Book Review: The Drawing of the Three: Dark Tower Book II

I know I'm a little late to the plate here on this series, but I've been reading through a ton of books lately and have just struggled through book after book of mediocrity. I'm not sure if it the fact that I'm a compulsive book buyer and will purchase a book simply by how appealing the cover seems (insert pun here) or if nothing that great has come out recently or if I'm simply a spoiled reader who has had too much of the good stuff, regardless I decided to dive into this series a few months ago. I'm a relatively avid reader and hate putting a book down after I've started it which is exactly what I struggled with in The Gunslinger, the first installment of King's Dark Tower epic.

Here, King threw you into a world with no explanations, no rules, no introduction, not even a back cover with some guidance. It took a few tries, but I finally got through it and had almost no idea what happened.

It was with this that I delved into Book II: Drawing of the Three.

It was instantly obvious to me that King had matured some since writing The Gunslinger. Things began to make sense, the plot began to connect, and despite the roller coaster the book takes you through, it all made sense (in a Sci Fi, Stephen King sort of way). Much of what happened in the first book was brought into focus and the reader began to really see into Roland the Gunslinger. Love him or hate him, you have to admit that he is a bad ass, and I wish to hell he could be played by a young Clint Eastwood in the upcoming movie series/tv series that is coming out I believe this year. Anyways, we finally begin to understand Roland and are introduced to Eddie and Odetta. Personally, I was attracted to neither character off the bat, and though Eddie was quite the piece of shit and particularly annoying. King however maneuvers around this with both characters leaving the reader rooting for the success of these "Three" into the future installments.

I especially enjoyed King's interpretation of his characters reactions to their minds being invaded by Roland. I struggled to put the book down as he recounted Roland's entrance into Eddie's mind. Personally, I would probably have reacted quite different, but regardless, I found his telling of it riveting.

Overall, I enjoyed this book more than any other book I have read in the past few months, which included John Le Carre's Our Kind of Traitor, Andy Remic's BioHell and Kell's Legend, as well as a few others.


Final Score: 9/10

what am i supposed to do here....

Blogging has been something that has been going on for years now, and I've always dabbled in the possibility in creating one, but always wondered, what's the point. Therefore, I decided to avoid that question entirely and simply use this as a space for my opinion on the stuff that is relevant in my life, regardless of how it applies to anyone else.

Largely, this will be my thought on the stuff I find interesting. Books, movies, current events, and the random video game or other media source thrown in.

Hope you enjoy.