Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance [Paperback]

Robin Furth (Author), Stephen King (Introduction)

Book Description

Publication Date: December 5, 2006

The Dark Tower is the backbone of Stephen King's legendary career. Begun more than thirty years ago, seven books and more than three thousand pages make up this bestselling, epic fantasy series. Previously published in two separate volumes, The Complete Concordance is the definitive encyclopedic reference book that provides readers with everything they need to navigate their way through the series. With hundreds of characters, Mid-World geography, High Speech lexicon, and extensive cross-references, this comprehensive handbook is essential for any Dark Tower fan.

• Characters and Genealogies
• Magical Objects and Forces
• Mid-World and Our World Places
• Portals and Magical Places
• Mid-, End-, and Our World Maps
• Timeline for the Dark Tower Series
• Mid-World Dialects
• Mid-World Rhymes, Songs, and Prayers
• Political and Cultural References
• References to Stephen King's Other Work

Editorial Reviews

Review

"[An] invaluable aid whenever you want to puzzle out all of the references . . . or find a refresher course on who's good and who's evil." -- The New York Times

"I found this overview of In-World, Mid-World, and End-World both entertaining and invaluable. So, I am convinced, will you." -- From the foreword by Stephen King

"Furth's concordance anticipates -- and answers -- virtually every question the Constant Reader might come up with." -- Locus

About the Author

Robin Furth was born and raised in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania. While enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Maine, she was introduced to Stephen King, who needed a research assistant. She has been working with King for more than five years and is now busy writing story lines and folktales for Marvel's forthcoming Dark Tower comic book series. She divides her time between Maine, the south of England, and Mid-World.

Stephen King is the author of more than fifty books, all of them worldwide bestsellers. Among his most recent are Full Dark No Stars, Blockade Billy, Under the Dome, Just After Sunset, the Dark Tower novels, Cell, From a Buick 8, Everything's Eventual, Hearts in Atlantis, The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon, Lisey's Story and Bag of Bones. His acclaimed nonfiction book, On Writing, was recently re-released in a tenth anniversary edition. King was the recipient of the 2003 National Book Foundation Medal for Distinguished Contribution to American Letters, and in 2007 he was inducted as a Grand Master of the Mystery Writers of America.  He lives in Maine with his wife, novelist Tabitha King.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 640 pages
• Publisher: Scribner; Original edition (December 5, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0743297342
• ISBN-13: 978-0743297349
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 5.9 x 1.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.7 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.9 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (10 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #69,067 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #41 in Books > Science Fiction & Fantasy > Science Fiction > History & Criticism
  • #61 in Books > Literature & Fiction > Books & Reading > Reference

More About the Author

Robin Furth was born and raised in Philadelphia and attended the University of Pennsylvania. While enrolled in the Ph.D. program at the University of Maine, she was introduced to Stephen King, who needed a research assistant. She has been working with King for more than five years and is now busy writing story lines and folktales for Marvel's forthcoming Dark Tower comic book series. She divides her time between Maine, the south of England, and Mid-World.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

56 of 57 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars The journey of Roland, June 21, 2007

By 

E. A Solinas "ea_solinas" (MD USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance (Paperback)

Apparently being a personal assistant to Stephen King has certain perks, especially when you're writing a concordance to his bestselling Dark Tower series, both volumes of which are contained in "The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance." Robin Furth doesn't outline much that isn't also in the book, but she does an excellent job outlining the information about King's entire series.

Furth includes plenty of data on the seven novels of the series, starting with an essay that refreshes the reader's memory. Furth starts the actual content with a list of characters with biographical info, from "Abigail" to "Zoltan." Then it's the areas of Mid-World, from the lair of the vampire nuns to Roland's long-lost homeland; the areas of our own world, and portals between the worlds. There are some pretty decent maps as well.

Additionally, she describes the various terms and phrases used in the High Speech, Mid-World language ("graf" is apple beer), prayers and sayings ("If it's ka, it will come like the wind"). And just for reference, she includes organizations, dances, holidays, magical items, instruments, as well as outlining various maps, as well as cultural items from our present world, and maps. Not to mention references to King's own work within the series.

The Dark Tower series -- which stretches through seven long novels and one short story -- is enticingly complex and mysterious, set in different worlds and times. It's also interlinked with other novels of King's, like "Insomnia" and "Eyes of the Dragon." So it's inevitable that even the die-hard fans will forget Character X or fair-day Z -- yet Furth's book allows easy clarification and consultation.

Furth does an excellent job organizing and annotating the book, including the books in which the items appear, and which pages are significant. She also maintains a calmly distant attitude in the book, without getting too gushy about King's work. But she does slip up occasionally; it's jarring to hear about "screwing" someone with a gun in a scholarly work.

Robin Furth's "Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance" is a good accompaniment to the Dark Tower series, and even those who have read the series many times will want to keep it at hand. Very useful.

18 of 21 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Well honed reference guide., April 10, 2007

By 

J. Bauer "maggotss" (FL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance (Paperback)

A concordance, by definition, is an alphabetical index of the principal words of a book, as of the Bible, with a reference to the passage in which each occurs. This does a most excellent job of doing so. Well studied! I almost wish I'd waited for it to come out before reading the series. A must have for all Tower geeks.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Get all the Info Here, April 24, 2007

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Brian Swane (Montgomery, IL USA) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: Stephen King's The Dark Tower: The Complete Concordance (Paperback)

I don't really want to get into this that much because what is there to say besides that if you have a Dark Tower question--you're going to find the answer in here.

This has everything...maps, family lineage charts, every character even hinted at, and every possible setting and/or situation in the seven books.