Excellent book with a lot of memorable scenes. Roland's dancing of the Commalla was really moving, and the introductions of the ka-tet to the village made me smile. I love the way that King creates the feeling of history for his Gunslingers that is deeply rooted in tradition, and seeing the parallels between Roland's youth and his old-but-young Gunslinger apprentices who are starting to open their eyes to the world.

A friend recommended that I read Salem's Lot before starting Book 5, and I am glad that I did. I largely panned Salem's Lot because of how incomplete Father Callahan's story felt, but when viewed alongside Wolves of the Calla the author can be forgiven a bit. King does a great job with repetition and layers, bringing Eddie back to Jake's New York (and the beginning of his own New York) to learn more about the lot and about "The Manhattan Restaurant of the Mind".

And, of course, the action at the end is great. We see more strange bleeding from the fiction of our world to the reality of this midworld, something I hope they will explain in Book 6. The one thing I am not looking forward to is how the next book might be Susannah focused. She is my least favorite member of the ka-tet. ( )

The Dark Tower series is wonderful until this novel. I left it feeling greatly disappointed. ( )

The fifth installment in the Dark Tower series is full of cross-references to other King works that I love, further unifying the Stephen King universe, which even in this one novel has an infinite number of connected worlds. It begins by bringing in a familiar character from our world: Father Callahan of ‘Salem’s Lot, who after that fateful encounter with vampires began to walk the hidden roads of America, finally winding up in a rice-growing village in Roland’s world. There Roland and crew meet him and make him a part of their ka-tet. Father Callahan also has another piece of the Wizard’s Glass: the black eye of the Crimson King himself, which our heroes can use to get back to New York to do important things.

There’s a lot going on in this long novel. We learn more of the rose first glimpsed by Jake in The Wastelands (Volume III) and find out what kind of danger it is in. There is news of the Beams and the Breakers, and even the Low Men make an appearance. There is the small matter of Susannah’s demon pregnancy. And there is a spaghetti Western-style plot in which Roland and the others have to save a town from marauding wolves who steal one-half of all the town’s twins (and the kids are mostly twins), only to return them retarded and doomed – “roont,” as the townsfolk of the Calla say.

The cross-references abound, and King even manages to gleefully introduce elements from Marvel comics, Star Wars and the Harry Potter series. But the climactic reference in thrillingly audacious, even for King. I won’t give it away; suffice it to say, you won’t be able to wait to start reading Part 6. ( )

In places this felt a bit like a "Dark Tower Greatest Hits", in particular repeating themes and scenarios from "Drawing of the Three" and "Wizard and Glass". But on reflection perhaps that's just a feature of the books being set in a coherent, believable environment. ( )

I had caught up to King by the time this was published so I had to go out and buy the hardcover the day it came out. King's take on the classic Seven Samurai story. Really blew open the whole multiverse aspect of the series. My guess is that he finally figured it all out at this point. ( )