Wolves of the Calla (2003)

Great ( )

It was nice to get the story going again after the weak Book 4. There was a lot of back-story here involving a character that I wasn't expecting to see: Father Callahan from Salem's Lot. On the whole, it was a pretty good book. If you were looking for action with big gunslinger scenes--well, you have a long time to wait until anything happens there. The whole Stephen King universe is getting sucked into the Dark Tower books--I hope that this doesn't get too crazy. I have to hand it to Stephen King--he knows how to write to make you want to come back with an ending that makes you run out and get book 6.

Narratively superior to it's predecessor; but standard, unimaginative fantasy fare. ( )

For a long time, this was my favorite book of the series. I love it, the way it just ratchets up the tension, bit by bit, and how we get to know these people, this town and the horror that they have lived with every generation for over 100 years.

This is where the series really becomes amazing. I love Drawing of the Three and The Wastelands, but Wolves of the Calla takes these characters that we've had several books' worth of time to get used to and shows us each of them in a different light.

I love how gentle Roland can be, and is, when he's dealing with the Calla kids. I love how hard Jake is when he learns a secret that could tear a friendship and a family and a community apart. I love how ruthless Eddie is when he stands to protect the weak. These people are no longer just characters that think they could be gunslingers one day, they ARE Gunslingers. They all, each on their own, prove that, and the way they do gives me shivers.

I love progression of the story in this one, and how the threads are all starting to come together. You might think that this is a little late in the game, for things to only start coming together in book 5 of a 7 book series, but believe me, the journey here is as important as where we're going, if not more so. It's the journey, and the traveling companions, that I love more than anything.

I listened to the audio of this book again, and this one was read by George Guidall. In some ways, I preferred his reading to Frank Muller's, but in many others, I thought it was inferior.

I loved, LOVED, Guidall's Roland. I'm not sure just how to explain it, but rather than making Roland sound like Christian Bale's Batman voice, he sounds mature, strong and sure. He sounds like Roland. I always thought that Muller's Roland was a bit too growlly and drawly. But Guidall's was damn near perfect.

Unfortunately, it was quite the opposite with Eddie. Muller's Eddie was perfect. The way Eddie (through Frank) said "Rolund" was perfect, his Brooklyn accent (to my ears anyway) was perfect. Guidall's Eddie sounded like... Joe Pesci almost. High-pitched, nasally, annoying. I got used to it as I went along, but I found myself missing Muller's Eddie. A lot.

Susannah and Jake were OK. I thought that they sounded a bit too similar, and Callahan a little too elderly and feeble, but I can live with those. I did quite like the Calla accents though, especially Rosalita. He voiced her quite differently than I heard her (although I never really gave her much accent in my head, she was just kind of Generic Side-Character Female Voice), but I thought Guidall did pretty well with her accent.

Overall, I thought that Guidell did a good job, but if I could have Guidell's Roland and Muller's Eddie, I could die happy. :) ( )

bit of a struggle early on a worthly story to continue the tale of Roland and his gunslingers. ( )