In my review of the first volume in the Dark Tower series, I commented that, while it was a good book, it was somewhat sparse and very obviously a foundation for a greater story to come. I don't think it's such a hot idea to start your 22-year magnum opus heptalogy (yeah, I went there) with a weak book, but fortunately, "The Drawing of the Three" makes up for what "The Gunslinger" lacked.

Having found himself on the shore of a turgid grey sea, tasked by the man in black with "the drawing of the three," Roland is attacked by a lobster-like monstrosity that severs two of his fingers and leaves him with an infected wound that will soon kill him. Dragging himself along the beach with the last of his strength, Roland comes to a doorway standing alone on the sand - a doorway into another world.

Entering the doorway, Roland finds himself inside the mind of an inhabitant of that world, a man named Eddie Dean, who is sitting on a plane from Nassau to New York with two bags of cocaine strapped to his armpits.

The subsequent story is an example of Stephen King at his best, as Roland attempts to bring food and medicine back from our world to his, and to prevent Eddie from being arrested at customs. The point of view jumps from Eddie to Roland to a flight attendent to the pilot to customs officers and more besides, and yet never throws off the pacing or flow. One of King's finest talents as a writer is to look inside his characters' heads, to establish their motivations and make their behaviour and reactions perfectly understandable. Consider this scene, where Eddie has locked himself in the plane's toilet and the flight crew knows damn well he's smuggling cocaine:

Deere, the co-pilot, suggested Captain McDonald ought to lay off pounding on the door when McDonald, in his frustration at 3A's lack of a response, began to do so.
"Where's he going to go?" Deere asked. "What's he going to do? Flush himself down the john? He's too big."
"But if he's carrying-" McDonald began.
Deere, who had himself used cocaine on more than a few occasions, said: "If he's carrying, he's carrying heavy. He can't get rid of it."
"Turn off the water," McDonald snapped suddenly.
"Already have," the navigator (who had also tooted more than his flute on occasion) said. "But I don't think it matters. You can dissolve what goes into the holding tanks but you can't make it not there." They were clustered around the bathroom door, with its OCCUPIED sign glowing jeerily, all of them speaking in low tones. "The DEA guys drain it, draw off a sample, and the guy's hung."
"He could always say someone came in before him and dumped it," McDonald replied. His voice was gaining a raw edge... something was not right about this one. Something inside of him kept screaming Fast one! Fast one! as if the fellow from 3A were a riverboat gambler with palmed aces he was all ready to play.
...
McDonald - who had never put anything stronger than aspirin into his system in his entire life and then only rarely - turned to Deere. His lips were pressed together in a thin white line like a scar.

With only three throwaway lines nestled amongst the narrative, King establishes exactly why the captain is so determined to apprehend Eddie, without disrupting the flow at all. It adds a lot to the story, and proves that King can write quite well when he wants to.

After the "drawing" (recruitment) of Eddie Dean, we follow the formulaic drawing of the other two. All three of them are natives of New York City in various different periods of time, and the vast majority of the book is set there, with only brief interludes on the long, bleak beach in Roland's world. The second recruit is probably the low point of the book; I found her particular quirk to be somewhat annoying. The third, however, brings us back to the excellent storytelling of Eddie Dean's segment, with Roland going on a gunslinging shootout across New York City in his final desperate quest for antibiotics.

The strange thing is that, while this book is much better than "The Gunslinger," it too is clearly a set-up for a greater story to come. "The Gunslinger" gave us the hero and the quest; "The Drawing of the Three" gives us his posse. While I enjoyed this book a lot, I find myself wondering whether Volume III will advance the quest and give us more of Roland's world, or busy itself with yet more set-up. Once again, King himself acknowledges this in the afterword: "This longer second volume still leaves many questions unanswered and the story's climax far in the future, but I feel that it is a much more complete volume than the first... and the Dark Tower draws closer."

Unfortunately, we're in early '90s territory now, so King's inevitable decline in quality also draws closer... ( )

This book is all about plot and lacks in character development. Characters do things that just make zero sense. The horror plot is awesome though, featuring terrifying creatures called "lobstrosities," drugs, doors into people's brains, murderers, shoot-outs, and more. Unfortunately some twinges of misogyny take away from the pleasure of the horror, but it is still worth reading.

For my extended review, check out my blog post: http://wp.me/pp7vL-4r ( )

The second in the Dark Tower series is less about Roland's world and more about ours. Roland's commentaries of our world are insightful and fun. King is an older in this book in the series and it shows, but I still feel this book is missing an overall message. There's a bunch of interesting stuff, but overall it doesn't sum up to a coherent message. A fun read nonetheless. ( )

Better than the first book in the series. ( )

Next to The Gunslinger, this is my favorite of the Dark Tower series. It introduces the concept of traveling between our world and Roland's world, and sets up the ka-tet, or group of characters bound by fate, who will drive the rest of the series. ( )

The second book of the Dark Tower series. This is a work of art quite unlike any of Kings other works. It is a fantasy story but it is more than that. It is magic. ( )

After reading The Dark Tower Book I: The Gunslinger, which I very much enjoyed, I wasn't sure I wanted to immerse myself into a seven book series. After reading The Dark Tower Book II: The Drawing of the Three, I can't imagine not reading the entire series and then wanting more. Fantastic book. It can only get better from here. I am so looking forward to The Dark Tower: The Waste Lands Book III ( )

My favorite of the Dark Tower books. Roland enters our world to find allies in his quest to find the Dark Tower. Roland's culture clash as he faces things like abundance of paper, pants on women, and tuna fish sandwiches alone makes this book a joy to read. ( )

The Drawing of the three is the second book in the Dark Tower series. King moves from the western genre to a more sci-fi feel as the protagonist Roland moves between his world and different time periods in ours to draw the three people he will need to complete his quest. The crossing of time lines creates paradoxes with the storyline in the previous book, and even Roland momentarily wonders if he has screwed up his own time line (but decides that he doesn't care.) This book feels less cold, and more personal, than the first book did. ( )

Riveting. truly excelent ( )

Excellent Artwork. ( )

Arguably the weakest book in the Dark Tower series, The Drawing of the Three still serves its purpose of introducing us to pivotal characters Eddie and Susannah. Hard to handle at times -- the lobstrosities gave me the willies -- but worth the effort to get through, if only to advance the story. ( )

http://angelofmine1974.livejournal.co... ( )

The Gunslinger was a surreal fantasy which, to be honest, was quite hard work. The fact that there are answers available, from questions left unanswered in the first book, make The Drawing of the Three rather irresistible. The good news is Drawing is a thoroughly different style. The surreality is still there; King has a clear idea of how this other world exists. That said, this book features no more than a single stretch of beach, yet at no point labours it's points. The lack of otherworldly scenario is compensated by three Earth bound stories as the Gunslinger forms his 'company', for that is all that occurs in Drawing - it is the creation of a fellowship which (presumably) will fuel the next four books. The initial Drawing, the addition of a junkie to the Gunslinger's cause is superbly written. Carl Hiaasen-esque with a Tarentino twist - you'll be absolutely transfixed by it. The rest of the novel never lives up to that chapter, but it's all good none-the-less. Fate (ka) ensures the book doesn't seem like separate stories, with the beach as a strong link between each. The plotting of Drawing is excellent. Enough praise for this one - just go and read it! ( )

What a difference some years can make. The poor ending of the first Dark Tower novel and the somewhat ham-handededness of the book as a whole had been almost enough to make me not go on to the second novel. I'm glad I did. The second novel shows what years and years of writing taught King in the interim and I enjoyed it a lot. Also I was switching back and forth between the audio book and the paper version and I can say that the reader for the audio book is very good indeed. A mark of that is that Frank Muller seems to be the one they had read all of the later books in the series as well. ( )

I think this book is good, but a little overrated. I, unlike most people, didn't really like the shifting between Roland's world and our world at different time periods. I just think it all kind of fell flat compared to Roland's mystical and fictional world.

But on the plus side, this book was very unique and interesting for what it was, and it introduced one of the creepiest creatures I have ever read about, the Lobstrosity.

So overall, it was a decent book, just not one of my favorites. I enjoyed the first book much more, and I am currently reading The Waste Lands. ( )

The first time I read this was right around when The Waste Lands came out. The second time was when Wizard and Glass (finally) came out six years later. Now it's been over ten years since that second time and I'm rereading it a third time to refresh my memory so I can finally read the final three books.

And I'm really, really glad I read it again, because while I definitely remembered the basics, I had a lot messed up, too. It was almost like reading it for the first time again.

It was a great story, too. I'm glad to find I still love this series as much as I did when I first discovered it in 10th grade. It's still every bit as awesome as it was then. I can't wait to (re)read the rest. ( )

"The Drawing of the Three" is the second book in Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. The story continues following Roland, the last Gunslinger, on his quest towards the Dark Tower in Stephen King's vision of an epic fantasy.

As Roland continues his journey he must leave his world - a different world known from the first book, "The Gunslinger" - into our world. This is one of the different aspects from the first; the story does not take place in the fantasy world as much as it takes place in a world all too familiar for many readers.

The different worlds provide a sense of connection for the reader, as well as feelings of humor. Roland struggles to grasp many aspects of our life - for example Roland is familiar with apothecaries in his world, who are more like mystics and run a dimly lit potion shop. In one of his adventures, he enters a drugstore expecting "a dim, candle-lit room full of bitter fumes, jars of unknown powers and liquids and philters," and is taken aback when he sees the brightly lit drugstore familiar in our world.

Different, yes. Interesting? Very. As Roland "draws the Three," King introduces new characters and an intriguing, elaborate story that will surely leave the reader gripping the pages tightly. Where "The Gunslinger" was slower paced in some areas, "The Drawing of the Three" keeps the reader rapidly turning the pages with very little downtime. However, the Plume publication of 2003 leaves a little to be desired in the formatting of the illustrations and the text. The text and illustrations do not match up - being at least several pages off, resulting in more of a hindrance than anything.

For those who read "The Gunslinger", this is obviously the next step in the story. If "The Gunslinger" was enjoyed, this will only further pique interest in the story. For those that read "The Gunslinger" and are unsure if the story is worth going on - this book will quickly change that feeling of unsureness and bring the reader further into King's epic fantasy world. ( )

The ending of this book kept me up an hour later than usual, which says something for King's writing prowess. The story is well crafted, even though we spend nearly the entire length of the book outside of Rolad's wasteland. Still, despite the slow parts, The Drawing of the Three leaves a good taste in your mouth with an exciting conclusion and setup for book three.

One funny note about this book is that I while derided King for the reuse of the Dark Man archetype I first encountered in his 1978 book The Stand, Roland actually mentions a devil named Flagg at the end of the story. It is an interesting technique, having an entity span worlds in the way Flagg seems to. I think I like it. ( )

The Drawing. Mort. Setting the stage. Ka-tet. Lobstrocities.

In the second book in the Dark Tower series we pick up with Roland on the beach just after the end of the events in The Gunslinger. A series of misfortunes leads the gunslinger down the coast and into the process of Drawing his new companions: The Prisoner, The Lady of shadows and Death “But not for you Gunslinger”. The shadow of death hangs over the gunslinger in this story that feels at times like the greasiest of crime novels while still maintaining that bizarre element of the fantastic that sets the Dark tower series apart.

This book was so episodic it was ridiculous. But, it worked! It worked very well, and I wholeheartedly enjoyed the story. It ventured away from the dreamscape exploration of the first installment of the Dark Tower Series, the Gunslinger, and focused on what I feel King does best: character development. Essentially, that is exactly what this segment of the series is: a 300-or-so page introduction of two of the four main characters that make up the band of pilgrims.

I have never felt like King's characters were flat, and usually they are far more complex than most others I read. They have their moments of weakness, heroics, fear, and joy (and sometimes all on one page). They make the bi-polar populous seem stoic. And this is not because of erratic behavior, it is because King explores all aspects of what goes on in the head of his characters.

I believe this is well exhibited and established in The Drawing of the Three. It is an excellent piece of writing. ( )

This sequel to the Gunslinger was an awesome read. I felt it was better than the first, actually. The drawing of the three as described in the book was very compelling and the two characters provided a nice contrast to Roland's stoicism. I didn't particularly like the evil half of the lady of shadows without going into too much detail, but this book is very fast paced and a real rollercoaster ride. Dod-a-chuk. ( )

Silly, volume II. ( )

Fantastic series. This book was by far the better of the entire series. The later books go too much over the top. ( )