Wizard and Glass

This was the slowest starting of the series so far. This novel of almost 700 words was almost all a large flashback scene.

The novel begins by wrapping up the cliffhanger from book 3, getting away from the runaway train, Blaine. This took almost 100 pages, then Roland begins his long promised back story. The transition was smooth, yet it still took time to warm up to the new characters and the new places. This was almost a straight up western story, with just enough supernatural elements and bloody conflicts to carry on the overall story line.

A young (14 year old) Roland and his two closest friends, Cuthbert and Alain, are sent away from home to basically be out of the way of the war that has been brewing. Their cover story was to be three young kids who are being sent away to "grow-up" after getting into some minor childish mischief, and to do some inventory of horses and materials for the war effort.

They soon find that things are not what they seem to be, in fact this is where the insurgents are getting some much needed supplies and backing.

Roland, meanwhile meets and falls in love with a girl, Susan, that has already promised to bear a child of the local mayor. This ill fated love story is another plot point that helps carry the story forward. Like I said it took me a while to warm up to the new characters, and like King says in his afterward, this part of the series was almost a straight up love story, which is a major change of direction in the overall story line of the search for the Dark Tower.

Stephen King, is nothing if not a master character builder and it wasn't all that long before I was deeply involved with all of the new characters and the intrigues of the new setting. By the end of the 550 page flash back, I was thoroughly immersed and the conclusion of that was indeed emotional and moving.

Then the book ended with the main characters, Roland, Eddy, Suzanne, Jake and Oy (the billybumbler) making their way and trying to find the guiding beam once again. Then the story took another twist, which had me groaning just a tad bit, as it is a complete riff on The Wizard of Oz. However this was a fairly short episode and by the end of the book, our heroes are back on the path to the Dark Tower. Book Five is next.