The Drawing of the Three

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Drawing of the Three is the novel where the Dark Tower story goes from being a cool gunslinger action adventure of the weird west to being a true epic. We still have elements of that otherworldly western flavor, but we get a huge mixture of reality when Roland, the gunslinger anti-hero of the first book, opens a door into “our” world.

The three doors Roland must open each connect to our world, but at different “whens”, different eras. From each of these entry points, there are things that Roland must do in order to continue on the path to his fabled Dark Tower.

With these adventures, we’re introduced to new characters, a new ka-tet that will help Roland on his quest. But before they can move forward to their goal, they each have something they must work through first. Roland’s intervention is essential to this development, for without it they would be useless to him and to his quest.

This is the fourth time I’ve read this volume, and like its predecessor, The Gunslinger, it gets better with each reading. Little things that were missed before start to come together to form the whole. I did notice some discrepancies along the way, minor detail errors that could have been simple editing mistakes, or perhaps purposeful clues that the worlds don’t always connect smoothly and logically. It’s a good out to cover up any mistakes, at any rate. I also saw a little clue that linked a book I’d never realized had any Dark Tower relevance, and that’s always fun too. In small ways, I believe that all of King’s work is connected. Perhaps even his non-fiction.

I’m really excited about plunging into The Wastelands again, as the end of this book really sets us up nicely for a continuance of the adventure. While it does have a good stopping point, there is obviously more, much more, that we’ll see before Roland and his ka-tet come to their Dark Tower.

The cards have been drawn and dealt. The Dark Tower saga will continue with the cards played, for good or ill. Or both. Did-a-chik.





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