A brilliant literary move!

[Ranger_Strider]

I tend to think of the Story of Susan Delgado and Mejis (which is the bulk of W&G) as the best and smartest use of the flash-back device I've ever seen. I thought taking the major characters of 'Lost' (tv series) back to the Dharma period of @1977 was a close second best, but for obvious different reasons.

It all centers on time-travel, the use of flashbacks, that is. Imagine how useless the first volume in the DT cycle (The Gunslinger) would have been to the whole story if it did not contain all those snapshot flashback tales of Roland? It seems to me that the entire DTS is hinged in the middle and wags from both ends of Wizard and Glass. It's the 180 degree opposite in Roland's quest from ascending the tower/crossing the Mohaine (a seamless continuum), and yet pretty much the same exercise: examining the past in order to gain understanding which may yet to prove useful in the next turn of the wheel.

And yes, that is easy for me to say.

[DancingCorpse]

examining the past in order to gain understanding which may yet to prove useful in the next turn of the wheel.

Very good point. I love how the series is planned and how we are told each piece of the story, it fits in seemlessly and brilliantly.

[randallFlaggfan1]

I agree with you. Wizards & Glass would not be the same without its many flashbacks, and the reader certainly wouldn't know all that we do about Roland. I also believe that W&G is a brilliant addition to DT. I wouldn't have it any other way.

[Bryan James]

I am not a huge fan of your font selection, but I agree. I'm pretty sure that I've posted my opinion that #4 (which is actually #3 and I still hate the title) is my favorite of the series.

[GNTLGNT]

I liked it fine-say thankee, but felt the whole love lost(horribly)was a bit protracted...

[wally wonder]

yep, roland certainly wouldn't be the roland we know without wizard and glass. i wonder if that is part of the appeal of the story? the reason roland is one of dem tragic heroes....am reading the stand again (in a social group, too) but there comes a point in the story where lucy is lying in bed, waiting for larry to come back inside, or not, whatever the case might be....and she hears him come back inside....one of her thoughts is 'you just couldn't get hold of the things you had done and turn them right again. such power might be given to the gods, but it was not given to men and women, and that was probably a good thing. had it been otherwise, people would probably die of old age still trying to rewrite their teens....if you knew that past was out of reach, maybe you could forgive....chapter 53

so you can't help but wonder, at least i do, what roland coulda shoulda woulda....or if he was beyond that

[Pucker]

. . . so you can't help but wonder, at least i do, what roland coulda shoulda woulda....or if he was beyond that

Seems to me coulda, shoulda woulda is just about all Roland worries about.

When I first read W & G I was kind of disappointed that the progress of our heroes was halted in the telling for the backstory. But once I became engrossed in the Mejis story for its own sake, it was very enjoyable -- and of course it shines a bright light on at least some of the aspects of why Roland is the way he is. I would have to agree that this is the pivotal volume in the saga, as it gives both a look back at who Roland was (and why he is) and also gives a glimpse of what is waiting up around the bend.

[CErikson]

I have always loved the backstories and the epic / tragic beginnings to narrative worlds. That is why, as much as I like LotR, I really enjoy the sweeping histories of The Silmarillion.

That being said, I've always enjoyed Wizard and Glass because of its glimpse into the inner workings of Roland's past, and we get a glimpse of the tragic glory of Gilead and Roland's former ka-tet, in their last days. However, W & G, in my mind, is second only to Wolves of the Calla, because there we finally see the Battle of Jericho Hill, and we see Roland dance the Commalla (sp? I don't have the books at hand right now). All those things, together, turn Roland into a true hero, in my mind, instead of being just a trained killing machine. They are glimpses into his heart and soul, as it were, when so often we only see is hands and guns.

[Ranger_Strider]

Umm, I think the Battle of Jericho Hill is something we never get to see, per se. We get glimpses here and there throughout the DTS: we find that Cuthbert and Alain meet their end there, we find that the horn is lost there.We find that Roland is set on his quest for the Dark tower there. But this happened way long before the battle scene in Wolves. I should think an 8th installment of the DTS would be in order to revisit the Battle of Jericho Hill and the events that surround it. I'll be willing to bet that Rhea of Coos will play a major role in that, as will Walter, The Good Man, Randall Flagg, The Dark Man, etc...

[Ranger_Strider]

About the Silmarillion, I thought that the publication of that came way too soon. The tolkien kids should have studied the craft of storytelling before unleashing that on us. Yes, I can follow it but only becouse I am a freaky geek. The material that was there was obvously just a bare bones of what could have been a great series of novels, based in the history of middle-earth.