The Kindle edition of UtD is $1.99 today only.
I'm currently reading UTD and wanted to have a quick reference for what all the characters look like. Matthew Diffee, who did the illustrations for the gift edition, gave us his idea of what they look like on individual cards and a group picture. But the group picture doesn't have all the names and I don't want to go through the cards each time. So with the magic of Microsoft Paint I added the names to the group picture.
Click here for a printable size to slip into your copy. http://www.thedarktower.org/gallery/...hp?photo=11431
"That which you think, becomes your world" Matheson
I just finished reading UTD. It wasn't one of my favorites. I felt disconnected from the characters for the most part, maybe because there were so many. Regarding some of the technical issues like how the explosion could have wiped out the whole town, I didn't have too much of an issue with things like that, it's just a matter of suspending your disbelief enough so that it doesn't matter, and you just follow along with the story. Like some other comments here, I was disappointed that the town didn't get to see the truth about Rennie and what a monster he was. I would have liked to have seen him brought to justice, so that was a little dissatisfying. I too was surprised by how quickly the whole dome issue was wrapped up in the end. I kept expecting that there would be more of the story dedicated to the origin of the Dome, and fighting the forces that put it there.
One final comment, something I got out of the book was this. In some ways I saw the Dome as a metaphor for our repressed emotions and the fears we can impose upon ourselves, and how they can imprison us. Especially at the end where there's a line about wearing life and stepping out into it. And forgive me, but I can't remember the character's name right now, but the flashback to her childhood while she was pleading for the dome to be lifted, she had to reconnect with a painful childhood memory before the dome was lifted.
The Losers Club Podcast episodes on the novel:
i just started this for like the 10th time lol i never have gotten that far into it because it's so damn long and has so many characters but i'm trying yet again i'm listening to it this time with the audio book and reading along with it.
i'm only on page #65 now so i'm really at the very start of the book