OKAY FINE, STEVE.
I am on record as not totally loving The Gunslinger but being willing to go along for the “Dark Tower” ride for a while to see what all the fuss is about. King has proven himself to me with basically everything else I’ve read of his as an adult, so he has a certain amount of capital with me. Plus, I like to read before watching, and if you think you can tear me away from Idris Elba at the end of the summer, you and I have never met.
So, now I will go on record as absolutely loving The Drawing of the Three. I’m in it to win it, “Dark Tower” style. To the end.
And don’t get me wrong… there are still flaws. King can be a little too cute when he is (I assume) ignoring his editors, and there was an actual reference to the film version of “The Shining” used for description that made me rage-text a friend about self-indulgence. Hey guy, if you wrote the thing that they made a film of and then a character in another book feels something like he imagines the character in that thing you wrote that they made a film of felt, you can probably describe that thing using your words. Right?
Anyway, that level of Stephen King-ing aside, this is a perfectly structured book. It frames itself explicitly, and fulfills expectation on every level. And the action and momentum are EXCELLENT. There is mystery, there is adventure, and the new characters are very much needed and welcome. Onward!