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Whoaaaaaa.
So, I just finished Book VI.
!!!HE THRUSTS HIS FISTS AGAINST THE POSTS AND WARNS OF HUGE FUCKING SPOILERS!!!
Nearly everything in the above posts is dealt with and with smashing thoroughness and effectiveness. Although it's short, it's incredibly dense. And mostly a prologue for Book VII (which we only have to wait until September 15th for).
In the palaver between Mr. King, Roland, and Eddie (which was handled so damned beautifully), it becomes increasingly clear that while SK holds a huge amount of power over Roland's world (obvs), he's a slave to a greater power and somehow these books themselves are a danger to the Crimson King and the forces of Discordia (please, Steve, lose the exclamation point next time). So, in a stunning turn of events (that wasn't so stunning if you'd been spoiled about it as I was), in this reality, the reality where Stephen King is writing The Dark Tower and the reality in which Eddie and Roland find SK and deem that this is the strongest and most powerful reality, the car accident which nearly crippled SK (in OUR reality, not to be confused with "this" reality), kills Stephen King. Presumably before he could finish books V through VII.
So.
Where exactly does that leave us? This reality where we've got (presumably) the last three books and a perfectly healthy Stephen King. In our reality, the forces of Discordia have not won, but in Roland's, they have.
King takes great pains to link "his" reality with "our" reality (9/11), but the trump card at the end complicates matters, doesn't it?
Now there is no connection between our world and the DT prime world. It's been severed by Discordia, disguised as a van on a Maine highway. In OUR reality, though, those forces were swayed. Perhaps this is what Roland ultimately accomplishes? The creation of another chance? A world in which the lynchpin (Steve) was not destroyed? Our world? The world in which the Dark Tower story survives?
It's clear that Steve feels this is an important work not just to him but to reality, and it's easy to see why, what with all the revelations in this issue (ha!) about magic and technology, etc.
I'm pretty fascinated by the way in which King wove together this story and the physical story itself. And every other story he ever wrote. I'm also pretty astounded that it hasn't fallen completely on its ass yet. It is truly reading as if it were preordained, without one false step. Every scene feels completely right, The Last Stand Of Pere Callahan & The Manhattan Kid, the birthing room and the Private Dining Room, the Castle; everything.
Kind of raises the hackles on your neck, doesn't it? |
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