If you are going through hell - keep going
How about -
Four way tie for first:
1. Drawing Of The Three
1. Gunslinger
1. Wastelands
1. Wizard and Glass
Three way tie for last:
7. Dark Tower
7. Song of Sussanah
7. Wolves of the Calla
Or is that just lame? Pretty close to accurate in my heart though.
I know I typed a response to this yesterday, but it looks like it was deleted..?
Anyway, I'll rearrange a bit:
1. Wastelands
2. Drawing of the Three
3. Wizard and Glass
4. Gunslinger
(Big dropoff here)
5. Wolves of the Calla
6. Dark Tower
7. Song of Sussanah
The first four books, IMO are really close in ranking and all equally great. Some of my favorites of all-time. The last 3 books just didn't live up to what preceded them.
As long as you are sure...LOL
All that's left of what we were is what we have become.
1. The Waste Lands
2. The Drawing of the Three
3. The Gunslinger
4. Wizard and Glass
5. the Dark Tower
6. The Wolves of the Calla
7. Song of Suzanna
For me, from the beach through Blaine is BY FAR the best stretch of the story. I would probably put Wizard and Glass 3, but I was SO bitter when I found out it was mostly backstory I didn't read it for months and still hold a small grudge lol. I waited sooooo long after The Waste Lands. It really is a fantastic book though, although the part after the backstory I felt was pretty weak. I'm not s huge fan of where the story went after Blaine, but I don't hate it either. I've read them all twice and enjoyed them each time, but 2, 3 and the first part of 4 are just flat out amazing story telling. I don't consider The Wind Through the Keyhole as part of the series either. I liked it, but it doesn't really belong in the discussion here.
Yeah, I know that WTTKH is officially sanctioned as DTVIII, but I don't really consider it a part of the series either.
1. Wizard and Glass
2. Wolves of the Calla
3. The Dark Tower
4. The Wastelands
5. The Drawing of the Three
6. The Gunslinger
7. Song of Susannah
I think it's incredibly hard to rank them because they sit in distinct sets.
I'd say that the Gunslinger feels like its own seperate little work. The next three form the core, and the last three I didn't enjoy at all.
Probz would go:
1. Gunslinger: The original one, not the bloody 'revised' version. This is the best writing that King ever did. Raw, powerful, and sparse, the language perfectly catches the form of the novel, the life of the characters, the landscape they travel, and the broken timescape they inhabit. Yes, it's not as accessible, but it's the best.
2. Drawing of the Three: The combination of Detta/Odetta is an outstanding idea for a antagonist/protagonist. The introduction of Eddie is wonderful and the section of his Drawing is my favourite in the whole series. You also have the excellent Mort sequence at the end. What I really love about this one is the brutal pace; it isn't all action, but there's always a very strong need driving the plot forward. This is actually quite rare for a King novel, which usually take place over extended periods. This is also the novel where Roland feels most true to me.
3. Wizard and Glass: The Blaine bit was cool, and the Oz bit was stupid, but the core story was wonderful. It's odd to think that not much really happened, but the story of Roland's world just before it fell was perfectly told, and the ride of the gunslingers against Jonas' column is one of the best action sequences in the series.
4. Wastelands: I love the section of Jakes drawing and the part in Lud. The whole book is great, but it also has the Susannah problem. Susannah never worked for me; her disability made any hard travelling impossible, but her character was the worst. Stephen King is usually at his best when writing about men, and I don't think he ever really created a meaningful character in Susannah, whose lines can mostly be broken down to 'Hush, white boy'.
5. Wolves: The start of the slide. Plenty of rubbish about 1999 and 19 being conveniently jammed in everywhere to make the story seem clever, plus the obnoxious language of the Calla. Things like 'Life for your crop' and 'Long days, pleasant nights' seemed genuine because King obviously spent a long time thinking about this world. The last books were hurried out, and that commala-come-twaddle felt forced and annoying. However, I did kind of enjoy Callahan's story, and this was the last one with an actual solid plot instead of endless jumping around.
6. Tower: Nice to see Ted again, and the ride with that lady Roland screws is good. But I disliked the ending intensely. The ending, btw, is the crimson king stuck outside the tower throwing explosive golden snitches at Roland and a boy, who kills the king by drawing him and then rubbing him out with a magic eraser. Also, Susannah. God, why must there be so much Susannah? The best dialogue came between Eddie and Roland because they were the most fleshed-out characters, and they both complemented each other perfectly. If the ka-tet needed to be split, Eddie should have died last and Susannah first. Oh, and Mordred, the most pointless character ever produced.
7. Susannah: Confused. And, god, why must there be so much Susannah??
1) Wizard and Glass
2) Drawing of the three
3) Wastelands
4) Dark Tower
5) Wolves
6) Gunslinger
7) SOS
8) WTTK
This is based on audio book, absolutely loved Wizard and Glass, favourite book of all time. Listening to Wind through the keyhole, narrated by Sai King was painful however.
1. Wizard and Glass (this is also my favorite book of all time)
2. The Wastelands
3. Wolves of the Calla
4. Wind Through the Keyhole (I love this book and often find myself thinking about it)
5. The Drawing of the Three
6. The Dark Tower
7. The Gunslinger
8. Song of Susannah
I would love for a pro narrator to do a re-issue of the WTTK audiobook...all of the other books have such amazing narration it makes WTTK really stand out as rather amateurish. Heck Guidall is still doing books now, just have him whip it out in a weekend and call it good
I'm ashamed to admit ii but I never read books 6 & 7 when I sarted the series around 10 years ago. But I absolutely loved The Drawing of the Three and The Waste Lands.
So I guess it's
1. The Drawing of the Three
2. The Waste Lands
3. The Gunslinger
4. Wizard and Glass
5. Wolves of the Calla
do you mean you still haven't read them???
Ask not what bears can do for you, but what you can do for bears. (razz)
When one is in agreement with bears one is always correct. (mae)
bears are back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Wait!! So you all are saying that King wrote books other than The Stand?
All that's left of what we were is what we have become.
WasteLands
Wizard & Glass
Drawing of the Three
Dark Tower
The Gunslinger
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
Did NOT count LSOE or WTTKH
Dragline : Nothin'. A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me - with nothin'.
Luke : Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
Waste Lands
Wizard & Glass
Drawing of the Three
Dark Tower
The Gunslinger
Wolves of the Calla
Song of Susannah
Did NOT count LSOE or WTTKH
SORRY...posted twice
Dragline : Nothin'. A handful of nothin'. You stupid mullet head. He beat you with nothin'. Just like today when he kept comin' back at me - with nothin'.
Luke : Yeah, well, sometimes nothin' can be a real cool hand.
I think I'll read the series one after another this year and maybe I'll be able to rank them. I don't believe I've read any of them since they were initially published.
Mhhh after another re-read my ranking goes as following:
1.The Wastelands
2.The Dark Tower
3.Wizard and Glass
4.The Drawing of the Three
5.Song of Susannah
6.Wolves of the Calla
7.The Gunslinger
For me, it's:
- The Drawing of the Three
- The Waste Lands
- The Gunslinger
- The Dark Tower
- Wizard and Glass
- Wolves of the Calla
- Song of Susannah
The Drawing of the Three is the easy winner. It's my second favorite King book overall. But The Waste Lands isn't far behind (#5 on my overall list). I think that 2-book run is where the series really shined.
1-) Wizard and Glass
2-) The Gunslinger
3-) The Dark Tower
4-) The Drawing of the Three
5-) The Waste Lands
6-) Wolves of the Calla
7-) Song of Susannah
Oh, The Wind Through the Keyhole is... Hmm... I'd rather it remains outside. This doesn't mean it is not good though.
This is pretty difficult...
1) Wizard and Glass
2) The Dark Tower
3) The Waste Lands
4) The Drawing of the Three
5) The Gunslinger
6) Wolves of the Calla
7) Song of Susannah
Because they were written at such different times in his life, the books almost have different genres. Trying to think of them as stand-alone novels is really tough. I remember reading the Gunslinger when I was very young and it was...odd. Some kind of apocalyptic western. I was drawn in by Roland more than anything else. It's better reading for the second time after going through them all (though that was before SK made changes to it - I preferred it in its original form).
I could ramble on here forever.