Product Description

A magnificent presentation box set of the first 4 volumes in the bestselling DARK TOWER series, published alongside the new book WOLVES OF THE CALLA

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #55216 in Books
• Published on: 2003-10
• Number of items: 4
• Binding: Paperback

About the Author
Stephen King is the bestselling author of more than thirty books of which the most recent are DREAMCATCHER, EVERYTHING'S EVENTUAL and FROM A BUICK 8. He lives with his wife, the novelist Tabitha King, in Bangor, Maine.

Customer Reviews

Pretty Good ... not a World-Beater
After reading the ecstatic reviews of other readers I can't help but wonder whether I read the same books.

Stephen King's greatest talent has always been the sheer amount of decent books he is able to churn out and with most of them written in a cinematic style he has always been able to make plenty of money selling the screen rights. For the last decade at least he has been obsessed with the idea that all of his books must link in to 'The Dark Tower' and the way he sometimes crow-bars them in is frankly embarrassing.

'The Dark Tower' itself is a fairly enjoyable series of books that can, at a push, be read individually but lose meaning in the wider context unless read chronologically. They document the epic life journey of Roland, a knight-like gunslinger from a parallel world, who seeks out the Tower, the great mystical bastion at the centre of creation. The Tower and it's beams that bind the universe together are under attack from khaos itself and its various minions. He is therefore in a race against time to secure the fate of all worlds with the help of various companions before they can be eliminated or delayed too long in their task.

It's quite imaginative. Or rather, it would be if Mr King hadn't blatantly lifted chunks from nearly every great fantasy work and simply sewn them together like a rather awkward quilt. He may well cover it with saying it's a 'homage', but I'm afraid it just smells a little too much like copying. The content and feel of the whole story is very adult, yet the characters seem written for children, even down to the obligatory Disney-style comic animal. Political correctness seeps from every page and the fact that some of the books were written years apart means they display the social fashion of the time, which is distracting to say the least.

Stephen King has always had a talent for being a story teller and this series will entertain most people well enough, but the dialogue and character development are clumsily done and seem way too trite for me to believe. And the way he attempts to clumsily introduce characters and events from his other novels (and believe it or not, even himself!) into the story is just horrible. I think the trick is not to think too much over the story or the justification, it is not meant to be mentally challenging.

The faults are glaring and huge, but having said that, sections of the story are very well written and he still has the ability to draw the reader in and leave them wanting more. The pace is patchy, but runs nicely enough and if you can resolve yourself to the fact that one of the great novel writers of our time has produced an opus that falls short of its potential, you will probably be happy enough to keep these books on your shelf.

A wonderful tale
I am not a big fan of S King but these books had me hooked when I read the frist one when I was 16. There is somthing wonderful about this section of books which go beyond Kings normal works. These are the best things he has ever wrote I can not praise them enough. Once you get hooked into Rolands world you will stay hooked and it was a great sadness for me when I turned the last page of the last Dark Tower noval

Amazing rollercoaster ride with fun, fear, love & excitment
This is my story.... I am 24 and i always used to watch steven king movies. i started reading about a year ago. started with hannible which was quite boring then i read the dan brown books which were really cool.

So i decided to try a steven king book. I started with the dark tower series....OH MY GAWD..... i have become obsessed with reading i talk about the dark tower all the time..... i have manipulated friends to start reading. now they hooked..hehehe.... Now i have gotten my 50 year old father who thinks steven king is only about horror. now way.....much more than that. It's such and amazing, up and down emotional ride.

i am now currently on the 4th volume (wizard and glass) Wow....so much adventure, romance, action.

I AM HOOKED
AND SO WILL YOU...