Conquer Club

Of all the great fantasy fiction out there, the Dark Tower (at least books 1-4 IMHO) are certainly at the top of the pile. So (1) if you've read them and are a fan, here's a place to discuss, and (2) if your interested, check out the new tournament I just started today. http://www.conquerclub.com/forum/viewtopic.php?f=90&t=55283&start=0&st=0&sk=t&sd=a

Cheers.

I've always been dubious of any book written by Stephen King.
I tried to read It when I was about 12, not a good idea.

However, can you recommend this series to a teenage audience?

Minister Masket wrote:I've always been dubious of any book written by Stephen King.
I tried to read It when I was about 12, not a good idea.

However, can you recommend this series to a teenage audience?

Yup!!!!!!

The Gunslinger is great stuff - perfect fit for your typical angst ridden 12 y.o. boy. I was 13 when it came out, and got hooked right away. It gets a little trashy at parts that I wouldn't say it's appropriate for someone who is still working out the "birds and the bees", but at 12, by now, hell they've seen a lot worse than Janet Jackson's naked titties on midfield, let me tell you.

Unfortunately, if you didn't like It and don't quite get some of his "franchise" realms of horror, it will probably go down hill from the fourth book on. There is actually a character at some point that is closely tied to *spoiler ahead* a demon spider... as well as some of his other books.

There was like a 10+ year break between the 4th and the 5th book, and up to the 4th he was basically being Tolkien and weaving a quasi-Earth full of fantastic stuff. At some point he ran out of juice I think, and started throwing in stuff from his other works, in order to drive to a cohesive conflict that could have some type of resolution. IMHO a mild cop-out.

I heard they were going to make the books into a mini-series. Do you know anything about that?

Greatest books ever written. I'm a huge Stephen King fan, but I can honestly say the Dark Tower is a different body of work than his usual fare. As for a miniseries, it is undecided whether it will be a miniseries or motion pictures....I'm hoping for some well done kickass movies like the good work they did with LOTR. J.J. Abrams (co-creator of LOST, which King is a huge fan of) is set to work on it eventually.

Check out my avatar....if you couldn't tell already, it's some Dark Tower art. Read on!

"Go, then....there are other worlds than these."

i loved the first three books the best. they were great. wasn't crazy about the last 4 though/...would make a killer miniseries though (no pun intended)

gdeangel wrote:At some point he ran out of juice I think, and started throwing in stuff from his other works, in order to drive to a cohesive conflict that could have some type of resolution. IMHO a mild cop-out.

I used to love SK, read just about everything except the dark tower. When he's good, he's really really good - the Shining, Firestarter, Carrie, Misery, the Stand - but he is also prone to copping out at the ending - Dark Half, Needful Things - I mean take It - great writing, well structured, properly creepy - then it ends up being all about a giant spider? Cop out!

Bt am well looking forward to starting the DT series anyyway.

SK jumped the shark in the last couple of books in the series. Enjoy the first 4 or 5, but he loses his way in the finale

I have just been informed by all that is cool and hip that the proper term for "jumping the shark" is now "Nuking the Fridge"


My apologies for being out of date


Continue on . . .

I still think I win this battle.

SPOILER ALERT


















AD, don't you think that writing himself into the last novel (or was it the last 2 novels) that it epitomizes that King has officially run out of things to say?

He wrote himself into the novel because it was a way to excuse his 5+ year hiatus between books 4 and 5. The idea of foundering around with a concept that he had failed to put a box around and was bigger than his writing skills could tackle. I typically am not a hug SK fan... but books 1-4 were a class apart. It was clear both from the content and the speed with which he churned out books 5-7 that in order to find the edges of the box, he had to go back to his bread and butter material. The tension is there in the fourth book... a relatively weak development of the core "present tense" story line in favor of the romantic back story. I think he was grappling with the limitless possibilities of the universe he had created and, at the time of the fourth book, had at least subconsciously given up on building an original box... and rather half heartedly threw in a few "old friends" to try to chalk in the walls... and probably realized it didn't look like a great fit and had to take some time to decide whether to go through with it or not.

I don't think he quite jumped the shark (I have no idea what nuking the fridge refers to) but the first three installments were my favorites. And he did a masterful job of ultimately constructing the box with elements from his other creative works... I just always thought that part of it seemed a little forced... a little too oriented toward identifying a foe solely for the purpose of driving the conflict to conclusion.

I also hated the epilogue.

Jumping the shark = Fonzie waterskiing over sharks as a plot device which let the viewers know that the ideas had run dry.

Nuking the Fridge = New Indiana Jones movie in which he jumps in a refrigerator to survive a nuclear blast, i.e. ideas all gone.

Curmudgeonx wrote:SPOILER ALERT


















AD, don't you think that writing himself into the last novel (or was it the last 2 novels) that it epitomizes that King has officially run out of things to say?

He only writes those books when he is inspired to... Basically, he said he can only write the books when he is dreaming about them.

What he wrote perfectly epitomizes those dreams. You can't control what you dream, can you?

The first book was written when he was 19. Lots of things happen and writing styles change. He had life experiences.

He wrote himself into the novel because it was a way to excuse his 5+ year hiatus between books 4 and 5.

That is completely inaccurate. It is the way the story flowed. As a writer myself, I can say that you aren't always in control of what you write. He is a prime example of this.

Curmudgeonx wrote:Nuking the Fridge = New Indiana Jones movie in which he jumps in a refrigerator to survive a nuclear blast, i.e. ideas all gone.

While I hated the fourth movie, the nuking the fridge idea was not even close to as bad as jumping the shark in Happy Days. The equivalent would be if they threw in a kid who was Indy's son and was going to push around a motorcycle through the Andes mountains without riding it.

Now, how many people think the epilogue was jumping the shark? What do you think would have happened if JK Rawling had pulled out an ending like that to wrap up book 7 of Harry Potter?

Also, anyone who is reading this an hasn't signed up for my Dark Tower tournament, you should check it out. One 8 more players needed!

Minister Masket wrote:I've always been dubious of any book written by Stephen King.
I tried to read It when I was about 12, not a good idea.

However, can you recommend this series to a teenage audience?

Started at 13, love his books

Only read one of the Dark Tower series (The Drawing of Three) Cant find the other books so im kind of pissed. Really great and well written though.

DirtyDishSoap wrote:

Minister Masket wrote:I've always been dubious of any book written by Stephen King.
I tried to read It when I was about 12, not a good idea.

However, can you recommend this series to a teenage audience?

Started at 13, love his books

Only read one of the Dark Tower series (The Drawing of Three) Cant find the other books so im kind of pissed. Really great and well written though.

I always felt is was not in keeping with the first book to have Roland maimed by the crab creatures... in the second book. I mean, the guy has apparently been through god-knows-what epic close-shaves to this point in his life, so what a lame way to be compromised. Sure it sets up the book, but it seems like something that a guy with writers block would come up with (correct me, but it was still a year or two between books 1 and 2, no?)

Also only one spot left in the DarK Tower tourney.

Minister Masket wrote:I've always been dubious of any book written by Stephen King.
I tried to read It when I was about 12, not a good idea.

However, can you recommend this series to a teenage audience?

I know what you mean MM. After reading "The Regulators" as a teen, I couldn't sleep for nights. Luckily, most of the teenagers aren't as big as two of us. Seriously, I never found anything in King's books that could be considered a "bad influence".

Speaking of quality, Dark Tower series (looking at it as whole) is a firm 1# in the Fantasy Sagas department. What makes King great is how he stopped writing when he ran out of ideas instead of just piecing together something to sell. He took his sweet time, but it all payed of with dividends for us Constant Readers.

Speaking of sagas, I just finished the last book of the "Sword of Truth" saga and all I can say is : ! The saga the begun with possibly the greatest fantasy book EVER, "Wizard's First Rule", followed by five more great books, took a rapid plunge with book 7 and then plummeted during the books 8-10 to hit the rock bottom in the final book "Confessor". The worst thing is, that you can see that the author has not run out of ideas, but has, for some reason, decided to smother the books by constantly preaching through the mouth of every character that he can get his hands on (and, just you religious folks don't get all excited, he is preaching atheism ). Still, I would warmly recommend the first six books to all of you fantasy lovers. After you finish reading the "Faith of the Fallen", google the rest of the Wizard's Rules and stop reading for your own good.