The Wolves of the Calla, the antepenultimate volume of Stephen King's Dark Tower series brings the ka-tet to Calla Bryn Sturgis, a small farming community on the outskirts of Thunderclap. The town, which births twins and only rarely "singletons", is plagued every few decades by the wolves, riders from Thunderclap who steal one child from each set of twins. The children then come back, years later, roont - dumb, and continuously growing until they die much younger than their other half.

The ka-tet, as gunslingers, have the duty to protect the Calla from the wolves, which are set to come in roughly thirty days as the ka-tet passes through. In the Calla, they are introduced to Father Callahan - a man from "our" side who had been brought to the Calla in a similar way as Eddie, Jake and Susannah. A large portion of the book is spent on his back-story and he becomes a main player in the Tower quest. (Many King fans will know him from King's second novel, Salem's Lot).

The majority of the book covers the thirty days of the ka-tet analyzing and preparing for the wolves to come, and on Callahan's interesting back-story which is complete with vampires and travel through the different worlds. Although it only covers roughly thirty days, the book is lengthy in pages (this edition has 736 pages) - longer even than the previous volume. However, unlike the previous volume, the story stays relevant to the Tower quest and the ka-tet, and provides further background of the characters - and further growth, especially in the boy (man, now?) Jake.

As with the other volumes, King transitions smoothly and easily into the next volume - and with interesting twists. Wolves of the Calla is an entertaining expansion on the Tower quest and the blend of Roland's world with "ours", and should not be missed for even casual fans of King or the series, as it makes up for the previous, lackluster fourth volume (Wizard and Glass) and leaves the reader quickly grabbing for the next volume. ( )

I loved this book from the Dark Tower Epic. I think of this one as the 'adventurous' one. Roland and his ka-tet meet some interesting characters along their way. However, I was almost sad going back into 'present time' after finishing Wizard and Glass, I loved Susan Delgado! ( )

One of my favourites of the series. ( )

Father Callahan! 'Salem's Lot. Welcome back to the Dark Tower 5 years later.

Much better than Wizard and Glass, it's predecessor. ( )