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Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6) by…
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Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6) (original 2004; edition 2006)

by Stephen King, Darrel Anderson (Illustrator)

Series: The Dark Tower (6)

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10,867135624 (3.85)99
Stephen King The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah with 10 full-color illustrations by Darrel Anderson The next-to-last novel in Stephen King's seven-volume magnum opus, Song of Susannah is at once a book of revelation, a fascinating key to the unfolding mystery of the Dark Tower, and a fast-paced story of double-barreled suspense. To give birth to her "chap," demon-mother Mia has usurped the body of Susannah Dean and used the power of Black Thirteen to transport to New York City in the summer of 1999. The city is strange to Susannah ... and terrifying to the "daughter of none," who shares her body and mind. Saving the Tower depends not only on rescuing Susannah but also on securing the vacant lot Calvin Tower owns before he loses it to the Sombra Corporation. Enlisting the aid of Manni senders, the remaining katet climbs to the Doorway Cave ... and discovers that magic has its own mind. It falls to the boy, the billy-bumbler, and the fallen priest to find Susannah-Mia, who, in a struggle to cope -- with each other and with an alien environment -- "go todash" to Castle Discordia on the border of End-World. In that forsaken place, Mia reveals her origins, her purpose, and her fierce desire to mother whatever creature the two of them have carried to term. Eddie and Roland, meanwhile, tumble into western Maine in the summer of 1977, a world that should be idyllic but isn't. For one thing, it is real, and the bullets are flying. For another, it is inhabited by the author of a novel called 'Salem's Lot, a writer who turns out to be as shocked by them as they are by him. These are the simple vectors of a story rich in complexity and conflict. Its dual climaxes, one at the entrance to a deadly dining establishment and the other appended to the pages of a writer's journal, will leave readers gasping for the saga's final volume (which, Dear Reader, follows soon, say thank ya).… (more)
Member:rtd1956
Title:Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)
Authors:Stephen King
Other authors:Darrel Anderson (Illustrator)
Info:Pocket (2006), Paperback, 560 pages
Collections:Your library
Rating:
Tags:Fantasy

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Song of Susannah by Stephen King (2004)

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» See also 99 mentions

English (124)  Italian (2)  Spanish (2)  Norwegian (2)  Danish (2)  Portuguese (Brazil) (1)  Portuguese (Portugal) (1)  Dutch (1)  All languages (135)
Showing 1-5 of 124 (next | show all)
Another awesome chapter in the Dark Tower series. ( )
  BluezReader | Nov 12, 2023 |
Every know and then Stephen King will remind you of his genius. This is one of those books that reminded me. Some brilliant story telling here. ( )
  everettroberts | Oct 20, 2023 |
I don't know what I was thinking giving this only 2/5 stars when I first read it a decade ago. What happened in those intervening years to reconcile me so much to this book? More importantly: will I have the same change of heart about the final Dark Tower book? Time to find out. ( )
  judeprufrock | Jul 4, 2023 |
this one gallops right behind the one before and hardly slows down. i didn't enjoy it quite as much, but oh how i loved the whole last bit where roland and eddie actually meet stephen king at his home. i wish i knew how much of that was tweaked to be just this side of the real world - like does he have a dimple/is it on the other side of his face/does he smoke different cigarettes. little tiny personal details - the names of his friends - that are probably some right on and some slightly different. what a fun easter egg for those closest to him. i think he's telling us - by the fake article in the end, where he could have actually died after being hit by that car, but didn't - that this stephen king, visited by roland and eddie, isn't the very same stephen king as in our world. even though they feel it's the most real. maybe it is, it's their most real world and the stephen king in it is almost the same as the one in ours. like maybe he smokes chesterfields instead of pall malls. i wish i knew all the details, and where they fall in the worlds. too fun.

because that part was a good chunk of the end, i find myself feeling like i loved this book, giddy with what he did there. but i think if i look at the whole, that in spite of that kind of brilliant turn he took, that i still like the wolves of the calla better.

i think that i'm starting to see how really grand his vision was. i'm not sure how he managed the continuity here, considering he started the first book like 40 years or something before the last one. or maybe how he managed to mold the later books, given what constraints he purposefully or accidentally wrote earlier. either way, that's pretty impressive.

i like what he's saying about how machines have replaced magic, how we've come to rely on technology rather than imagination, and how that leaves us in a vulnerable position. that once the people who know how to use the machines/technology fade away, or if they are no more, or if something happens to them, then the society will eventually crumble. no one at the helm, able to use the functionality, with no belief in magic or creativity, and it all falls apart.

"The gunslinger said, 'I used to think the most terrible thing would be to reach the Dark Tower and find the top room empty. The God of all universes either dead or nonexistent in the first place. But now...suppose there issomeone there, Eddie? Someone in charge who turns out to be...' He couldn't finish.

Eddie could. 'Someone who turns out to be just another bumhug? Is that it? God not dead but feeble-minded and malicious?'"

"'I don't think he needs to be immortal. I think all he needs to do is write the right story. Because some stories do live forever.'" ( )
  overlycriticalelisa | Jun 26, 2023 |
Another great edition to the dark tower series. The connection of the world's we have come to know in the series to the 'real world's is amazing. And making Stephen King himself such a pivotal character is beyond words. Thinking about the connections and the 'truth' of our world and possibility of other worlds connected by the Tower is truly mind bending ( )
  Crystal199 | Feb 18, 2023 |
Showing 1-5 of 124 (next | show all)
Reading "Song of Susannah," the penultimate novel in Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series, is rather like taking on the third leg of a triathlon.
added by stephmo | editBoston Globe, Erica Noonan (Jul 1, 2004)
 
It's no coincidence that Stephen King began the final sprint of his marathon "Dark Tower" epic shortly after the events of Sept. 11, 2001. What's now clear -- and certainly wasn't when some of us read "The Gunslinger," the first story in the sequence, more than 25 years ago -- is that this saga is more than just an unlikely mishmash of spaghetti Western, Arthurian high fantasy and post-apocalyptic sci-fi.
 
Reviewing the fifth volume of Stephen King's Dark Tower sequence, Wolves of the Calla, for this paper I suggested that this probably wasn't the best place for new readers to begin. Volume Six, Song of Susannah, however, almost works as a stand-alone novel, and is highly recommended for readers who enjoy the more metafictional side of King's oeuvre, and especially those who have been waiting for something along the lines of his greatest novel to date, Hearts in Atlantis.
added by stephmo | editThe Independent, Matt Thorne (Jun 6, 2004)
 

» Add other authors (31 possible)

Author nameRoleType of authorWork?Status
King, Stephenprimary authorall editionsconfirmed
Anderson, DarrelIllustratorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
Bergner, WulfTranslatorsecondary authorsome editionsconfirmed
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People/Characters
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Related movies
Epigraph
"Go then. There are other worlds than these."

John "Jake" Chambers
"I am a maid of constant sorrow

I've seen trouble all my days
All through the world I'm bound to ramble

I have no friends to show my way..."

Traditional
"Fair is whatever God wants to do."

Leif Enger

Peace Like a River
Dedication
For Tabby, who knew when it was done.
First words
How long will the magic stay?
Quotations
Lemons.
Last words
Disambiguation notice
Publisher's editors
Blurbers
Original language
Canonical DDC/MDS
Canonical LCC

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Wikipedia in English (1)

Stephen King The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah with 10 full-color illustrations by Darrel Anderson The next-to-last novel in Stephen King's seven-volume magnum opus, Song of Susannah is at once a book of revelation, a fascinating key to the unfolding mystery of the Dark Tower, and a fast-paced story of double-barreled suspense. To give birth to her "chap," demon-mother Mia has usurped the body of Susannah Dean and used the power of Black Thirteen to transport to New York City in the summer of 1999. The city is strange to Susannah ... and terrifying to the "daughter of none," who shares her body and mind. Saving the Tower depends not only on rescuing Susannah but also on securing the vacant lot Calvin Tower owns before he loses it to the Sombra Corporation. Enlisting the aid of Manni senders, the remaining katet climbs to the Doorway Cave ... and discovers that magic has its own mind. It falls to the boy, the billy-bumbler, and the fallen priest to find Susannah-Mia, who, in a struggle to cope -- with each other and with an alien environment -- "go todash" to Castle Discordia on the border of End-World. In that forsaken place, Mia reveals her origins, her purpose, and her fierce desire to mother whatever creature the two of them have carried to term. Eddie and Roland, meanwhile, tumble into western Maine in the summer of 1977, a world that should be idyllic but isn't. For one thing, it is real, and the bullets are flying. For another, it is inhabited by the author of a novel called 'Salem's Lot, a writer who turns out to be as shocked by them as they are by him. These are the simple vectors of a story rich in complexity and conflict. Its dual climaxes, one at the entrance to a deadly dining establishment and the other appended to the pages of a writer's journal, will leave readers gasping for the saga's final volume (which, Dear Reader, follows soon, say thank ya).

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Book description
Taking place mainly in our world (New York City and East Stoneham, Maine), this book picks up where Wolves of the Calla left off, with the ka-tet employing the help of the Manni to open the magic door inside Doorway Cave. The ka-tet are split up by the magic door, or perhaps ka, and sent to different 'wheres' and 'whens' in order to accomplish several essential goals pertaining to their quest towards the mysterious Dark Tower.
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