That Part I bit in parentheses is due to the fact that I wrote so much to this book, I wanted to share it in two parts. Oh and I sort of read it in two parts, breaking midway through (which this review covers, obviously) to pick up a book for our Book Club, the CBC, which was Nation (reviewed last month).
We join Roland and the gang right where we left them at the
end of Book III; aboard Blaine the Mono hauling ass through the Waste Lands at
an incredible rate of speed. Blaine is a psychotic self aware and extremely
violent computer system on board the at-one-time state of the art monorail, and
enjoys riddles even more than he enjoys slaughtering everyone within the city
of his resting station.
Thus far the series has evoked villains from so many
different backgrounds it is difficult to expect anything but the unexpected
next: old west druggies and undead folks; a crazed religious figurehead that
turns to an extremist leading a deathgroup; zombies at the way station; a
mysterious wizardly man in black;
demon-fairies and just straight up demons; Jack Mort the insane violent
psychopath in contemporary New York City; Guido Druglords; giant evil venomous
lobstrocities and their lawyering
questions; A giant bear that is actually a robot with some sort of disease;
a plaster man that jumps out of the walls of a haunted house and eats people;
and some wackos within the city in which Blaine the Mono reigns, unbeknownst
to the wicked ruler we only know as Tic-Toc. Not to mention the monsters that
the gang sees on their way through the Waste Lands.
That being said, this universe is very fucked up. Stephen King is a very cynical writer and most characters are either terrifying to imagine or just plain twisted. Everyone thinks of some pretty nasty stuff on occasion, but we maintain that we are mostly normal. The characters thus far, though, seem to be composed entirely of the very things we find repulsive in one another or, worst of all, deep within ourselves. Which is what I like about King and what I really like about the series. Not a lot of good people, not much in the way of innocence and sure as hell there is nobody who is remotely innocent here that doesn’t get side-swiped by some unfortunate turn of events.
Stephen King is also a man with
children in his stories. Nearly every book I have ever picked up of his, save
maybe 1 (Misery I think?) has a child
character or a scene where a character is flashing back to being a child. And
he loves cashing in on the discomfort of growing up, and also of being afraid.
So after Eddie, against all odds, bails the gang out with nothing other than
quick wit, silly New York humour (i.e. dead baby jokes), and a face melting
explosion of shit talk, Roland is faced with the difficult task of regaling
them with the story of Susan, the woman he oft refers to in his incoherent
mumblings.
I mentioned it just now but I have been drinking so I will
say it again, before we get side tracked with the legend of Roland, Eddie Dean’s trash talk is a truly magnificent piece of this
series. Everyone has a weapon in life. Some people throw their weight around,
some are gunslingers, some are quiet and polite but are real killers underneath
with a quick hand and a lethal touch. Eddie Dean is a man I can relate to,
though. His weapon is his mouth. His big fucking idiotic mouth. Issue him a
challenge and the fight is over before it even begins, literally, as it
probably will not reach the point of fighting since people like him are the sort than can
break a man (or machine, mind you) down with harsh language so effectively that
everything the challenger hates about him, he is brought to see in himself and
absolutely loses his mind, composure, and all ability to maintain the upper
hand. I dig that.
Back to the Legend. Roland sets the stage with this
young hottie Susan real well. We are transported to another world - or another where and another when, in this
series - and it turns out this one is a Western with a small Western-like town
and a witch just outside. The witch is pretty nasty, truly vile in the Stephen
King sense but also a bit comical, as she is quite terrible at being a witch at
her old age. I really like the setting, especially as we learn more about it.
Not just a Western, but a post-apocalyptic Western where some of the carryover
from a world we might recognize (oil fields, tankers, refrigerators) make
appearances but there is mystery as to how anyone could make honest use of
them. The references to mutants amongst the horses, cattle, and pets gives the reader more
hints at this universe, lending more to the debate of “our world that was split
by nuclear warfare, or just a fantasy world that is similar to ours and then
split by nuclear warfare?” Bog (and King) only knows.
It is better to just sit back and
let the worlds unravel themselves. And pay attention to the hot broad that
catches Roland’s eye. Teenage Roland, that is. And even a complete badass like
him, the youngest gunslinger of all time, needs to have a good alibi for fucking
the holy Christ out of a tragic young blonde like Susan Delgado; so he says it is Ka. “No, no, don’t get me wrong, I don’t
want to do these awesome things to
her, I just have to. It’s Ka!” (not an actual quote from the book).
This is also our first real introduction to the
character from Roland’s youth that we have come to learn is much like Eddie
Dean, Cuthbert Allgood. The kid is a phenomenal character. Always talking, like
Eddie, always trying to make a joke, and never at an appropriate time. And
really, all Roland wants is for him to shut up. But the kid also has talent. He
can talk his way out of a jam as easily as he can talk his way into it. Plus,
he is a killer just like Roland. Very understanding of the ways of a gunslinger,
even if he has not passed through his rite yet. Also a bit of a jealous bone,
which makes him very human but very much the identifiable young, envious,
right-hand-man to Roland’s young alpha-male group leader personae.
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