The Dark Tower series - can't stop reading

[IWouldIfICouldButICant]

I read The Gunslinger a while back, and didn't feel motivated to carry on, though I love Stephen King. Then I picked up the next one on a whim at the airport and am hooked. I've just finished Wizard and Glass and am dreading getting to the end. I say that as a complete non-fantasy fan, too. But there is no one I know who wouldn't think I was crazy - I've tried to persuade people who like similar books to give it a go, and they all say "Stephen King? Fantasy? No thank you...". Was hoping to find some like minded people here!

[HoundoftheBaskervilles]

Agreed Remus, it seems a strange choice.

[ClashCityRocker]

The more I'm reading about the dark tower movie the more I'm getting irrationally cross

Apparently they're going to start in the middle of the story and it will be set 'mostly in our world'.

I can understand skipping parts of 'The Gunslinger' - I suspect all the desert-dweller and Tull bit could be dispatched with or cut down, but surely the thing with Jake (don't want to spoil it!) and this interaction with Roland's morals and sense of self is pretty key to the whole series.

Plus the end bit is pretty damn important too.

And it really sets the scene.

I could see maybe combining the gunslinger and the drawing of the three into one movie...there seems to be a bit much running back and forward on the beach.

But speculation seems to be that they will start with the wasteland...I just don't know how character's interactions will make sense without the backstory.

But, I shall reserve judgement....

They've also announced an actress playing Tirana as a 'major role'.

Who the hell is Tirana?

[Grifone]

I started reading the Gunslinger years ago and put the paperback down somewhere and lost it. I never replaced it so I never got to finish it. I have bought the first three books on kindle as the series is one if my reading objectives for the year. Looking forward to them even more now after thus thread

[WhattaMunter]

I'm still grieving the loss of Sir Terry P and his Discworld series. I read the last one in February and I'm at a true loss as to what to read.

Would I like these books do you think? What do I start with?

[ImaginaryCat]

I was lucky to read the whole series in one hit (and it really was like a drug hit... I missed several post grad lectures when I couldn't tear myself away!) once it was finished. I can't imagine the trauma of waiting for SK to recover from a near death experience before the rest could be completed, although I feel I'm coming close with GRRM!
Anyway I'm glad it's finally been released from whichever studio exec's drawer it's been locked in and am willing to give Idris my backing if only to avoid any disputes which cause it to go back in that drawer!

[HoundoftheBaskervilles]

Ugh, have just been reading about the film adaptation, much as I love the books I may have to give it swerve as I suspect I may die from the RAGE.

[Thurlow]

I absolutely adore the Dark Tower. I like King, I'll read his other stuff, but DT is, as someone else says, begotten rather than created. It's just amazing.

The Drawing of the Three was always my favourite. Sometimes when I have an hour or two to kill I'll just read the end of that one again - I love Roland in The Pusher's body, haring around New York and causing chaos. But I always liked Eddie; Susannah not so much.

Roland is very much a true fictional crush, isn't he?

Loved The Wolves of Calla too, but Song of Susannah can just sod off. I can't imagine how angry I'd have been if I'd been reading them as they were published, and waited for... that.

The film is worrying me immensely. Idris Elba is not quite right and, while it feels wrong to say it, I do think it will change Susannah's story (even when she is Susannah, there is still a strong element of seeing herself as a strong black woman as opposed to these two white men) in quite a few ways. Plus the story is just too big, they'll end up bodging it no matter how hard they try.

[HoundoftheBaskervilles]

Well Thurlow, in the director's words;

'I'm unbelievably proud of it as a collaborator on this enterprise and because I think that he's a great actor and I couldn't be more thrilled that he is likely to play a part... I understand that people who are thoughtful about the storytelling and the racial politics of the storytelling might want to understand how that informs that storytelling, and I respect that and I hear that, and those things are not things we didn't think about or don't think about. The racist assholes should go fuck themselves.

So we're all racist arseholes apparently, because acknowledging that the racial element is a huge part of the dynamic between Susanna and Roland makes you a MASSIVE RACIST.

Hmmmm.

(And yes Roland is a fictional crush par excellence).

[Thurlow]

Blimey, I'm all for colourblind casting and if there wasn't a racial element between Susannah and Roland then it wouldn't have crossed my mind that IE is the "wrong" colour. But they could at least admit that they need to do some radical rewriting in at least one if not more sections! (I'm thinking mostly Detta and her honkys )

[HoundoftheBaskervilles]

May be irrelevant anyway as the female lead is not Susanna at all but a minor character from book seven called Tirana.

So fuck knows what they're doing there, it would seem that taking a very strong black female character and sidelining her is apparently not racist.

I suspect there will be a lot of angry fans. I really don't think I'm going to watch it (actually, I probably will, but in a shouting at the screen fashion).

No mention of Eddie either.

[Thurlow]

I'm hoping the 'no mention' means they just haven't cast them yet. The Tirana thing has to be bullshit - they might have made her part bigger but they can't replace Susannah. Plus I've read the series 3 times and I can't remember anyone called Tirana?

I wouldn't mind if someone said, you know what, the DT is just too long and complicated to film but Roland Deschain is a fantastic character, so we're just going to make a film about him at a different stage in his life.

[ClashCityRocker]

I couldn't remember Tirana, she apparently has a couple of lines in the Dixie pig in Song of Susannah.

I appreciate the series will need tweaks to make it work on the big screen, but it sounds like they're not even attempting to capture the 'feeling' of it all.

I am slightly concerned by no casting news re Eddie and Susannah - a British youngster will be playing Jake, apparently.

I suspect Randall Flagg will have a much bigger role than in the books - I mean, I know he has a big role in the books, but a lot of it is behind the scenes so to speak...his actual 'on camera' time in the books is quite small.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

I have no recollection at all of Tirana, and think I've read the whole series 7 times now.

I don't think I'll bother with the film. The 'racist assholes' thing has made me really cross. Roland has blue eyes - the end. Idiot asshole director, more like.

[Thurlow]

It's just such the wrong response, isn't it? Instead of saying "we've read the books too and while we understand some people have questions, we're confident that Idris is the right actor and that this is more important than changing a few storylines", or "we're aware of the storylines this might affect and they'll be addressed", they just say racist arseholes?

It's not on the same level as casting a white Othello, but it's the first example that comes to mind. You could have a white Othello and a black Iago, that could be interesting. But if you had a white Othello and a white Iago you should surely address how you're going to approach this.

There really is stuff in the DT series about race, so they could at least acknowledge that.

[RemusLupinsBiggestGroupie]

And tbh Stephen King films (other than Misery, Carrie, The Dead Zone & Shawhank Redemption) have form for being shite anyway, so we'll probably not be missing much if we don't see it.

[ClashCityRocker]

I'm inclined to agree, Remus.

I don't think it's going to bear any resemblance to the books. It's a shame because with the right cast and right budget it would be a cracking film series.

whattamunter I love TP too...although obviously quite stylistically different to the dark tower! The first book, 'The Gunslinger' is quite short, and is (I find) quite different in tone to the rest of the series but does give a lot of context for the rest of it. It really gets going in the second book and then doesn't stop!

Although I must say I really do like The Gunslinger a lot more having read the rest of them.

[Thurlow]

I find The Gunslinger much more powerful and haunting now I know Roland well.

[Hygge]

Whatta it's not really like the Discworld. You might like it anyway, but not if you're wanting the comedy of STP.

Have you tried any of Tom Holt's books? I don't think you need to read them in order, and from what I can remember I enjoyed Overtime, Flying Dutch, Ye Gods, Who's Afraid of Beowulf, and Here Comes The Sun.

I'm thinking I might not bother with the DT film. Whoever said we need to invite time travel so a younger Clint Eastwood could play Roland is right, and I'm not convinced I can sit through the film without picking over everything that's 'wrong' with it, meaning it's not exactly as I imagined it all in my head.

Are they still doing a remake of IT as well? Because I'm not sure I can cope with Pennywise not being Tim Curry either.

[ClashCityRocker]

Yes thurlow, you put it much better than me.

And hygge I'm coming to the same conclusion re the film. I might just let Roland and co live on unblemished in my imagination.

[PepeLePew]

Coming back to this, having just finished The Dark Tower (and slightly to see I only started Wolves of the Calla at the start of April. There is a lot I haven't done because I've been reading and reading and reading.

But wow. I thought that was the most perfect of all endings, and the only one that would have made any sense. The only time I felt this way before about finishing a book was at the end of The Stand. And although there were bits of all the books that I could have done without out (whoever mentioned the whole Mia thing going on too long was so right) I think it was extraordinary.

I think I might have to start another thread called "Read The Dark Tower series! Read it!"