[FS]

I have yet to read Dark Tower V because I refuse to buy a hardcover copy (and the paperback version seems to be getting pushed and pushed and pushed further ahead), but I've heard before that at one point in the books, they would meet King himself. I couldn't help but think of the episode of the most recent Spider-Man cartoon where he gets transported to a dimension where Spider-Man is a comic book character created by Stan Lee. Then Spider-Man webslings around New York for a while with Stan Lee in his arms and at the end of the episode muses on what a wonderful person he was. Granted, Lee probably didn't write the episode, but it both inevitably comes down to ego-dicksucking.

I think the problem is that King has become convinced, like so many of his fans, that the Dark Tower series is his greatest work, and this while still in the process of writing it. Plus, he's waited so long before continuing to write that he's lost touch with the world and the characters he started out with.

I still think the first three volumes are among his best works, the Waste Lands maybe being a little less. By then the clichéd dialogue started seeping through (characters ending just about every line with an affirmation), plus I hate the overused Lassie-like Oy. Wizard and Glass was pretty bad, in that it was one part overly elaborate Wizard of Oz reference and five parts hamfisted horseback romance with no sense of pacing. So, I'm cautious about the next two books. As for volume VII, I have some faith that he'll at least be able to bring it to a good conclusion, though that might change.