Dark Tower: Wizard and Glass

Greetings, Wizard and Glass is the fourth novel in Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. It continues on directly from the previous book, the Wastelands, and follows the small group of adventures who seek the Dark Tower in order to discover why the planets as well as time itself are crumbling. Wizard and Glass is easy to read but is different from the other novels as it focuses on its main character, a gunslinger named Roland when he was young. Gunslingers are an otherworldly type of knight with cowboy characteristics. The other main characters appeared in the story but didn’t have a major role apart from being involved in the beginning and the end of the book.

In terms of plot, the five heroes attempt to escape from their captor, Blaine the Mono, a highly intelligent and crazed train with a desire to outsmart his enemies with riddles. Eddie, one of the five, provides a joke that can’t be answered which causes Blaine to self-destruct due to his anger at being tricked. I know that is incredibly strange but it has been insane for a while and I get the feeling it will get weirder as time progresses. Nonetheless, the five discover that Blaine had brought them closer to the Dark Tower and into a land that resembles Kansas but is in fact a different world. A plague has killed all inhabitants and to pass the time one night Roland tells his companions his story about the girl he loved as well as what had happened between them.

Roland, a young teenager at this time at the age of fifteen was sent to a small land for safety with two of his friends, Alain and Cuthbert by all of their worried fathers.  They were ordered to evacuate their homes as war was about to commence between two rival factions, the Good Man also known as John Farson who claimed to establish democracy,  and the government or Affiliation  to which Roland pledged his allegiance. However during their time at the supposed loyal town, they discover a conspiracy that would destroy the Affiliation while helping the Good Man take control of the world. Roland also becomes trapped in an intimate situation with a woman named Susan who was bargained off to the old Mayor. This may not seem significant but it turns out to be an important plot strand that will have ramifications later on.

While it is a good novel, I get the impression that King won’t be able to answer the questions that revolve around the series. There certainly won’t be a sane or plausible conclusion the rate the adventure is going. I am still enjoying it after reading four of the seven books and hope that it continues its high quality plot and interesting characters, no matter how strange it gets. The ninth episode of the fourth series of the Adventures of Fletch and Roman is up at Warehouse 17.

Plot=8/10

Characters=9/10

Wording=8/10

Overall=8/10

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Give me that thing! Demolition runs in the family...

John Abruzzi

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