Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower, The

Inhoud

All good things must come to an end, Constant Reader, and not even Stephen King can make a story that goes on forever. The tale of Roland Deschain's relentless quest for the Dark Tower has, the author fears, sorely tried the patience of those who have followed it from its earliest chapters. But attend to it a while longer, if it pleases you, for this volume is the last, and often the last things are best.

Roland's ka-tet remains intact, though scattered over wheres and whens. Susannah-Mia has been carried from the Dixie Pig (in the summer of 1999) to a birthing room -- really a chamber of horrors -- in Thunderclap's Fedic; Jake and Father Callahan, with Oy between them, have entered the restaurant on Lex and Sixty-first with weapons drawn, little knowing how numerous and noxious are their foes. Roland and Eddie are with John Cullum in Maine, in 1977, looking for the site on Turtleback Lane where "walk-ins" have been often seen. They want desperately to get back to the others, to Susannah especially, and yet they have come to realize that the world they need to escape is the only one that matters.

Thus the book opens, like a door to the uttermost reaches of Stephen King's imagination. You've come this far. Come a little farther. Come all the way. The sound you hear may be the slamming of the door behind you. Welcome to The Dark Tower.

Bespreking

And so the saga ends...

The final battle is about to begin. Pere Don Callahan and Jake Chambers, as always accompanied by his pet Oy, get ready to enter the Dixie Pig, a New York restaurant on Lex and Sixty-first, to get face-to-face with the vampires. These evil foes are the only things that stand between the ka-tet and the door through which the pregnant Susannah-Mia disappeared. Susannah is going to give birth to something that might jeopardize their quest for the Dark Tower. But that is not the only danger, as Roland Dechain and Eddie Dean find out in the Main of 1977. The life of the �writer� turns out to be strongly linked with the existence of the Dark Tower and time is running out.

Writing the final episode of a great fantasy series that has captured the hearts of millions of readers was a lost cause right from the start. No denouement will ever satisfy fully the imagination of that massive audience. So, how do you deal with this if your name is Stephen King. You let the narrator state that the fun it is all in the journey itself and surely not in the finale. Also you make clear that the audience will be utterly repulsed by reading the conclusion, say true. So stop reading! Honest indeed. Even fair, if you are willing to ignore the fact that people pay some good bucks for the book. But why not pay more attention to delivering the promised excitement? After writing six wonderful novels and raising quite some anticipation on what the evil force will be all about, it is quite silly to portray the ultimate evil as something that can be wiped out without much fuss, not?

Although the story is decent and the narrative excellent, as can be expected from King, you better be prepared to be disappointed in the end. Maybe it will turn out to be not so bad after all? Let�s hope.