Well, today, after reading it for probably the last 15 years, I finished the last chapter in Stephen King‘s Dark Tower series, which was started in 1970 and ended in april of this year. No spoilers here, but I thought it was great. Not only was it (finally) an end to the story of Roland’s quest, but the end of many questions about many other things. So many times the world of the Dark Tower series crossed over into his other writings, sometimes subtly, sometimes in the form of The Man In Black/Randall Flagg/The Walkin’ Dude/many other names, sometimes more obviously, and this has drawn some of these to a close.
I’m not sure how I feel about the ending to be honest. I’ve literally “known” some of the characters in this series for longer than I have people who I consider my best friends now. Not in a “I read this 15 years ago” way, but in a “this series has been growing and expanding for 15 years” way. It’s a bit hard to see them go I guess, some harder than others.
I started reading these when I was in highschool, and still have the original paperbacks which I went through (several times I’m sure) of the first three books. The middle one was read sometime in college, and the last three were “read” via audiobook in the car driving too and from work each day. I think I’ll have to get physical copies of the last three in the series and read them through again someday, though in a while, I only finished the last book under six hours ago. However, I’ll re-read them again soon. As the man says, “Ka is a wheel”.