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The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)
by Stephen King

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<a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5091.The_Dark_Tower?utm_medium=api&amp;utm_source=blog_review" style="float: left; padding-right: 20px"><img alt="The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7)" border="0" src="http://photo.goodreads.com/books/1165517582m/5091.jpg" /></a> <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/5091.The_Dark_Tower?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">The Dark Tower</a> by <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/author/show/3389.Stephen_King">Stephen King</a><br/><br/>
  <a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/show/9696163?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review"><h3>My review</h3></a>
  rating: 5 of 5 stars<br/>I had to give it 5 stars because I've been reading this series for about 15 years and the last sentence did it for me. Quite the opposite of my complaints about Murakami and Pynchon (who I both love) and many other contemporary writers, King actually ended this book and the series as a whole quite well.
<br/>
<br/>I will caution that I feel the story leading right up to the end (beginning around the second half of book 6) was shaky as all hell, but I was on a serious adrenaline high while plowing non-stop through the final three books of this series over a single weekend while reading them all on my computer (which made me very nauseous after a while) and I was in a much less critical frame of mind than I might otherwise be. Lots of weak or pointless plot issues, King's self-indulgent take on meta-narrative (no, I don't think he's some crazy egomaniac, but sheesh!), incredibly pivotal characters coming from other, considerably more marginal King books (yes, I know a lot of the other stuff he wrote was connected in some way with this series but, again, sheesh!), etc.
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<br/>But when all is said and done, he did write this book for those of us who have stuck with the series - I doubt anyone not finished with the first six books would want to buy and read a 1000 page book that concludes a seven part series - and I think it shows, whether or not you actually like what he did with it. And, the ending worked. In another context it may have come across as contrived or forced, but the way it was executed was balanced in such a way that I couldn't really imagine it ending another way, and I wonder if, despite all assertions to the contrary, King knew what was going on all along.
  <br/><br/><a href="http://www.goodreads.com/review/list/618746?utm_medium=api&utm_source=blog_review">View all my reviews.</a>

Tony's review
rating:

bookshelves: fiction
status: Read in January, 2007

I had to give it 5 stars because I've been reading this series for about 15 years and the last sentence did it for me. Quite the opposite of my complaints about Murakami and Pynchon (who I both love) and many other contemporary writers, King actually ended this book and the series as a whole quite well.

I will caution that I feel the story leading right up to the end (beginning around the second half of book 6) was shaky as all hell, but I was on a serious adrenaline high while plowing non-stop through the final three books of this series over a single weekend while reading them all on my computer (which made me very nauseous after a while) and I was in a much less critical frame of mind than I might otherwise be. Lots of weak or pointless plot issues, King's self-indulgent take on meta-narrative (no, I don't think he's some crazy egomaniac, but sheesh!), incredibly pivotal characters coming from other, considerably more marginal King books (yes, I know a lot of the other stuff he w...more

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