The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7) [Audiobook, Unabridged] [Audio Cassette]

Stephen King (Author), George Guidall (Reader)

Book Description

Publication Date: September 21, 2004

FOR USE IN SCHOOLS AND LIBRARIES ONLY. The final installment in the epic series that began 33 years ago with The Gunslinger, completes the quest of Roland Deschain, who works to outmaneuver the increasingly desperate acts of his adversaries.

--This text refers to the Library Binding edition.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

At one point in this final book of the Dark Tower series, the character Stephen King (added to the plot in Song of Susannah) looks back at the preceding pages and says "when this last book is published, the readers are going to be just wild." And he's not kidding.

After a journey through seven books and over 20 years, King's Constant Readers finally have the conclusion they've been both eagerly awaiting and silently dreading. The tension in the Dark Tower series has built steadily from the beginning and, like in the best of King's novels, explodes into a violent, heart-tugging climax as Roland and his ka-tet finally near their goal. The body count in The Dark Tower is high. The gunslingers come out shooting and face a host of enemies, including low men, mutants, vampires, Roland's hideous quasi-offspring Mordred, and the fearsome Crimson King himself. King pushes the gross-out factor at times--Roland's lesson on tanning (no, not sun tanning) is brutal--but the magic of the series remains strong and readers will feel the pull of the Tower as strongly as ever as the story draws to a close. During this sentimental journey, King ties up loose ends left hanging from the 15 non-series novels and stories that are deeply entwined in the fabric of Mid-World through characters like Randall Flagg (The Stand and others) or Father Callahan ('Salem's Lot). When it finally arrives, the long awaited conclusion will leave King's myriad fans satisfied but wishing there were still more to come.

In King's memoir On Writing, he tells of an old woman who wrote him after reading the early books in the Dark Tower series. She was dying, she said, and didn't expect to see the end of Roland's quest. Could King tell her? Does he reach the Tower? Does he save it? Sadly, King said he did not know himself, that the story was creating itself as it went along. Wherever that woman is now (the clearing at the end of the path, perhaps?), let's hope she has a copy of The Dark Tower. Surely she would agree it's been worth the wait. --Benjamin Reese --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

From Publishers Weekly

A pilgrimage that began with one lone man's quest to save multiple worlds from chaos and destruction unfolds into a tale of epic proportions. While King saw some criticism for the slow pace of 1982's The Gunslinger, the book that launched this series, The Drawing of the Three (Book II, 1987), reeled in readers with its fantastical allure. And those who have faithfully journeyed alongside Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy ever since will find their loyalty toward the series' creator richly rewarded.The tangled web of the tower's multiple worlds has manifested itself in many of King's other works— The Stand (1978), Insomnia (1994) and Hearts in Atlantis (1999), to name a few. As one character explains here, "From the spring of 1970, when he typed the line The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed... very few of the things Stephen King wrote were 'just stories.' He may not believe that; we do." King, in fact, intertwines his own life story deeper and deeper into the tale of Roland and his surrogate family of gunslingers, and, in this final installment, playfully and seductively suggests that it might not be the author who drives the story, but rather the fictional characters that control the author.This philosophical exploration of free will and destiny may surprise those who have viewed King as a prolific pop-fiction dispenser. But a closer look at the brilliant complexity of his Dark Tower world should explain why this bestselling author has finally been recognized for his contribution to the contemporary literary canon. With the conclusion of this tale, ostensibly the last published work of his career, King has certainly reached the top of his game. And as for who or what resides at the top of the tower... The many readers dying to know will have to start at the beginning and work their way up. 12 color illus. by Michael Whelan.
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

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Product Details

• Audio Cassette
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster Audio; Unabridged edition (September 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743538102
• ISBN-13: 978-0743538107
• Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 4.2 x 2.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (793 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #481,879 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #4 in Books > Books on Cassette > Authors, A-Z > ( K ) > King, Stephen
  • #9 in Books > Books on Cassette > Horror
  • #10 in Books > Books on Cassette > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Fantasy

More About the Author

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was also a bestseller. He is the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters. He lives in Bangor, Maine, with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

122 of 155 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars One 'Constant Reader' to another... NO SPOILERS, February 16, 2006

By 

Roger FitzAlan "Aranarth" (Ithaca, NY) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7) (Paperback)

Technically this book is not low quality enough to merit one star, but if you've been with this series since Day One, and believe as I do that this book carries more with it than just itself as a story, to give it anything more than one star would understate the magnitude of its failure.
All of the problems with book six are extended and compounded here in book seven: the reliance on New York and Maine as settings for an adventure story that's supposed to be grander than any one time or place, the prominence of annoying and unwelcome new characters, King's overuse of unbelievable internal dialogue to cram exposition down our throats, his narcissistic inclusion of himself as an important element, (more on that later) and his lack of focus on any one element worth caring about. The bottom line is this: "The Dark Tower 7" is King at his laziest and least original, which is hard enough to sit through in his lower-quality stand-alone output, but shockingly unforgivable in what is supposed to be the center of all his literary creation (his words, not mine) and his bid for greatness in the eyes of posterity.
Perhaps writing the Dark Tower had become a burden not unlike the Tower quest itself. Unlike his character Roland, however, King jumps ship rather than stick it out. Consider the evidence: the books inexplicably marginalize Roland and the Quest the further they go. By contrast, pointless distractions and King himself (with a profound dislike for the burden of being author) appear and assume importance. Roland is relieved of many of his soul-testing responsibilities (sacrificing his friends, dealing with his foes) by cheap plot devices that cause them to disappear outside of any action of his-- even the Tower itself is made practically irrelevant by a series of contrived events and unimportant characters. Forgive me, but wasn't the great central tragedy of this series that he'd give up anything for the Quest, and has in the past? King spent quite a bit of books one, three, and almost all of four dealing with this-- why throw it out the window in the closing 300 pages?
In "Dark Tower 7" Roland sacrifices nothing-- he is LEFT BEHIND and made irrelevant; this is perhaps symbolic of what has happened to the Series on the whole. The final three books in this series have a lurching, breakneck pace and reach their end with all the subtlety of a dump truck hitting a brick wall. Is it coincidental that they were penned all at once, contrasting with the twenty or so years it took King to write the first four? Consider also the growing preoccupation with the Tower in his other works over the last few years. The overwhelming presence in the first four books was the slow decay of a many layered world, one like and yet unlike our own, with complex characters that were all just a little bit crazy from their own mental decay. In the final three books, this world gives way to the familiar rushing and business-like atmosphere of omnipresent New York. The characters we knew fade and are replaced by cardboard heroes or villains, doing what they have to do to bring the story to an end.
The Quest (and possibly King's concern for his own mortality) probably proved too much to bear and King wanted out. If so, that is his prerogative. I do not feel he owes me any duty to "finish the series right," although I can offer my opinion that it would have been better to leave it unfinished than to drop it off a literary skyscraper like he has. In a self-serving note at the end, King remarks that the problem with Constant Readers is that they never want to acknowledge that sooner or later they'll have to let go-- whether there's real closure or not, and that it's a tragic thing to be insistent on some kind of neatly resolved 'ending.' I would answer that he should have taken some of his own advice: in the rush to close and end this series he's given up its soul. Tragic, indeed, as the once-great "Dark Tower" books deserved better treatment than this. If you are (like I was) an enthusiastic reader of the series and began to smell a rat in places during Book Five, I advise you to stop and leave your impression of the books as intact as it can be. If you've already read book six and enjoyed it without any problems, you might want to continue. For everyone else: it only gets worse.

81 of 102 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Like an icepick to the temple..., September 20, 2005

By 

Jonathan C. Pike (Canton, MA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7) (Hardcover)

...this book will make you want to slam your fingers in a car door just to stop the pain in your head. After I finished this book I just sat and stared dumbly at a wall for 10 minutes thinking, "Arrr?" How could this be a Steven King book? And after the previous books in the series were so good! What happened? A few things that particularly bothered me (and probably you too (Spoiler warning):

1. Mordred: An entire book to build up this character. Nevermind the fact that he's kind of some cheesy spider-man weirdo. We'll accept it, because he's gonna have an epic battle with Roland that will span chapters and wow us all. Right? What's that? Roland shoots him by a campfire and he dies in 2 paragraphs, rendering his entire existence meaningless? Oh. Nevermind.

2. The Crimson King: Ok, so Mordred sucked. But the CK will be awesome! Some really big bad dude that Roland will have a tough time beating. Maybe Roland won't even win! I can't wait! Huh? The CK ends up being some crazy old guy hopping around on a balcony who throws hand grenades at Roland? No way. Steven wouldn't do that to us. CK is like the equivalent to Sauron, or Shai'Tan. He's much tougher than that. And what else? He is defeated by being PAINTED OUT OF EXISTENCE? What? I'll pretend I didn't hear that.

3. The epilogue: Alright so the villains really sucked. But at least the Dark Tower itself will rock! Can't wait for Roland to climb to the top and achieve his quest. Who knows what adventures he'll have inside? Oh wait. Before that, it's a message from Steven King. And he tells us not to expect a good ending. Huh. Gotta tell ya Stevey, that kind of bummed me out. And after the actual ending, King hits us with another dose of suck, telling us not to bother sending him letters about how much we hated the book. It's like his preemptive strike. He knew his book was awful, put no effort into the ending, so instead attacks the READER, and chides us for expecting a good ending! Not sure what's going on here, but man if it didn't make me hate King.

373 of 481 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Let's be honest here folks..., October 5, 2004

By 

Ethan D Van Vorst (Salisbury, NC USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Dark Tower (The Dark Tower, Book 7) (Hardcover)

I hate to admit this but the angry Constant Reader that King references in the last pages of his book, the one who doesn't like what he finds at the end of the quest and not to bother him with it...well, i guess that would be me.

I almost stopped reading when King said to. I really, truly almost stopped. It would have left me with insatiable curiousity though, and I think I'd have been curious how it all turned out till' my dying day. So with no more willpower than a wino guarding a liquor store, I trudged forth into the final pages of the book. And having finished it I will gladly share my thoughts with the whole shebang.

Here's that numbered list everyone hates, along with footnotes:

1. Flagg: Randall Flagg. Anyone who's read "The Stand" understands what a mean, nasty villain this guy is. To be frank I never got the idea that Flagg was entirely human. Sure, he *looks* human, but can change into a crow, can seemingly teleport, has a high innate knowledge of his surroundings. Tom Moon in "The Stand" indicates that he is known by many names, including Legion, when Jesus cast him into a herd of swine once. Flagg is something more than a simple man, something less than a demi-god. While it is nice to get a little more background info on him in this book I just have a really difficult time believing that he could be dispatched so easily, not to mention by *anyone* other than Roland, who was the one who was meant to kill him. His means of death was grotesque, and while debate will probably ensue on whether or not he got justice remains to be seen. Personally I thought it was horrific, even for him.

2. New York, Maine: I'm sick of it. I'm sick of both. What was great fun in "Drawing of the Three" and "The Wastelands" feels like covering the same old ground, over and over and over again. This whole business of jumping back and forth repeatedly grew so stale that I was tempted to just skip by it. I thought, in fact, that it hurt the story terribly that even though what seems like a dozen trips have been made there that one final trip to Maine had to be made to save King yet again. The Tet Corporation, while interesting, really brought nothing to the book. I didnt' really know these people and the gifts they gave Roland were, shall we say, lame? A book which he quickly gives away (huh?), a watch that will stop working when he goes near the Dark Tower (um...huh?) and I can't even remember what else. It was beginning to feel more like an episode of "Sliders" rather than the Dark Tower series. A really boring episode. Nuff' said.

3. The Crimson King: Granted, he's crazy. But the ruler and almost victor of the battle of the Dark Tower should be more than a doddering old fool throwing hand grenades. He was made such short work of (by the unforgivingly convenient Patrick) that it felt like a rush job.

4. Mordred. I'll grant that while he was an interesting sub-plot idea this guy was just put down alarmingly too easy. The entire fight lasts 3 paragraphs (small ones at that), and this after an entire book filled with tension buildup.

5. The Dark Tower: Exactly how I pictured the outside. Not at all how I thought it would be inside. Now after having read "Insomnia" my imaginings brought me to believe that the Tower itself was an inhabited structure with several levels, each level containing more and more sophisticated and/or powerful creatures as you reached the top. Now it's possible that all it is is a representation of the major events of the life of whoever enters it. I would have liked to see Roland receive redemption at the end. A nice "Well done, Gunslinger...be at rest" from God or Gan or whomever. Instead...well...it broke my heart. An intesting ending, very original, but not one I agree with for one of my favorite story characters. He deserved better. Sue me if you don't agree.

6. Miscellany: The book had so many loose ends to tie up, so many uber-villains to kill, so much plot to sew up, so many mysteries to unravel, that I just cannot see how this could have been done with a clear conscience. I understand Mr. King wanted the books to be done, and I don't blame him. They're his "Opus Magnus" as he calls it, but it being that it should at least be as neat as the first four books of the series. The last 3 books, but this one in particular, feel rushed. Hurried. Please don't get me wrong, in places this book is wonderful (Blue Heaven, the Breakers, Empathico, the last leg to the Dark Tower, etc) and had me almost crying with several deaths. These were my friends, they'd become something real to me, and to have the book feel so rushed is almost...shall I say...sacrilege? I'm sorry...I'd have rather waited 5 years between installments for a better ending than this offered.

King was in the book *too much*, making me wonder if he's got a narscissitic streak. What was done good in Song of Susannah just doesn't have the same cohesion in this book. NYC possibly being the Lud of the past really flummoxed me. Susannah's "reunion" with Eddie and Jake at the end felt like a terrible cop out. I cannot believe for a minute that Susannah would do such a thing with anyone other than *her own* Eddie, and nice as it was to see her happy at the end it just felt poorly thought out. Where were "Travellin' Jack" Sawyer and Parkus of "The Talisman" and "Black House" fame? These were characters I fully expected to see and when they didn't show I wondered why all the hooplah from "Black House". Sheemie being there shocked me, but his untimely death and total non-reaction to that death by Roland left me stunned. Why no more flashbacks? What happened to Alain and Jamie DeCurry? So many unanswered questions.

The book itself is written well enough. I couldn't put it down until the very end. Knowing now what I didn't know before though prevents me from wanting to read the series again. I'm sorry Steve, it kills me to say it, but this hurts, man. I'm certain that many will argue this in an "Emperor's New Clothes" manner, debating on the genius of the last 3 books and about how only Lit majors and NY Times book reviewers are the only ones smart enough to understand and agree with it. So be it. Between the hasty writing style and continuity problems I'm sorry to say their arguments are without merit. The bottom line is now that no matter how good the first half of the series is that now I cannot recommend this series to anyone because of the last 3 books alone, and certainly the ending. Let the buyer beware.