Wizard and Glass (1997)

It took me a while to finish but loved it. I ended up crying which means it hit home. Will read again.

I also have The Dutch copy. Tovenaarsglas ( )

This is the fourth book in the Dark Tower series--a point where I thought that things would pick up. I was wrong. The book picks up immediately after the cliffhanger ending of The Waste Lands. The portion of the book (very small) to resolve that conflict and move on was good--a nice twist there. At this point, Stephen King decides to spend a very long time telling a story from Roland's youth--about his first love.

I don't mind a flashback but this was a flashback that covered 2/3 of the book! It wasn't a terrible story but I agree with many other reviewers on here that said it would have been fine as a standalone novella. It didn't add much to the current story other than explain a little about why he is so grumpy. For the most part, the flashback moved along but it definitely dragged in certain parts.

Once we got back to the current time period (something like disc 21 of my audiobook), we get King's version of The Wizard of Oz. Ugh. I am still interested in the characters and where the story is going but PLEASE MOVE IT ALONG. If you want to move the story along and don't want to read about two awkward teenagers in love, read Parts 1 and 4 of the book. Parts 2 and 3 are the flashback that you can probably skim.

Stephen King let a little of the ending this book slip in an earlier book. This would have been one of the best books, but, knowing how it ended, it took me forever to get through this one. ( )

The least successful of the Dark Tower books. Awkward narration, ove long, with an unrelaible narrator--unacceptable for such an important backstory. An uncomfortable read to say the least. ( )

This 3-star rating is for the audio version read by Frank Muller. This is actually the second time I've dropped a star because of Frank's reading... I didn't much care for his reading of The Gunslinger, but I enjoyed both The Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands. This one though was just a bit much.

Frank is rather drawly, and his interpretation of the patois of the people of Mejis just didn't work for me. Sheemie especially. I think this is probably one of those situations where someone else would absolutely love this audio for all of the reasons that I disliked it. But I just heard so much of it differently in my head when I read it for myself. For instance, I heard the people of Mejis as having a kind of Irish/Mexican mixed accent. You wouldn't think that this would really go together, but it really does. Unfortunately, Frank didn't agree with me, and went for raspy hillbilly idjit. *sigh*
His Susan voice sounded like Jake, and she sounded so much more... indecisive than I heard her in my head.

I do love seeing young Roland and his Ka-tet, and love the subtle cat & mouse game they play. I love the nuance of this story, and how so many small things are really huge important things in the scope of a 14 year old Gunslinger's life, and in the scope of a battle, a war between light and dark, good and evil.

I do think that the young love section of the book dragged on a bit longer than necessary, but that is a small issue. Overall, I really enjoyed the book... I'll read it for myself next time though. Frank just didn't blow my skirt up with this reading! ;) ( )