Friday, January 18, 2008

Wizard and Glass - The Dark Tower IV *****


First Line: ASK ME A RIDDLE,' Blaine invited.


About the Book
Wizard and Glass, the fourth episode in Stephen King's Dark Tower series, is a Western love story. It begins with world-weary Roland, and his world-hopping posse (an ex-junkie, a child, a plucky woman in a wheelchair, and a talking dog-like pet named Oy the Bumbler) trapped aboard a runaway train. The train is a psychotic multiple personality that intends to commit suicide with them at 800 m.p.h.--unless Roland and pals can outwit it in a riddling contest.It's a great race, for the mind and pulse. Movies should be this good. Then comes a 567-page flashback about Roland at age 14. Roland and two teen homies must rescue his first love from the dirty old drooling mayor of a cowboy town, thwart a civil war by blowing up oil tanks, and seize an all-seeing crystal ball from Rhea, a vampire witch. The love scenes are startlingly prominent and earthier than most romance novels (they kiss until blood trickles from her lip).After an epic battle ending in a box canyon to end all box canyons, we're back with grizzled, grown-up Roland and the train-wreck survivors in a parallel world: Kansas in 1986, after a plague. The finale is a weird fantasy takeoff on The Wizard of Oz. It is a long read, almost 800 pages -- but few will deny it's a page-turner. It was GREAT!!
Excerpted from Stephen King Shopping.

Thursday, January 10, 2008

Looking for me??

If you're wondering where I've been lately, come over to my Needle in Hand blog to see what I've been up to.