My Dark Tower

Several years ago - I can't remember how many, perhaps three or four, but it doesn't matter - my daughter gave me for my birthday a copy of Stephen King's The Dark Tower, volume VII. When I asked her why she had bought that book, she told me 'because I know you like big books'. She was very young - perhaps ten years old or slightly less - and only had in mind giving her daddy a gift he would like. How would she know the journey that gift would set me upon?

I did not read the book immediately, but put it away. From time to time, when looking for something to read, I would take it out, but it didn't feel like the right choice, so I put it back. I was curious, but not curious enough. Then in the early days of 2011 I picked it up and decided to read it. Almost as quickly I realized I could not begin with the final volume of a seven-volume set. I happened to have an iPad with the Kindle app, so I used it to download the first volume in the series, The Gunslinger. Over the months that I moved through each volume, I traveled frequently, and would not have brought paper copies with me - they are just too heavy. That I finished the series so quickly is due entirely to having each volume on my iPad.

I was not consumed by the book, but I was pulled in. The first volume spun a wonderful tale and I proceeded to read through all seven volumes. I read them all on the iPad with the exception of volume VII. When the time came, I pulled that wonderfully large tome, with the marvelous and mysterious cover illustration, from my closet.

The Dark Tower series is wonderful, for so many reasons. The story is compelling and seemingly endless in plot twists. The characters are unforgettable. I especially like the notion of the ka-tet, the family formed between the main characters. It was such a compelling element that I cried in volume VII when the ka-tet began to fall apart.

While the Dark Tower series is a mixture of fantasy, science fantasy, western, and horror, in the end it is just about human beings. I see Dark Tower in all the everyday things that go on in my world. That's probably why I like the series so much. Dark Tower is probably not for everyone, but if you lie the first volume, as I did, you'll probably be pulled in. Thanks, Mr. King, for this wonderful tale. And thank you, Nadia!