The Waste Lands: The Dark Tower Book III

The wait will soon be over for the millions of fans eagerly anticipating the next installment of Stephen King's riveting The Waste Lands. Enter the realm of the mightiest imagination of our time as the Last Gunslinger crosses the desert of damnation and approaches the Dark Tower of his dreams and nightmares. 12 full-color illustrations; line art throughout.

From Publishers Weekly

King's third volume on Roland the gunfighter's search for the Dark Tower offers charming bits of whimsy, some splendidly tense moments and one rip-roaring horror scene. At times, however, it is pretentious and the direction of the sprawling plot uncertain. Roland has two companions on his quest for the tower at the portal of all the worldsp. 53 : Susannah Dean and Eddie Dean, who entered his world from New York City of 1963 and 1987, respectively. When the three track down the den of a 70-foot-tall cyborg bear, they are pointed down a path leading to the Tower. But Roland is slowly going mad, a fact that seems linked to his past experiences with Jake Chambers, a boy who died twicestet ital in the first book of the series. Jake reappears here, displaying great resilience in crossing over from 1977 New York City to join Roland & Co. (As Susannah notes, "This time-travel business is some confusing shit.") They press on, plumbing the depths of a children's book that tells a profound and ancient tale. Unfortunately, the questers don't reach the Tower; in fact, they're caught in a cliff-hanger ending--King says, he'll write volume four if we want it. Illustrations not seen by PW. 1.5 million first printing; $400,000 ad/promo; BOMC and QPB selections. Copyright 1991 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From School Library Journal

YA-- The third installment in the offbeat fantasy saga involving the enigmatic Roland (the last gunfighter) and his quest for the Dark Tower. While the story (inspired by Robert Browning's narrative poem ``Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came'') is entertaining, what really makes it outstanding are King's unique, multifaceted characters. This is Stephen King at his best.Copyright 1992 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Kirkus Reviews

Chapter three of King's epic alternate-world saga (1988, 1989) finds Roland the Gunslinger and his sidekicks continuing their quest for the Dark Tower--and the Maine master keyboarding some of his least restrained writing in years, great sagging storm clouds of padded prose that only occasionally thunder or brighten with lightning inspiration. The storyline by now is so complex that King opens with a four-page ``Argument'' summing up past action and tracing ties between major characters. The Argument for volume four won't be much longer, since relatively little happens here: Roland trains Eddie Dean and Susannah Walker, previously brought by him from Manhattan to his blighted world, in the arts of gunslinging--soon used to slay a giant mechanical bear named Shardik; Jake, the boy whom Roland let die in volume one, reappears as a Gotham schoolkid who makes his way through a haunted house into Roland's world; the band of four encounter a town of old folks, then a wasted city where Jake is kidnapped by degenerates, then rescued; Roland and company take a ride toward the Dark Tower on a train operated by an insane computer enamored of riddles. In a note, King admits that ``finding the doors to Roland's world has never been easy for me.'' The strain is evident, with the volume seemingly jerry-built on borrowings (the hoary haunted house; the mad computer, echoing Hal of 2001; the wasted city and its criminal denizens, shades of Escape from New York) and overblown character conflicts (can Eddie summon the courage to cross the swaying bridge?). Still, some of the action cooks up shivery suspense, and Roland's anticipated duel of riddles with the homicidal computer promises a swift start to the next volume. Hopefully it won't take any more slack interlude volumes for Roland to reach the Dark Tower. Meanwhile, though confirmed series fans might at least tolerate this chapter (and buy up its 1.5 million first printing--on-sale Dec. 2), the generic King fan will enjoy far more the upcoming Needful Things (p. 813).(Book-of-the- Month Split Dual Selection for January) -- Copyright ©1991, Kirkus Associates, LP. All rights reserved.

About the Author

Stephen King, the world's bestselling novelist, was educated at the University of Maine at Orono. He lives with his wife, the novelist Tabitha King, and their children in Bangor, Maine.

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