if I had to wait for the seventh one to come out. Like King said in the journal, people are spoiled when More...

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Apr 04, 2011

Angela rated it:

There's something about a crippled, black, schizophrenic, civil rights activist-turned-gunslinger whose body has been hijacked by a white, pregnant demon from a parallel world that keeps a seven-volume story bracingly strong as it veers toward its Armageddon-like conclusion. When Susannah Dean is transported via a magic door on the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis (the scene of much of The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla) to New York City in the summer of 1999, the "demon-mother" who More...

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Mar 29, 2011

Jessica rated it:

Now I love Stephen King. I have read almost all of his books, which is quite a task when you look at how many books he has written. The Dark Tower series are not necessarily my favorite, but, like any epic work like this, it is exciting to find out what happens next. They are on a quest, and with each book you learn more about how that quest will end and what new obstacles lay in their path.

This is book 6 of that series, and I must say, things have started to get a little too weir More...

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Dec 11, 2010

Jillian rated it:

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2 comments like

Aug 13, 2010

Jason rated it:

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Feb 19, 2011

Becky rated it:

I've always really enjoyed this volume of the series, even though, as seems to be the case with many next-to-last books in a series, it's more of a set up to the end than it's own book.

But Song of Susannah is brilliant in that set up. I love the revelations that come from this book, about Roland, about the world, about the Tower and Ka and everything. We learn so much that will be important in this book, that it's surprising that the book is so short. Well... Short for King. The mas More...

6 comments like (2 people liked it)

Jan 16, 2011

Ross rated it:

This has always been one of my favorite books in the Dark Tower series. The characters and goals are all well-established, so King allows his focus wander a bit, and toys with the cast and their quest. It includes one of my favorite showdown/gunfight scenes (just behind the showdown with the Wolves in Book 5) and the development of the Susannah/Mia duality and where it progresses fascinates me. Also, while some might find King's hubris on working himself into the novel distasteful, the meta n More...

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Apr 14, 2010

Tim rated it:

Ah Stephen, how I have loved thee. I followed you to face the Dark Man in The Stand, I went into the Derry sewers to face Pennywise the Clown in It. And so when I heard of an even BIGGER tale, I grew very excited indeed.

The trouble is, The Dark Tower Series was always precariously balanced between cool-surreal and just plain WEIRD. The Wolves of the Calla took a deep step into weird, and the Song of Susannah takes place almost entirely in that mystical country.

I'm sorr More...

0 comments like (1 person liked it)

Nov 18, 2009

Rebecca rated it:

Compared to the few couple of books of the Dark Tower cycle, this was short and to the point (and when you're starting to think of 400 pages as 'short,' you've clearly reached the point of no return). It wasn't my favorite so far, mostly because I find the extended Mia storyline kind of boring. Sorry.

I was okay with the way King wrote himself into the story; it didn't bother me as much as I thought it would. It was done interestingly enough, and with enough originality that I let hi More...

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Jul 26, 2009

Barry rated it:

SOS finally provides some long awaited answers to long-standing questions in the DT series, but unfortunately, the book felt like it lacked conviction. I felt the first 5 books were packed with the conviction that Mr King was behind and involved in the writing. SOS, however, feels more like Mr King held the material at an arms length when he wrote it and is merely trying to get through the book rather than wrestling with it and engaging with the story and characters.

I could sit here More...

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Jul 30, 2011

Marit rated it:

Instead of tying up loose ends as the series draws to a close, this sixth book (out seven) adds another layer of mystery and suspense. The story breaks apart into multiple subplots where different pairs (or in the schizophrenic, possessed Susannah's case...trios?) struggle to find their way back to each other but stay on the the path of the Beam that will lead to the Dark Tower. Even the writer of the novels becomes embroiled in the quest for the Dark Tower as King himself appears as a character More...

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Oct 11, 2010

Sara rated it:

Overall, I really liked this book. I got impatient, wanting to know what was going to happen to Susannah, but it dragged out through the whole book. By the time I was over it, she goes into labor- figures! Ironically, the one storyline that I wasn’t too interested in (Jake, Oy, and Father Callahan) was the only one that I am now looking forward to reading in the next book. Jake and Oy have quickly become my favorite characters, but was not that interested in them because of Father Callahan...to More...

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