Just finished The Dark Tower

[patson]

I just finished the series, too, except for The Gunslinger, but I will read that soon. I'm new here, but wanted to add that I, also, loved the DT series and was also shocked at the ending, but knew it couldn't have ended any other way. Ka . I also read The Little Sisters of Eluria with Roland in it, a short story from Everything's Eventual.
I'm so glad that I found this site.

Long days and pleasant nights!

[patson]

Hi, thankee, sai, for the welcome, JohnDalglish.

[Vic Vega]

I read the DT series one after the other, and to be honest, there were things along the way that bothered me. The ending though wasn't one, I was fine with it. When I was finished reading I felt kinda sad, I spent a couple months reading these books straight through and when I finished the last page I realized I wasn't going to be "visiting" these "people" anymore.

[Jack Frost]

I read the DT series one after the other, and to be honest, there were things along the way that bothered me. The ending though wasn't one, I was fine with it. When I was finished reading I felt kinda sad, I spent a couple months reading these books straight through and when I finished the last page I realized I wasn't going to be "visiting" these "people" anymore.

I definitely agree with you!!! Now that I'm re-reading the series, I get to fall in love (or hate) with the DT characters all over again!

I'm also the same way with what bothered me. Little things along the journey, but certainly not the story overall!

[JohnDalglish]

When I was finished reading I felt kinda sad, I spent a couple months reading these books straight through and when I finished the last page I realized I wasn't going to be "visiting" these "people" anymore.

Hi,

But one consolation is that you're never quite finished DT IMO, it benefits from re-reading.

I've read it straight through four times (plus countless re-reads between publication) and I've just got more and more out of it each time and I'm looking forward to 'visiting these people' again.

Long days and pleasant nights

[Insomniak]

I may of skipped and bounced through a few chapters out of sequence, but It's time to take it all in now, every drop of Stephen King's epic. I remember King saying something like the Tower is in the end what the Roland character will find.

[Bryan James]

I didn't like The Ending, but I accepted it as A Beginning. (I read 'The Gunslinger' one afternoon immediately after finishing the series.)

What else did I want after the Last Door, a bouquet of plastic roses, a glass of milk, and an oven-fresh chocolate chip cookie?

What a struggle writing the (whole) thing must have been.

Aside: the whole "Door" thing has always reminded me of Sierra's early "King's Quest" computer game.

BJS

[FETiD]

Even though I adored the ending, when I went to sleep that night (after staying up to about midnight reading) I dreamed about Roland. Inserted myself in Roland's path and helped him finally do everything and not forget anything important but, sadly, it wasn't one of the dreams I remember details about. If he entered the top floor of the Dark Tower in my dream, I don't remember, and especially don't know what he found there. Maybe, subconsciously, I really wanted true closure, and to know what was up there. And maybe it was just so incomprehensible to my human brain to stand to remember it and hold onto that knowledge.

[Big Matt]

I, fairly recently, finshed the DT series and was left numb by the ending...at least initially. I couldn't decide whether it was the only ending that could have been, or a cheap cop out. Since then I have settled firmly in the former camp, it is definitley the only ending that could have happened.
I have since wondered what the one thing Roland could change in the story that would break the cycle, for me its the scene where he lets Jake fall, if at that point he saves him, the cycle breaks and Roland is free.

I am now re reading the series as I left some large time gaps when I first read it and have just finished the Waste Lands. Very much enjoying the journey the second time.

[Jack Frost]

The whole thing definitely ended up with a kind of Groundhog Day feel. Although, assuming it wasn't Roland's first time through, the difference would be that in Groundhog Day, Bill Murray's character remembered everything as he repeated the day over again.

I think there are many points in time where the cycle could have been broken. What if he hadn't challenged Cort when he did. What if he and Susan (and the rest of the tet) had run off instead of staying to finish the fight. Stepping back from that, what if he would have killed Rhea when he first confronted her?!? Of course not dropping Jake. Or simply, at any point, if he had just given up his quest for the Tower!

I think Linoge said it best...Hell is repetition!