My favorite thing about this series is how the style changes with each book. This one is no exception, of course. Here you have the most "Wild West" of the series. By that, I mean that a band of gunslingers is called upon to protect a township from the invading forces of bandits that take what they want from time to time. Me not being a fan of Western Films can really only quickly recall one reference: The Three Amigos.

Even though King does not explore it as well as other of his books, this is the first of the Dark Tower books that is of a town collective. You get to know the inhabitants of the town with each of their characteristics described that this ends up being another Anytown, USA…just a tad archaic and outer-dimensional. One can argue that Wizard & Glass explores a town as well, but I feel, much rather, it's less about the town as a collective, and more about the individuals within and their singular goals. In the Wolves of the Calla, there is a collective, and the goal is a shared one.

Overall, I thought this was a strong story. It is not my favorite, and not as explorative as The Waste Lands, but I did enjoy the 'Salem's Lot segue. I am even tickled by the bit of metafiction that is taking place (and, from what I hear, is thoroughly explored in The Dark Tower, Book VII).

King also does not shy away from using gut-wrenching tragedy to bring out (and force) the adult growth out of his children characters. At first, this came as a shock to me, but I believe that I was simply caught up in the suspense of the final thirty pages. Personally (and because of experience), I should have known better.

All in all, a good story, may it do you fine. ( )

I'm not going to rate these separately as that doesn't make sense to me. I thought this was a wonderful series. I was horrified when he got hit by the car and I thought he may not be able to finish the story. The plot was incredible and the characters were like close friends of mine by the end. His imagery and imagination are an inspiration to those of us who strive to write for a living. His best work by far, IMHO. ( )

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. ( )

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. ( )

An amazing continuation of the series. I really enjoyed the way Stephen King has woven together many of his other stories into The Dark Tower, in a way that dedicated readers and first time readers of his will both appreciate. A great read. ( )

deals with the adventures of Roland and his gun slinging companions in protecting the inhabitants of a small town from periodic attacks by servants of the Red king who steal their children, returning them later as hopeless idiots. ( )

Very well written, this is where the series REALLY begins to tie in with many of Kings other novels. Lots of world/time traveling in this novel and while the overall story didnt move very much, a lot of interesting things happened and the overall the series takes a new turn here. It did suffer from a few boring spots but other than was awesome ( )

I was very excited about this book coming out but while reading it I felt it was more of a side story than a progression.
Roland and the others stop in Calla Bryn Sturgis to help the locals when it is revealed that every few years the 'wolves' come and take one of each pair of twins (most children born in the Calla are twins). The tasks facing Roland are to find out who's taking the children, where they are taking them, why they are taking them and who is helping from inside the Calla.
It was a very good story and on a second read I felt better able to appreciate it and what it was doing with the story of Roland and his quest.
If you have already come as far as book four in this series you don't need me to recommend book five but I will anyway because it is a very, very good book and it doesn't let the series down.
It also introduces a long lost character from another Stephen King book that I had never connected to this series and does so in such a way that made me wonder how it had taken so long for him to arrive. ( )

Book 5 of the Dark Tower series. Roland's ka-tet stumbles across the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis as they follow the path of the Beam. The Calla folken have just been warned that the Wolves will be approaching in a month - the Wolves who take one from every pair of twins (the majority of the kids) and take them off to the dark land of Thunderclap before returning them as barely a shell of their former being. The gunslingers step up to help, gaining aid in their own quest as well.

After Wizard and Glass, which felt mighty slow to me this time around, Wolves of the Calla is fast-paced and exciting. Books 5, 6, and 7 were released within 18 months of each other, and the story moves through these 3 books with the same quickness.

The characters are all keeping secrets from each other, and watching them dance around the facts is fun... but it hurts a little, too. These people clearly love each other, so seeing them lie to the others (and themselves) can be hard to take.

Father Callahan, from Salem's Lot, plays a major role in this book (and the coming books), so it might be helpful to have read that before reading this book (but it's definitely not required). ( )

http://www.amazon.com/review/RV7... ( )

I'm truly conflicted about what to make of Wolves of the Calla. There's a big drop off in quality from Wizard and Glass, but given that Wizard was a perfect culmination of the Tower series to this point, that's sort of hard to hold against it. The premise is certainly promising enough- a strange take on Seven Samurai (or maybe it's The Magnificent Seven? in which case, it's still a take on Seven Samurai!) in which our ka-tet faces off against a horde of baby-stealing wolfmen. However, things start to get really messy with the "todash" stuff; I understand it as a device for moving the larger story forward, but it definitely intrudes at times on the narrative of Wolves- which I found otherwise enjoyable, anticlimactic ending aside. As for the series as a whole: the Wizard of Oz reference at the end of Wizard and Glass left me feeling... odd. But as I was basking in the afterglow of an amazing story, I remained stupidly optimistic. In Wolves we're treated to a Harry Potter reference and the discovery of a copy of 'Salem's Lot, so there's no doubt- it's going to be baaaad. ( )

One of my reading goals for the year was to finally finish this series. I've been less than excited about reading these books since my BIL spoiled the series for me (by revealing the death of a character). This book was long and tedious and could have been at least 200 pp. shorter. Wizard and the Glass remains my favorite (and I've already read Book VI). ( )

"Along with his companions, gunslinger Roland endeavors to reach and save the Dark Tower, a quest that is challenged by the evil wolves of Thunderclap, who are abducting the children of the residents of a town in the tower's shadow." ( )

It was great to see King to begin to really weave everything he has ever done together. To really bring his entire ability to work in the Calla. The pictures that imagination pulls and forges with King's words are intense and powerful. ( )

this was one of the better ones in the series -- I think the novel was complete in and of itself. I liked the fictional world of the Calla, a little mystery, a traitor, a big battle. . . Unfortunately Book 4 and 5 were the pinnacle for me; downhill after this. ( )

The Gunslinger and his ka-tet continue along the path of the Beam on their quest for the Dark Tower. En route, the elders of a town called Calla Bryn Sturgis beseech them to help make a stand against the "Wolves" who come every so often and steal some of their children only to return them later as in a condition they call "roont"--basically mentally retarded and growing to strange sizes. One of the leaders of the town turns out to be Father Callahan, the Catholic priest from Stephen King's earlier novel, 'Salem's Lot, who vanished mysteriously from that book after a failed confrotation with the king vampire that had begun taking over the town of Jerusalem's Lot, Maine. Meanwhile, Susannah/Mia grows ever more pregnant with her "chap." ( )