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If the size of the novel puts you off, this comic adaptation is a fine substitute, since all the important events have been added and the characters are just like they are described in the novel (I was especially excited about Randall after the miniseries fiasco). The art is a hit or miss, but overall it's worthy of King's world. Things will get violent, but if you can handle the gas station scene, you'll be absolutely fine.
"If we don't have each other, we go crazy with loneliness. When we do, we go crazy with togetherness."
A strain of a highly contagious super-flu is let into the wild, kills most of the world's population, and the surviv...
Oh.
When I finished The Stand over a year ago, I didn't think we would be in this current situation when I'd finally have the motivation to write down my thoughts. The uncut version is about 300 pages longer (altogether over 1300 pages in my Hodder edition), but I never felt like it was too much. The civilization is torn up, shuffled, and re-arranged. There are people who thrive on chaos, people who try to do the right thing despite feeling doubt, and people who let their weaknesses eat them alive. In the midst of all that is one of the most fascinating and eerie villains ever created: the God-like Dark Man:
"[H]is was the face you could never quite see, his the hands which dealt all spades from a dead deck, his the eyes beyond the flames, his the grin from beyond the grave of the world."
As I suspected, although the novel got the honor to be selected into the elusive five star team, the miniseries was not as successful. I appreciate the use of Blue Öyster Cult and the Americana feel, but the casting is just bizarre. If the new adaptation ever gets off the ground beyond the failed pilot and is worse than the 1994 one, I'm going to revolt.
The Dark Tower Project
"Night Surf" from Night Shift (1978)
The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition (1990)
The Eyes of the Dragon (1987)
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (2003 Revised Edition)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
"Little Sisters of Eluria" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
"Jerusalem's Lot" from Night Shift (1978)
Salem's Lot (1975)
"One for the Road" from Night Shift (1978)
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
Insomnia (1994)
Black House (2001) (sequel to The Talisman)
"Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis (1999)
"Everything's Eventual" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
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Re-read 3.1.2025
(No change in rating.)
Believing in bliss and sweetness as long as it's possible, hoping that mothers can fix everything, dancing with strangers and eating marmalade sandwiches in the face of doom, and thinking how impossible it would be to live without forests, sea, wind, sunshine, grass, and moss.
Starting my year with an apocalyptic mood. An Earth-nuking apocalypse is pretty much the worst thing that could make my 2025 more horrible than 2024.
Re-read 2.4.2020
(No change in rating.)
15.6.2014
Like so many Finnish children of a certain generation, I grew up watching the Moomins tv-series (there are still reruns every once in a while, and the magic has never faded) and visited Moomin World. Now, to honor Tove Jansson's centenary, I started a project of reading all her Moomin books. Maybe the rest of her body of work as well, if I have the time or enthusiasm.
When the 1992 animated movie premiered in Finland, my mom took me to see it. The part where Muskrat sits on the cake was funny, but mostly the oppressive mood stayed with me. I don't remember the happy ending, but I do remember the part where creatures big and small were hurrying away from Moominvalley with all their possessions, the frantic search for the kitten, and the red sky that reminded of the impending doom.
The book is very similar to the movie with minor differences (the change of the chump Silk Monkey into a kitten worked better in my opinion), and has echoes of nuclear explosions and their scorching power to destroy everything. Everyone in the valley has their way of surviving in the middle of an increasing dread of an uncertain future. Moominmamma just keeps going with her chores and bakes a cake, but Moomintroll and Sniff travel to the Observatory of the Lonely Mountains to find out more about the approaching comet. On their journey they meet other familiar characters who join the Moomin family.
The contrast between them all works great (Sniff is a selfish whiner, the fickle Snork Maiden is vain and loves beautiful things, and the practical Snork is obsessed about details and having meetings about everything). There's a little of them in all of us. Snufkin is my favorite, and here we meet him for the first time. He sees beauty even in the starkest of sceneries and proves to be a great asset to the group with his experience in adventures.
(No change in rating.)
Believing in bliss and sweetness as long as it's possible, hoping that mothers can fix everything, dancing with strangers and eating marmalade sandwiches in the face of doom, and thinking how impossible it would be to live without forests, sea, wind, sunshine, grass, and moss.
Starting my year with an apocalyptic mood. An Earth-nuking apocalypse is pretty much the worst thing that could make my 2025 more horrible than 2024.
Re-read 2.4.2020
(No change in rating.)
15.6.2014
Like so many Finnish children of a certain generation, I grew up watching the Moomins tv-series (there are still reruns every once in a while, and the magic has never faded) and visited Moomin World. Now, to honor Tove Jansson's centenary, I started a project of reading all her Moomin books. Maybe the rest of her body of work as well, if I have the time or enthusiasm.
When the 1992 animated movie premiered in Finland, my mom took me to see it. The part where Muskrat sits on the cake was funny, but mostly the oppressive mood stayed with me. I don't remember the happy ending, but I do remember the part where creatures big and small were hurrying away from Moominvalley with all their possessions, the frantic search for the kitten, and the red sky that reminded of the impending doom.
The book is very similar to the movie with minor differences (the change of the chump Silk Monkey into a kitten worked better in my opinion), and has echoes of nuclear explosions and their scorching power to destroy everything. Everyone in the valley has their way of surviving in the middle of an increasing dread of an uncertain future. Moominmamma just keeps going with her chores and bakes a cake, but Moomintroll and Sniff travel to the Observatory of the Lonely Mountains to find out more about the approaching comet. On their journey they meet other familiar characters who join the Moomin family.
The contrast between them all works great (Sniff is a selfish whiner, the fickle Snork Maiden is vain and loves beautiful things, and the practical Snork is obsessed about details and having meetings about everything). There's a little of them in all of us. Snufkin is my favorite, and here we meet him for the first time. He sees beauty even in the starkest of sceneries and proves to be a great asset to the group with his experience in adventures.
"It was a funny little path, winding here and there, dashing off in different directions, and sometimes even tying a knot in itself from sheer joy. (You don't get tired of a path like that, and I'm not sure that it doesn't get you home quicker in the end."
Keeping in mind that King's foray into high fantasy is clearly intended for a younger audience (he dedicated it to his friend and to his daughter), it's surprisingly uneventful and not particularly interesting. It feels like a tentative but safe experiment in an unfamiliar field, and the incessant foreshadowing certainly doesn't help. I'm not a fantasy enthusiast and know very little about it, but I still wouldn't have minded an unusual King book if he had added his own touch to it. As it stands, The Eyes of the Dragon is just run-of-the-mill. I'd have actually preferred it to crash and burn instead of teetering on the edge. Not even Flagg, here a wizard, could save it.
The Dark Tower Project
"Night Surf" from Night Shift (1978)
The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition (1990)
The Eyes of the Dragon (1987)
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (2003 Revised Edition)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
"Little Sisters of Eluria" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
"Jerusalem's Lot" from Night Shift (1978)
Salem's Lot (1975)
"One for the Road" from Night Shift (1978)
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
Insomnia (1994)
Black House (2001) (sequel to The Talisman)
"Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis (1999)
"Everything's Eventual" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
The Dark Tower Project
"Night Surf" from Night Shift (1978)
The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition (1990)
The Eyes of the Dragon (1987)
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (2003 Revised Edition)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
"Little Sisters of Eluria" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
"Jerusalem's Lot" from Night Shift (1978)
Salem's Lot (1975)
"One for the Road" from Night Shift (1978)
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
Insomnia (1994)
Black House (2001) (sequel to The Talisman)
"Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis (1999)
"Everything's Eventual" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
"Things had stretched apart. There was no glue at the center anymore. Somewhere something was tottering, and when it fell, all would end."
Re-read 19.03.2020
No change to rating.
Because The Gunslinger's chapters were first published as individual short stories, it can feel a bit disjointed as a novel. Not only that, but compared with the subsequent volumes, King's writing style wasn't fully developed yet at this age. Even with the revisions he made in 2003, there are glimpses where the story tries to be something it's not, like it's being pushed through a square hole even though it's round.
Despite having a sort of prologue feel to it, I do think that The Gunslinger is perfectly fine and readable. As a light stepping stone, it introduces the nature of Roland's world and prepares you for the moment when the story really starts picking up. However, it's important to understand that it's more like a lock. You can peer through it, but you'll get the key only if you continue the journey. Things start making more sense later on, and certain events reverberate throughout the whole series.
The Dark Tower Project
"Night Surf" from Night Shift (1978)
The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition (1990)
The Eyes of the Dragon (1987)
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (2003 Revised Edition)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
"Little Sisters of Eluria" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
"Jerusalem's Lot" from Night Shift (1978)
Salem's Lot (1975)
"One for the Road" from Night Shift (1978)
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
Insomnia (1994)
Black House (2001) (sequel to The Talisman)
"Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis (1999)
"Everything's Eventual" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
Definitely one of the better children's books. Pippi is a great role model for all girls.
"Control the things you can control, maggot. Let everything else take a flying fuck at you and if you must go down, go down with your guns blazing."
Three doors, three New York City time periods, three people. This is where the plot starts going full steam ahead with Roland wandering around New York (a world that is equally foreign to him as his world is to us) and "drawing" his companions one by one (except there's a surprise waiting regarding one of them). This volume has plenty of action and it's more straight-forward than the previous one, but it's also just the beginning of the journey that the ka-tet will embark on. It's where the spirits of the characters are forged together and where their motives and personalities are fully explored.
The stakes will only get higher from now on. The extent of Roland's obsession and determination is fully seen for the first time by both the reader and the companions. Who will fall prey to it? Who will emerge on the other side? Is there an other side?
The Dark Tower Project
"Night Surf" from Night Shift (1978)
The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition (1990)
The Eyes of the Dragon (1987)
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (2003 Revised Edition)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
"Little Sisters of Eluria" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
"Jerusalem's Lot" from Night Shift (1978)
Salem's Lot (1975)
"One for the Road" from Night Shift (1978)
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
Insomnia (1994)
Black House (2001) (sequel to The Talisman)
"Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis (1999)
"Everything's Eventual" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
I love true crime. I love old Hollywood. These two together is a dream combination that will draw me like a moth is drawn to a flame.
In 1922, director William Desmond Taylor was shot to death in his bungalow. Wild reports (some false, some not) started to spread: a mysterious "doctor" who declared the cause of death as natural, studio people burning papers in Taylor's fireplace, actress Mabel Normand (whose alleged cocaine addiction Taylor had allegedly been trying to cure) rummaging through his things, lingerie monogrammed M.M.M, an affair with a young actress etc. It was also discovered that Taylor was actually William Deane-Tanner and had deserted his wife and child a few years prior. The murder was never solved.
In 1967, director King Vidor starts his own investigation, and although he claimed to have solved the murder, he didn't want to reveal his findings.
This is where Kirkpatrick's approach loses me. In 1982, Kirkpatrick gained access to Vidor's papers and compiled them into a murder mystery that is true crime but reads like a novel. The frame story inevitably leads to details about Vidor's personal life, which in turn made me lose my interest. I may be boring, but I just want my facts without any gimmicks. In the end, Vidor's and Kirkpatrick's conclusion is, although plausible, just another theory to a mystery that will most likely remain unsolved.
For those in need of a true deep dive into the case, taylorology.com is an exhaustive resource of different theories, original documents, photos etc.
In 1922, director William Desmond Taylor was shot to death in his bungalow. Wild reports (some false, some not) started to spread: a mysterious "doctor" who declared the cause of death as natural, studio people burning papers in Taylor's fireplace, actress Mabel Normand (whose alleged cocaine addiction Taylor had allegedly been trying to cure) rummaging through his things, lingerie monogrammed M.M.M, an affair with a young actress etc. It was also discovered that Taylor was actually William Deane-Tanner and had deserted his wife and child a few years prior. The murder was never solved.
In 1967, director King Vidor starts his own investigation, and although he claimed to have solved the murder, he didn't want to reveal his findings.
This is where Kirkpatrick's approach loses me. In 1982, Kirkpatrick gained access to Vidor's papers and compiled them into a murder mystery that is true crime but reads like a novel. The frame story inevitably leads to details about Vidor's personal life, which in turn made me lose my interest. I may be boring, but I just want my facts without any gimmicks. In the end, Vidor's and Kirkpatrick's conclusion is, although plausible, just another theory to a mystery that will most likely remain unsolved.
For those in need of a true deep dive into the case, taylorology.com is an exhaustive resource of different theories, original documents, photos etc.
"The lessons that are remembered the longest, Roland knew, are always the ones that are self-taught."
Ten years since I last read The Waste Lands, and I'm happy to report that it still remains my favorite out of the four that I managed to read back in the day. There's so much to see and experience, from a giant bear to the adorable billy bumbler Oy (it needs to live!), and from a creepy house on Dutch Hill to an incredible city called Lud etc. The breathtaking journey, filled with moments that keep you at the edge of your seat, is topped off with one of my favorite villains (if one can call it that): Blaine the Mono, a sentient and slightly insane train that loves riddles. You gotta love King's imagination!
The Dark Tower Project
"Night Surf" from Night Shift (1978)
The Stand: Complete and Uncut Edition (1990)
The Eyes of the Dragon (1987)
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (2003 Revised Edition)
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three (1987)
The Dark Tower III: The Waste Lands (1991)
The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass (1997)
"Little Sisters of Eluria" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
"Jerusalem's Lot" from Night Shift (1978)
Salem's Lot (1975)
"One for the Road" from Night Shift (1978)
The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole (2012)
The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla (2003)
The Dark Tower VI: Song of Susannah (2004)
Insomnia (1994)
Black House (2001) (sequel to The Talisman)
"Low Men in Yellow Coats" from Hearts in Atlantis (1999)
"Everything's Eventual" from Everything's Eventual (2002)
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower (2004)
I'm now over halfway through my Dark Tower project, and I felt like I wanted to read something lighter. Charlie, "a simple choo-choo train", entered the stage with his best friend Engineer Bob. They are almost forgotten by the world when Charlie is replaced with a new and shiny diesel locomotive, but like in many children's books, obstacles are overcome and all is well.
Or is it? Why are the kids screaming in the cover? And why are Charlie's eyes so... malevolent?
This is designed as a sort of companion or supplemental material for The Waste Lands, but I don't think prior knowledge of the volume or even the series is necessary. Having said that, it was kind of surreal when the mailman handed this to me. It was like the world of Dark Tower was seeping through the cracks to my reality. The book and the author only existed in the pages of a novel, yet here was Charlie staring right into my soul.
Or is it? Why are the kids screaming in the cover? And why are Charlie's eyes so... malevolent?
This is designed as a sort of companion or supplemental material for The Waste Lands, but I don't think prior knowledge of the volume or even the series is necessary. Having said that, it was kind of surreal when the mailman handed this to me. It was like the world of Dark Tower was seeping through the cracks to my reality. The book and the author only existed in the pages of a novel, yet here was Charlie staring right into my soul.