Wizard and Glass

Stephen King says in the epigraph of Wizard and Glass that he was afraid to write it, and that while writing he lost all sense around page 400. "It's done, and that itself is a miracle," he says. In what I consider a big upset for a story that thus far has felt rich and deep in very thoughtful, purposeful ways, that panicked and ultimately resigned state of mind shows in this book's pacing. For example, Roland's matricide - a big fucking deal, not only for me as a reader but also according to the protagonist himself in previous installments - only gets a couple pages of attention. It took King 6 years to write this 800 page book finally disclosing Roland's backstory and character development, so such a gloss-over was unexpected and show more deeply unsatisfying.

Another example is the easy breezy slaying of Andrew Quick. Based on what went down at the end of the fourth book (Andrew essentially clawing his way out of hell, bent on revenge and working with dark magics at his back), I went into this book assuming he would be a near-insurmountable roadblock for our heroes' journey. This reminds me of how I spent my childhood convinced that quicksand would be a constant and fundamental danger in my adult life, but, much like quicksand, Andrew Quick turned out to be a non-issue, a false-advertisement.

King's writing is fabulous, and the story is undoubtedly important to the series, but I don't think I'll be wearing out the spine of Wizard and Glass when I gift myself the paperbacks. show less

5/5

Best book in the Dark Tower series so far and by far. I am in awe at what King was able to pull off with this being the most non Horror thing he’s written, that I’ve read so far.

First this is the back story of the primary main character of the series, Roland, and oh boy what a back story we’ve been leading up to.

Everyone, all of his friends, that we’ve been hearing of up until now is finally shown on page. And all of them are written perfectly. Even the bad ones who we are meant to hate, feel so fleshed out and knowable.

Second, Love. They way Stephen King writes the love and passion between these two Susan and Roland, is somehow also the best Romance I’ve read this year. The way king portraits their growing love for j on show more me another all while maintaining an engaging and long book was very beautiful. We, the audience, vaguely know the ending of the romance before it arrives, because after all this story is in the past. But still I was surprised by the outcome of Roland’s “Love” and I mean that beyond Susan, but the love he has for everyone in his Ka-tet.

The pace is slow, but never dull. It’s a huge build up to a fantastic finale both in the flash back and in In-World. It is well worth the build up to have such an explosive finale. I can’t help but think why do some people say Stephen King can’t end a book? Sure the wasteland was…. Yeah. But this ending was perfect, and I feel so much closer to The Gunslingers.

May be my favorite Stephen King book yet, but I am in the middle of the Stand and it’s preeeeety good show less

I had forgotten pretty much the entire meat of this one somehow. I could remember the beginning with Blaine the Mono and the end with the return of the Tick-Tock Man and Flagg, but everything else about Wizard and Glass had somehow escaped me since my first reading.

So, here I am again in Mid-World, witnessing Roland's past for what feels like the first time. It was a welcome return, even if it felt like a bit of a derailment of our ka-tet's quest for the Dark Tower (which, considering their predicament at the opening, makes sense).

Now, looking at Roland's first adventure as a gunslinger as a solo tale, it's fantastic! So much a callback to the best of the Spaghetti Westerns that first inspired King to create Roland. Plus, we finally get show more to meet Alain and Cuthbert and see exactly how Roland's first ka-tet interacted with one another.

There is so much richness in the tale of Roland's past, and it's great, but as I said, it feels like it just derails the main story at this point in time. Of course, that might have been King's point.

Also, I have to say, I'm glad I decided to read The Stand before reading Wizard and Glass again, because the ka-tet's time in plague-ridden Kansas seemed so much fresher through the eyes of someone who had just delved deep into the ravages of Captain Trips and the ultimate battle between good and evil represented by Mother Abagail with her Boulder Free Zone survivors and Randall Flagg, who makes his triumphant return here, where it's revealed that he is, in fact, Marten Broadcloak, the instigator of so much of Roland's pain.

And I am really looking forward to hear about Roland's final confrontation with Rhea of the Coos. That witch has it coming. show less

Upon re-reading this novel, I feel like I have become Susan Delgado, trapped behind the glass. Mayhap I'm banging my hands against the walls of the thinny, mayhap I'm rustlin with some of the timbers just whispering to a spark.

I love and hate this book.

The first time I read it when it came out, I was like... GREAT! We get to see what happens to Blaine and the Ka-Tet! How far do they get to the Tower before all turns to Ka-Ka? After 500 pages, I knew. After 700, I despaired. After 1,850 pages, I just wanted to click my heels and go the f*** home. Is this an end? Is this a GOOD end? I leave that determination up to all you good folk on the outer edges of Mid-World.

Me, however, I DID NOT like what I did for the Dark Tower. A little bit, show more yes. Some parts were fantastic and necessary and a real wooo-wooo moment for fans of SK in general. But let's just say you probably should start out a big honker of a tale like this at the BEGINNING of a big honker of a bigger tale. Instead, we have 10% story progression and 90% flashback.

Don't get me wrong, however! The 14-year-old Roland and his youthful Ka-Tet is a great story all on its own, ushering forth a doomed romance, gunslinging, magic, a LoTR Palantir, and enough WWII machinery to burn away Mid-World. This is the time before the World Has Moved On and the conflagration that set this choo-choo a-humping.

For itself, the tale might have been better at the very beginning, or better yet, spread throughout the first book of the DT, giving us a back-and-forth of young-man Roland and Terminator Roland as he hunts down the Man in Black. Yes, the first book would be huge, but at least things would be in their proper places.

As for Roland's later Ka-Tet? Sure, we could have another campfire story, but it would be a LOT shorter and we wouldn't have to rely on the Thinny to spread a week's tale into a single night. And also that... thing... that Baum thing... wouldn't feel like such a fizzled bomb.

Good, fun writing, all told, never boring, but the structure of this... well... I think Stephen King forgot the face of his father. show less

[Wizard and Glass], the fourth installment in Stephen King’s epic Dark Tower series, is more of an interlude in the narrative, an opportunity to circle back to Roland’s youth and learn what made him who he is. Up until this point in the series, little is known about Roland’s past, other than what he cryptically hints at when he talks to Eddie or Susannah in their travels. .

Though noble and strong, Roland is also cold and hollow, haunted to his very core by events that are only glimpsed darkly. [Wizard and Glass] shines a bright light on those events, detailing how Roland came of age, becoming a gunslinger before passing completely through adolescence. Driven by hatred and revenge, Roland passes his test of manhood and is then show more sent away, largely for his own protection, only to be embroiled in the bloody and treacherous beginnings of civil war. The dark and fatal events of his too-early manhood are what drive Roland so hard in his later life to the Way of the Light.

King has visited this world before, in [The Eyes of the Dragon], [Talisman], and [The Black House]. None of those novels feature Roland of Gilead, but are firmly set in Mid-World, with gunslingers and the like. King also has some of Roland’s other adventures in [Legends], a short fiction collection that features the story, The Little Sisters of Eluria. And, of late, King has been partnering with illustrators to put out graphic novels featuring Roland’s early days. But, [Wizard and Glass] is the single most comprehensive account of Roland and his early days in Mid-World. The narrative is slightly different, a little more patient and slow-moving, which matches the story perfectly. The tone and pace and prose of [Wizard and Glass] is further evidence of King’s nimble pen, his ability to slip into different types of narratives with the same story and never miss a beat.

5 bones!!!!!
An All-Time Favorite show less

The Dark Tower is shaping up to be quite the adventure (although certainly not for the faint of heart as there are quite a few disturbing scenes). Wizard and Glass is DARK - deep, deep dark, but there's beauty and love there as well. It's somewhat incredible to me how authors like King are able to build worlds and characters you fall in love with and then slowly bring destruction upon them.

The story within a story format of this installment took me a bit to get into, but once I did, I was enthralled with Roland's first ka-tet and the insight into how he came to be the man he is. Also, I really appreciated the cross over into the other worlds created by King. I have this burning desire to re-read [b:The Stand|149267|The Stand|Stephen show more King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1213131305l/149267._SX50_.jpg|1742269] after running into RF.

I can't believe I waited so many years to take this journey but I am so glad I did. I am relishing every moment spent in this world and experiencing it for the first time.

“Go then, there are other worlds than these.” show less

** Spoilers ahead **

When the previous book, The Waste Lands, concluded with a gut-wrenching cliffhanger, leaving Roland's fully-formed Ka-Tet faced-off against the mechanically insane Blaine the Mono, Stephen King's huge fan base sat up and took notice. Not only was King sculpting a story unlike the horror pulp he's usually famous for, but this Dark Tower series was actually good. Furthermore, it had the potential to rank among the all-time best of fantasy writing.

In this fourth volume, Wizard and Glass, we are treated to a backstory from Roland's youth, one that's nearly as long as the book itself. Because of its length, I gather King's constant readers are of two minds about this story within a story. On one hand, Roland's, Cuthbert's show more and Alain's journey to Mejis is the prototypical Dark Tower story—an original, believable blend of the fantasy and western genres that the series has been flirting with since the start. On the other hand, there are those that feel Roland's 500+ page campfire tale is a waste of precious trees and can we please get back to the business of getting to the frickin' Tower. I sympathize with the impatience, but I am more of the former group. The addictive driving force of this series is to reach the dadgum Tower. This need is so strong that any little morsel King drops along the way, anything that allows a peek at the quest's end, is gobbled up like we're starved rats in a maze. But the saying "It's the journey, not the destination" could not be more applicable. The story's conclusion is so singularly deterministic that everything that comes before requires more to sustain it. Who was Roland Deschain as a young man and what has happened to set him on this path of certain death? Wizard and Glass attempts to answer this question. To achieve the Dark Tower without a solid grounding of “Why?” will render the whole thing hollow and pointless.

I'll say it's either this book or its predecessor that is the pinnacle of the entire epic. I'm tempted to pair them together into one giant book as they can be thought of as two halves of a single story anyway. show less