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[FnordChan]

Song of Susannah, the penultimate volume in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, is being released today. Fanboy that I am, I'll be swinging by my local Borders immediately after work to snag my copy which, with discounts, will clock in at 432 pages for just over twenty bucks.

(If you've been out of the Dark Tower loop for a while and are wondering whatever happened book five in the series, Wolves of the Calla was released back in November '03 and was, overall, quite good.)

I'm optamistic about Song of Susannah

Spoiler

despite King writing himself into the volume; Kurt Vonnegut pulled off a similar stunt rather well in Breakfast of Champions, so I'm willing to induge King here.

If you'd like to get a sample of DT6, the prologue is available on King's website, where things are off to a damn fine start.

Artwork this time around is courtesy of Darrell Anderson, and promises to kick my ass:

As much as it pains me to set aside my current paperback, The Honourable Schoolboy by John Le Carre, I'll be burning the midnight oil to finish Song of Susannah posthaste and will post impressions when I'm done.

FnordChan

 

[nitewulf]

yeah, got it pre-ordered from amazon...which probably was a mistake, should have just walked into a bookstore and bought it. the artwork has been fantastic so far, the cover for wolves of the calla has a very 50's monster movie type feel. personally i think wizard and glass has teh best artwork so far, and is the best volume.

 

[ohamsie]

I haven't read my copy of Wolves of the Calla yet, I kind of want to go back and re-read the whole series first.

 

[Wolfy]

Jesus Christ I love this series. Too bad each book in hardback costs so damn much.

 

[Fusebox]

Aah, ffs, I still haven't gotten around to reading Wolves of the Calla yet, a good 15 years or so after reading the first one and the epic is finally coming to a close, I'm excited!

 

[FnordChan]

Jesus Christ I love this series. Too bad each book in hardback costs so damn much.

And here I figured that, thanks to heavy discounting, the books were a relative bargin. I consider the illustrations integral to the series, so if you want to buy any of the books, you've got a choice between trade paperback or hardcover. Take Wolves of the Calla, for instance - Amazon is selling the trade (list price $18.95) for $13.27, while the hardback (list price $35) goes for $23.80. Ten bucks more for a nice hardcover months and months before the eventual trade release? You bet.

At any rate, if nothing else there's always the library.

Meanwhile, I dropped by Borders after work and snagged my copy, which is lovely to behold; Grant really does publish damn fine hardback editions, so I figure my $22 was well spent. Alas, I didn't have much time for reading last night, but 60 pages in and it's pretty freakin' great.

FnordChan

 

[human5892]

God damnit, I haven't even gotten to read Wolves yet!

So is this the bona-fide last book of the series?

 

[FnordChan]

So is this the bona-fide last book of the series?

Nope, that would be The Dark Tower, due out September 21st.

So, for all of you who still need to read Wolves of the Calla, or perhaps even read (or re-read) the entire series to catch up, you've got three and a half months to catch up.

FnordChan

 

[DarkAngyl]

I re-read the whole series right before Wolves came out to be ready, and I STILL haven't been able to pick it up yet. Now the next one is out. I think I need to turn in my fanboy card..

 

[FnordChan]

I re-read the whole series right before Wolves came out to be ready, and I STILL haven't been able to pick it up yet. Now the next one is out. I think I need to turn in my fanboy card..

"It's never too late to mend." Get to it, man!

FnordChan

 

[Scrow]

Anyone know of a good online resource where I can get other Dark Tower art like that? Not just for the sixth book, but the whole series.

edit:
<---- oh yeah, and my avatar is a vague tribute to the Dark Tower series and Roland. As anyone who has read about the things that influenced King's creation of the Dark Tower mythology will know, Sergio Leone's spaghetti westerns was one of them and the character of Roland was somewhat based on Clint Eastwood's character in those movies.

 

[Prospero]

Nope, that would be The Dark Tower, due out September 21st.

Hmm. I just ordered DT6 yesterday, thinking that I'd wait until the entire series was out before I (re-)read them in one go (I've already read 1-4). Maybe I could start on those after the Clinton memoir, and be ready for DT7 by the release date. And maybe by then Neal Stephenson's The System of the World will be out, and I can start on that trilogy as well. Good times ahead for me.

 

[TAJ]

>>>Song of Susannah, the penultimate volume in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, is being released today. Fanboy that I am, I'll be swinging by my local Borders immediately after work to snag my copy which, with discounts, will clock in at 432 pages for just over twenty bucks.<<<

Costco has the hardcover for $16, dude.

 

[Mama Smurf]

I seem to be the only one who's finished the book, so I better spoiler tag this. I'll just say I really enjoyed it though, especially the second half.

Spoiler

Another cliffhanger ending! Luckily we only have 3 months to wait, I think I can survive. Can't wait to see what happens with Jake and Callahan.

I thought King had lost it when I heard he'd be writing himself into the story....but it really worked. Brought the whole story together well I think, by which I mean the entire series.

A question though. The rose is pink? Wasn't it red? I could have sworn it was red, but all of a sudden it seems it's being referred to as pink. Maybe I've just somehow been reading the description wrong all this time.

Can't wait for the last book. According to Amazon it's even longer than Wolves of the Calla, after this slightly shorter volume.

 

[Socreges]

Holy Jesus. King left years between Wizard & Glass and Wolves of the Calla. I had no idea he'd then write the next two so quickly. I've really got to get back into it.

 

[Kabuki Waq]

fucking Robert Jordan should take note

 

[FnordChan]

Anyone know of a good online resource where I can get other Dark Tower art like that? Not just for the sixth book, but the whole series.

TheDarkTower.net.

Finished the book late last night and liked it quite a bit. Spoilers ahoy:

Spoiler

You know, I really should have expected the cliffhanger ending. Of course, with the final volume in the sequence due in a few months rather than a few years, I can deal with it. Oh, who am I kidding? I went online and found the conclusion: Eddie walks in to the Dixie Pig and confounds everyone with nonsense riddles. It's awesome.

Ahem. As mentioned, I liked it quite a bit. If the Mia/Susannah interaction had done a bit more for me, I would have loved this volume, but it just wasn't quite there. Enjoyable, but not really pushing my buttons.

On the flip side, King writing himself into the story worked out very nicely, and was a nice twist on things; I was expecting Vonnegut's Breakfast of Champions at best and Heinlein's Number of the Beast at worst, but King side-stepped the issue rather neatly. The epilogue was terrific.

King really hits his stride once Jake and Callahan come through. The Black Thirteen bit was terrific (and it's fate amusing), and the Dixie Pig sequence was a fantastic finale. If I'm going to have to suffer through a cliffhanger, at least it's a good one.

Now I get to sit here and jones for the final volume. Just over three months to go...

FnordChan

 

[SyNapSe]

Crap, I need to get caught back up. I'm still reading Wizard & Glass.. it's been on my nightstand forever it seems.