/lit/ - Literature

his other (earlier) books feel a lot less contrived. He's pretty good at writing normal, relatable characters - which only really applies to one character in the dark tower series, and he doesn't show up until book 2

>>5023993
It's not so much the way he writes the characters, but how he describes things and the metaphors he uses. It has made me literally roll my eyes at times or say "oh my god" out loud.

Its not high literature, its a Steven King book. Its written for high school freshmen

>>5024018
Stephen*

>>5024018
I didn't expect high literature, but this is just kind of dumb.

>>5023977
Book one is weird. He took a long break between that and book 2. It really picks up around there and is fun if you let yourself get into it. Book 6 is lame, and the very ending is a bit lackluster in my opinion, but I enjoyed it as a whole.

Dark Tower is total garbage. It starts off with King thinking, "you know what's cool? The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly; also The Lord of the Rings" while understanding absolutely nothing about either work. And it only goes downhill from there.

King is occasionally a serviceable writer, but he has never written a non-horror book that was even close to readable. Dark Tower is an unbelievably awful series, you haven't even gotten CLOSE to the bad parts. Stop reading it.

That is actually the best one in the series, OP. Yes, the series is that bad.

Did you read the original one or the shitty revised one?

>>5024096
> while understanding absolutely nothing about either work.
Every time someone says anything like this I get paranoid that my understanding of the work is dead wrong. What does he get wrong?

>>5026260
>>5024096

I'm a different poster, but for that matter how do you even define "understanding" a book?

I love to read and I've read Lord of the Rings twice now but if someone said "Did you understand Lord of the Rings?" I don't know what I would say.

I understood it quite well I guess but how do I explain it to you?

>>5026240

Dead wrong motherfucker. Books 2 and 3 are far superior in every way.

>>5026996

samefag here

I dropped the series at book 5 cause of the drastic slap in the face change in style. I just couldn't get over it.

That being said, I actually enjoyed the previous books for what they were.

>>5023977
Man, you haven't even gotten to the horrible author self-insert yet.
It's not even subtle

>>5023977
>Does this series ever stop being pretentious, contrived, fill-in-the-blanks fantasy bullshit?
on the very last page, yes, yes it does.

>>5027023
How? You just mean by ending?

>>5027023
IT WAS ALL A DREEEEEEAAAAM

>>5027736
Welp. I just read that. Is the series finished?

>>5027745
Dude I put it in spoiler tags. Dude.

>>5027766
Yeah, I'm so used to those being a joke...

>>5027770

But it was a joke. It wasn't all a dream, the real ending is far, far more cruel to the reader than that.

>>5027868
It leaves it on a cliffhanger? Because I remember hearing Drawing of the Three picks up just a few hours after the end of the Gunslinger.

>It leaves it on a cliffhanger?

Not exactly. I really can't say more without spoiling it, sorry.

>>5027940
Shit, I just started reading the Gunslinger and I can already tell it's not going to be a pleasant read. At first I thought it was going to be something like Blood Meridian as told by Stephen King (even though this came out long before BM), but then Tull happened. Now I'm slogging through it, hoping something happens soon.

>>5027966

Why do I get the feeling that I've been talking about the ending of the whole series while you were talking about the ending of The Gunslinger?

>>5027975
'Cause I was. Talk about a failure of communication.

>>5027987

Well then...all the books end pretty normally, except the last one.

That ending is so rage inducing that King wrote a fake ending first, and then there are some blank pages and then a note by King saying "the real ending is what follows, but you don't want to read it. Don't say I didn't warn you." or something to that effect.

>>5028001
Ah. So the laser swords in book 6 aren't as stupid as I've heard some people claim them to be?

Or do books 5, 6 and 7 fall into the same trap the rest of King's fiction has been falling into since the 90's?

>>5028010

>>5028010

There is a noticeable drop in quality after book 4 but by that point you're so invested in the story and the character that you probably won't even care, or at least I didn't.

Some things are pretty silly, like the laser swords you mentioned. Although they do make sense in-universe.

Overall I liked the series and even the ending. A lot of people were mad at King though, he received death threats for years afterward.

I've read 100 pages each of three different King books and they were all cheesy as shit. As a kid I was lead to believe he was a great writer by both of my parents and one of my friends. When I became 16 I realized they all had bad taste.

>>5027022
This so much.

I hated the series from the second half of Book 5 to the very end (that place in the snow in the last book was kinda cool, though).

>>5028019
>death threads

Now I see how Steve-o could write Misery so easily.

The Gunslinger is the only good book in the series. It's a moody fantasy western that sets up a clear goal in the opening line then follows through on it, even if it's done with King's usual awfulness.

The next book or so is some awful retconning as King pretends the thing is means to be a big series and his idea of fantasy is a big bunch of deus ex machinas that get people in and out of trouble. His characterisation of Roland totally changes and the characters he brings along are awful, with Detta existing to do the worst ebonics this side of Wardine be cry.

Book four is a pointless flashback that goes on longer than any of the actual story and then when they reach the Wizard of Oz, the lol so randumbness of the world becomes self-aware with the appearance of Stephen King himself.

the series rambles on as if it doesn't know what to do with itself until it gets to the final instalment which, if you view the series like one big book, is entirely a Stephen King ending.

I haven't read the latest one because it wasn't part of the box set, which is definitely the worst Christmas present I've ever received but I don't know why anybody would care enough to read it after thousands of pages of shit.

>>5023977
Can we all agree to just stop talking about Stephen King? The dude is a total hack. Read something worth your time.

>King
>pretensious

how many books have you read

>>5029118
Have you ever read Hearts in Atlantis? That's about as pretentious as a book can get.

>>5023977
The style of the first one is way different feeling IMO. It just reads differently than the rest of the series. I really didn't like the first one all that well until the mine with the slow mutants since that's just straight-up fucking horror. Drawing of the 3 and The Wastelands are awesome though. Honestly, after those two, the style changes again and just...I don't know how to feel about them. They're far from my favorite Stephen King books. Wizard and Glass is one big flashback, and I enjoyed it, but the series as a whole is not the greatest thing. I mean, I enjoyed it, but Drawing and Wastelands are better than any of the other entries. Wastelands especially.

I wouldn't recommend starting King with The Dark Tower though. Firestarter is actually my favorite of any of his stuff, followed by IT and The Tommyknockers. All three are better than any of the Dark Tower entries besides maybe Wastelands.

>>5027926
no, there isn't a cliff hanger

>>5028363
Worse than socks?!

>>5026873

> "Did you understand Lord of the Rings?"

You shouldn't worry about things like this. People will latch on to certain aspects of large stories and claim that they have found a true meaning in the book.

>>5027736

No it wasn't

>>5028001

See everybody gives King shit for the ending to the Dark Tower but I think it's clever for him if you relate Rolands desires to your own

Roland will only get his redemption if you, the reader, allow him by not giving in to your own desire to climb the tower

>>5030625
>implying time loops aren't the "It was all a dream after all" of sci-fi

>>5028363

Wind through the keyhole, the actual story is better than the rest of the Series except for the first book

>>5030637

It's not really a time loop, more of a time coil

I've tried three times, can't get past Wolves of the Calla.

The Dark Tower novels wouldn't have been published if King wasn't already famous. It's clear he had fun writing it, but it's just spotty reading.

>>5023977
His short stories are his best work. Skip the self-indulgent magnum opus, try one of his collections.

>>5030711

>Cant get past the Wolves of the Calla

So you already read 4 books but that killed it for you?

>>5030716

Which one? He has a few collections.

I think the Bachman stuff is his best, especially the Long Walk

>>5030736
Yeah. The first three are almost perfect. The fourth is manageable, and the fifth is pure boredom.

>>5030750

Skeleton Crew