Book Review: The Dark Tower VII (Part two)

Lovely readers,

Back again to continue my review on The Dark Tower VII! This series was by far my biggest triumph yet. Sure, Harry Potter was obviously a challenge, but nothing compared to this emotional rollercoaster. Stephen King has rapidly climbed to the top of my favorites list, and I feel a little dumb for not catching on to this series sooner. Anyway, I'm excited to get started! I will include my pros and cons below, but as I did in part one, I'll be including a bit of a responce to the series below my list. As always, thanks for reading!

If you have not started/finished the last book in The Dark Tower series, I highly suggest you click away from this review. There will be spoilers contained below, be warned. 

Pros:

• How can I even begin? The greatest pro I can give this book is that is was the perfect ending to The Dark Tower. I had a lot of anxiety about reaching the end, worried about how King was going to close such an epic tale. Let me just say that I wasn't disappointed in the end, but I did have trouble getting there. 
• Taking a step out of the plot for a bit, I want to talk about the characters themselves. King has always possessed a special talent of connecting readers to his characters, but this series takes the cake as far as that goes. Each person (Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, Oy, Pere Callahan, etc.) is given their own time. They each pull at your heart in one way or another, and become vivid and real. This is prevalent throughout the series, not only the last installment. 
• Another thing, sweepingly, that I've noticed is King's theatrical approach in the publishing of this series/book. There are gorgeous paintings in The Dark Tower VII and the chapters include codas, leading the reader places after the story has ended. This was always a pro for me, it made me feel included and part of the series. 

Cons/other:

• When part one ended, we left off right after the death of Jake and Eddie. It was hard to find any real pros (not style related) in this part, so I'll kind of pick up on the story in this section. After the ka-tet is truly broken (and many other things happen), Roland, Susannah, and Oy continue together on the road to The Dark Tower. They come finally into Empathica and stumble upon a cabin in the snowy mountains. I can't include too much detail here, as it would truly spoil the story, but here they meet Dandelo. There are ensuing problems, but the three come out alive. This particular part gave me a lot of anxiety, as it was clear the story was coming to a close. 
• Things become alright. The trio gather supplies, and stumble upon a young man named Patrick. He will later be known as The Artist, but we will get there. Patrick has a beautiful gift for drawing and, as they get within 200 miles of TDT, they discover how important this gift is. Patrick draws a door, scrawled with the title The Artist. Sadly, it opens on New York in Keystone World. And Susannah decides to leave Roland and Oy behind, hoping to be reunited with Eddie and Jake. This broke my heart, personally. 
• Despite losing The Lady of the Shadows, the new trio travel on. But, there is always the feeling, that in the shadows, Mordred (in search of his White Daddy) is waiting to pounce. And eventually he does, killing Oy tragically, but meeting his death anyway. In the darkness, Roland hears the cry of the Crimson King at the death of his son, and Roland cries for Oy. 
• It is here that the story gets very close. Roland and Patrick reach the field of roses in which The Dark Tower rests. It is getting difficult for me to say, as I don't want to spoil the story, but Roland makes it through the door to the Dark Tower. 

This story ends in a way that only it could. Roland makes it to the top of the Dark Tower (with help from The Artist's amazing ability... and eraser), but what he finds shook me. He climbs the tall stair case, past floors resembling his life, and reaches the door to the top balcony. Roland pushes the door open only to find a vast desert... the same desert he traveled across so long ago. The desert that he met the wayward son and his bird, Z. The same desert he crossed to Tull, where he bedded a woman, where he passed through the oracle's grasp. He has returned. 

(Ka is a wheel, say thankya)

The book closes on the phrase: The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed. 

This series touched my life far greater than I expected. I was completely ensnared, obsessed, consumed with this tale. I have even begun reading every other King book that's even remotely related to The Dark Tower. I can't stress how highly I recommend reading this series, and I can't express how happy I am to have been able to review it myself. It was a blast, a very rewarding journey. 

As always, thank you for reading and sticking through this with me. 

Keep reading, stay awesome, 

K.