King's Roland Continues Through Waste Lands
The Waste Lands by Stephen King
Synopsis: Roland and his disciples continue on their quest for the Dark Tower. Eddie and Susannah (The Lady of Shadows) are becoming Gunslingers themselves through Roland's teachings, and Roland is coming completely unglued. His mind is divided between two separate realities which directly conflict with each other and he is slowly being driven insane. In our world, Jake Chambers (encountered in Book One) is going down the same path as Roland. Resolution of the madness seems inevitable and it comes at the halfway point of the book. At that point, Roland is somewhat transformed into a caring human being. The second half of the book takes our little company down the road further toward the Tower, encountering danger and strange beings on the way. The town of Lud and its inhabitants are pivotal in defining the next phase of the journey.
One of King's traits as a writer is to successfully map two or more separate plots, developing characters and weaving lives that will ultimately come together in ways not imagined. In The Waste Lands this technique is used effectively to show the complex division in Roland and Jake's minds (as each is being driven insane by the conflicting realities of Jake's death/survival in Book Two), as well as the physical division of our main characters, Roland, Jake, Susannah, and Eddie in the city of Lud. The book as a whole is divided; there is a clear starting and ending point for two stories that could have easily been sold as two separate books.
In The Waste Lands, enter one of King's inside jokes that only a true freak will fully enjoy. King interjects characters, places, things from other novels; while it's added fun for someone who is as obsessed as I am, these little jokes don't detract from a new reader's experience. Constant Reader, (King's term for his loyal followers) will cackle with fiendish delight at the appearance of one character in particular toward the conclusion of The Waste Lands and will notice other, not so obvious inferences that King makes.
Book Three leaves us with our four heroes (and companion-pet Oy) being rocketed toward the Tower aboard a maniacal monorail, Blaine. Blaine loves riddles, and is bent upon a suicide run. It is up to Roland, Jake, Eddie, and Susannah to save their skins by appeasing the mad-machine through true riddles. (When is a door not a door?) The boxed set of Books One - Three is an excellent purchase or gift for any King fan who is not expecting a Shining, Pet Sematary, or 'Salem's Lot. While there are elements of horror in each of the books, the Dark Tower series is more fantasy/sci-fi genre than true horror. King has written DT over a period of 20 years; and it is easy to see the development of his writing style in these three novels. For those who claim to dislike horror, DT is a nice introduction to an alternate style of King's writing.
And like a good epic, DT goes on. A fourth book has been written and published: Wizard and Glass (1997). King followers either hate it or love it.no middle ground here. A fifth book is in the works and due in 2003. If you are a true freak like me, you will laugh out loud when yet another parallel comes to light.
Throughout the books, phrases and words that are within Roland's vocabulary are used frequently.while they may not be directly translatable, they are easily understood. You have forgotten the face of your father is a phrase which is interpreted to mean "you have disgraced your family name" - a statement that Roland will only say with the greatest of distaste.
Stephen King has not forgotten the face of his father in the Dark Tower series. Rather, he shoots with his mind, not his hand, and shoots true and clear.
Long live Roland of Gilead. Long live Stephen King.
