Books: Dark Tower series

"I do not aim with my hand.
He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my Eye.

I do not shoot with my hand.
He who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my Mind.

I do not kill with my hand.
He who kills with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my Heart."
--The Gunslinger's Catechism


I've finished books 3 (Wastelands) and 4 (Wizard and Glass) of Stephen King's amazing Dark Tower series. The sprawling worlds travelled by Roland of Gilead and his band of gunslingers continues to draw me in; I guess the romantic western atmosphere really appeals to me.

During these two books, we follow Roland Deschain, the last gunslinger, Eddie and Susannah, gunslingers-in-training as they forge ahead on the road to the Dark Tower, where the fate of all worlds may be decided. Along the way, they gain new allies, one thought previously dead. They storm across the fallen city of Lud, blaze across the wastelands on an insane sentient train, and finally land in Kansas. It is in Kansas that Roland narrates a tale of his youth, and of his days and Gilead.

It is Roland's tales of Gilead that I most enjoy in the series. Roland's world, the world that has moved on, is a medieval-western hybrid of sorts. A world where people look to gunslingers with fear and respect, a world where a misspoken word in a tavern can get you killed, a world fraught with danger and adventure. In this tale we learn of what happened to Roland after he passed his rite of passage, his first love, and his decision to pursue the Dark Tower.

I look forward to the last three books...all of which are out in hard cover versions. Wizard and Glass ends on much less of a cliffhanger than Wastelands, so I'm willing to wait a bit for the paperback copies to come out, though I hope it doesn't take too long.