In What Order Do U Rank The DT Books?

[M-O-O-N SPELLS MY NAME]

Hello All! I just finished reading the DT series, and wanted other CR's opinions on their preference of the books....my list goes....

1. Wizard and Glass (IV) - Simply an AMAZING book, a story by itself
2. Drawing of the Three (II) - Shootout @ Balazar's - AWESOME!
3. The Dark Tower (VII) - A good ending to an excellent series
4. Wolves of the Calla (V) - wished they were really wolves!
5. The Gunslinger (I) - THE BEGINNING? or really the end of VII?
6. Song of Susannah (VI) - Loved the hate mail in the diary....hilarious!
7. The Waste Lands (III) - Totally suprised by RF's....cameo?

Please pass on your thoughts and preferences....I'd hear you very well, say thank ya!

[All Hail The Crimson King]

My order has been since DT 7 came out -

1. DT7
2. Wolves of the Calla (http://www.thedarktower.com/palaver/showthread.php?t=948)
3. Song of Susannah (http://www.thedarktower.com/palaver/showthread.php?t=950), Wastelands, Wizard and Glass, Drawing of the Three, The (http://www.thedarktower.com/palaver/showthread.php?t=940) Gunslinger

[Bryan James]

4, 3, 7. A tie for the others.

I don't consider 'The Gunslinger.' It stands alone.

~BJS

[wally wonder]

as i'm reading them, whatever number i'm on is my favorite. tuff call, otherwise. first time through, each book blew me away...but maybe the books where the scene shifts a lot between worlds...those ones are my favorites.

[michal]

1. Wolves of the Calla - one of my top three SK novels ever
2. The Dark Tower
3. Song of Susannah

I really straggled with the first 3 and I wouldn't list Wizard and Glass as one of my favorite either.

[the_last_gunslinger]

My favorite from the series for a long time has been The Wastelands until I read Song of Susannah in July. Now I'm not sure. But if I had to put a list together, it would look like this:

1. The Wastelands

2. Song of Susannah

3. The Gunslinger

4. The Drawing of the Three

5. Wizard and Glass

6. Wolves of the Calla

I have yet to read Book 7, so obviously, that is not part of my list yet.

[crimsonkingtph]

Wow...I started typing my list and found it really hard which order to put them in......The Wastelands was always one of my favs, even though I was stuck with the Ka-tet on Blaine for a few years.....but when I first read The Gunslinger when I was 14 I was hooked, having no clue of the awesomeness that would follow....The Gunslinger was the third SK book I had read and the one that truely hooked me and made me a fan for life. In Lisey's Story when Scott is giving his speech for the new library he asks the crowd to think of who wrote their first good book. The one that got under you like a magic carpet and lifted you right off the ground. For me it was the Gunslinger.

Sorry to get a little off the point.....anyways heres my attempt at a list!!

1. The Gunslinger/The Wastelands
2. The Dark Tower
3. Drawing of the Three/Wizard and Glass
4. Wolves of the Calla
5. Song of Susannah

Long days and pleasant nights!!!

[sam peebles]

1. The Gunslinger
2. Wizard and Glass
3. The Drawing of the Three
4. The Wasteland
5. The Dark Tower
6. Song of Susannah
7. Wolves of the Calla

I didn't enjoy the newer ones very much, but it was tough to choose between my top three.

[JohnDalglish]

Hi,

I find it really difficult to rank them because I see them all as integral parts of the one story.

Ka is a wheel.

Long days and pleasant nights

[glyde69]

Good(and tough) question!

1. DT4 - I got into the DT series in high school, and ate up all three books. The couple year wait for book 4 was rough, and it was finally released on my first day of college(I remember flying to the mall the minute I got out of class). What a read! Susan's fate was one of the few times in my life that I was truly touched from a book or movie. I loved it on first read, but it really blew my mind a few years later on a re-read. A buddy of mine got his parent's timeshare at a resort in the Poconos. We brought some booze and pot and figured we would party for the weekend there. Turns out it was a special "newlyweds week" and EVERYONE there were couples. So I felt uncomfortable doing the activities with my buddy because I thought people would be getting the wrong idea, so I locked myself in my room for the majority of the weekend and smoked an ounce of good green and read DT4 in between naps and joints. It really blew my mind that second read!

2. DT2 - I think most people would agree that the series really took off with this book. Eddie, Odetta, Jack Mort, time travel, different worlds...... It had it all!

3. DT5 - I waited FOREVER for this book and it delivered. It solidified Jake's critical part of the Ka-tet, surprised the crap out of me with Father Callahan and his journey, and told an all around good story that advanced things to the end.

4. DT7 - The finale was far from perfect, but it had some brilliant moments. Eddie's seemingly random demise. King had me laughing one moment(painting the driver that ran him over as a blithering idiot), and almost in tears the next(Jake dying and Oy crying). I thought it was a satisfying ending and done about as well as you can after such a buildup. The Crimson King was a bit anti-climatic and I was a bit disappointed in how the mighty RF was dispatched in a page like he was a nobody, but I liked this novel.

DT3 - Overall, this is a good novel, but not a favorite of the DT series in my eyes. The SLLLLOW buildup had a wonderful payoff at the end, but for the most part I was bored from the moment they rescued Jack until they attempted to cross the bridge. RF making an appearence was sweet!

DT1 - This novel deserves respect because it was first in a classic group of books, but overall it just wasn't a very good book. It did introduce A LOT of everything we were about to learn in later books.

DT6 - Ugh. Something about this book just rubbed me the wrong way. Felt like an unnecessary bridge to the final book.

[Moderator]

I almost didn't edit for the spoilers because I'd thought a thread asking people to rank the books would include having read them as a prerequisite but it occurred to me that there might be some who had not but were interested in seeing how others would rank them. For future posts, please include spoilers as necessary.

[glyde69]

I was thinking the same thing, Ms. Mod(hence the spoilers).

I will refrain from using them in the future(or at least precede with a giant SPOILERS before I post).

:blush:

[M-O-O-N SPELLS MY NAME]

GLYDE - couldn't agree w/ your opinons of DT VII more....almost like you took the thoughts straight from my mind....

[LadyHitchhiker]

Drawing of the three
Wastelands
Gunslinger
Dark Tower
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
Wizard and Glass

Probably my order.

[BTRNYC]

Finished a mere hour ago! Still reeling... As of today this would be my rank.

1- The Dark Tower: It's the culmination. Ya gotta love it.

2- Drawing of the Three: Raw storytelling

3- Wolves of the Calla: The people of Bryn Sturgis, especially Pere Callahan, make this one really rewarding for me.

4- The Wastelands: Ultimate cliff hanger... track hanger...

5- Song of Susannah: Liked the change of style, but keeping with the pace right before the end.

6- Wizard and Glass: This shouldn't be sixth because the overall story would lose much without this volume, but I did miss the ka-tet.

7- The Gunslinger: Something has to be last...

[CampRadio]

1-The Drawing of The Three-I loved this book, mainly because of Eddie's part, the plane ride with the drugs and the flight attendent was one of the best pieces of literature I read in a long time. The rest of the novel lived up to it, and I found I couldn't fall asleep when I was trying to, because the novel had me on edge.

2-The Wolves of the Calla-I really liked The Magnificent Seven/Seven Samurai and it seemed that this one was very closely related to those particular movies. The Pere's story was also magnificent as well as the final battle and sudden deaths.

3-The Gunslinger-I had this book for a while prior to reading DoTT, and it wasn't as remarkable as I thought it would be, but after countless times rereading it left a impression on me, especially the part in Tull.

4-The Dark Tower-This one was quite good, but not as good as the first three, it had some of the most disgusting vignettes I have ever read, the greatest gunfight I ever read, and it most epitomized the Western genre than the other books

5-Wizard and Glass/The Wastelands-These two are good, but not perfect. The Lud and River Crossing sequence was good, especially the part with the bridge. The Blaine part was also good, and he definatly was "a pain". Everything with Susan Delgado and Mejis was also good, but it didn't stick in my head as something that lasted.

6-Song of Susannah-I didn't like this book, it seemed too short and a bit too surreal for me, but the part with John Cullum and Mia and Mordred were some of the good parts in the book.

[Kurtman518]

1. DT4 - Wizard and Glass (One Word: Amazing. As someone mentioned earlier, it would even be great as a standalone)
2. DT3 - The Waste Lands
3. DT2 - The Drawing of the Three
4. DT7 - The Dark Tower (A bittersweet ending)
5. DT5 - Wolves of the Calla
6. DT1 - The Gunslinger (it was tough to get into at first, but well worth it)
7. DT6 - The Song of Susannah (I could have lived without this one, I don't think it really added much to the story)

[jellydonut25]

Wizard and Glass - beautifully written, masterfully crafted, and the scene where they are riding through Farson's men, picking them off before driving them into the thinny is unforgettable.

The Wastelands - if not for the brilliance of this book, i would not have read DT4-7. I was disillusioned after the mediocrity of DT2, but this book is just awesome from end to end

The Gunslinger - All the unique properties of this book are what makes it fun to read and re-read over and over. it's like no other SK book and i love it for that.

The Dark Tower - It had some less-than-spectacular moments and I could rattle off a list of complaints, but it was overall a fitting end to the series, and had some moments of true brilliance as well.

The Wolves of the Calla - eh, something about light-sabers, Dr. Doom wolves, and just a general somewhat slow pace made this less than a favorite for me.

Song of Susannah - I can't bring to mind a single thing that happened in this book, it is such a bridge between DT 5 and DT 7 that there is nothing to enjoy on its own.

The Drawing of the Three - I always struggle to make it through this one, and almost ended my quest for the dark tower here. This book does nothing for me.

[Todevod]

1. Wizard & Glass
2. The Dark Tower
3. The Waste Lands
4. The Wolves of the Calla
5. The Drawing of the Three
6. The Gunslinger
7. Song of Susannah

3-6 are all very, VERY CLOSE. A re-read may change their place in the order. Song of Susannah is the only book of the series that is forgettable for me. Wizard and Glass is the most memorable book I have ever read, next to The Stand, and slightly above The Dark Tower.

[fljoe0]

1. Wizard & Glass
2. The Wastelands

The rest are interchangeable - love them all.

[DebA913]

I was actually kind of surprised that so many people have an 'order' :smile2: for them, as I still see them all as one story. And with all stories (to some extent) there are ups and downs all the way through depending on each individual reader's point of view. I think it's a fabulous story in it's entirety. I think every part had something to add, and the story would not have been the same if any of the books were left out. But of course, just sharing my humble opinion:geek:. I guess it's those ups and downs that people are using to put the parts in the order of their choice. Very cool to see how many different opinions there are.