DarkTower Series, amazing! cried most of way thru the last book, but anyone else feel let down with ending?

Question

Just finished the series and as a recent convert to fantasy, and previously not a SK fan, wow! Ive been fixated on the story for about the last 5 months, and now ive finished feel like ive lost good friends lol (maybe a tad obssessive). However for a story that has consumed so much of my life and had me in tears (death of eddie jake, oy!), than I just dont feel the ending did the story justice.... That kinda the whole read (a great journey tho it was) kinda culminated in nothing. I cant really suggest an ending as I wudnt have swapped that ending for some bad hollywood style ending where Roland meets God (Gan) or something equally bad. Ive got a few theories as to the meaning of different things towards the end, and I see how SK is attempting to say something about good and evil, redemption etc, the fact that he now has the horn, might get there next time due to his understanding that people matter etc but just feel more of something, anything, happening at the dark tower itself needed

Answer 1

I was disappointed with the end slightly, but then how else could he tie up the ending. But I wonder how many times Roland has been through that cycle and will there ever be a time when it is broken?
It has been a while since I finished the books so I do not remember it in depth but I would suggest that Steven King was trying to say that everything is futile and if you do reach your goal it may not be what you had expected it to be.

Regardless it is a better ending than something like... he woke up and realised it was all a dream!

Answer 2

These are my favourite books, I'm going to re-read them as soon as I've finished the others on my shelf. I remember reading the last one and I was on the train one morning when I read about Eddie dying - went into work crying lol. On the train home that same night Jake died. That was one hell of a day, felt like I was losing my friends lol!

It's amazing how books just take over your life like that and when they're over you feel lonely. But when you immerse yourself in a series of books for months at a time I guess it's a natural feeling.

I could actually have killed SK with my bare hands when I read the ending. I was so angry with him for doing that to Roland and making him do it all over again but then the more I thought about it I thought it makes sense. What else could he have done. I think killing him off would have been unfair once he'd gotten so far and he'd already killed off so many of the other characters it would have been too much. And lets face it, you never get a happy ending with SK, that's not what you read his books for.

I did love though the way he did it at the end. Like he was interacting with the reader, you think you're not going to find out what Roland found at the Dark Tower and then he says he'll tell you and once you read it you think, damn, maybe I didn't want to know after all lol.

Anyway, sorry I just rambled lol, I guess the answer to your question is yes I felt let down but the more I thought about it the more it made sense. And I like the think Roland is out there somewhere pottering along and he may just make another reappearance if we're really really lucky.

Answer 3

Hurray, at last, someone who is a Dark Tower freak. I have been collecting them individually since the Gunslinger came out in the UK for the past 16 or 17 years or so. Recently I broke my leg in two places and was in the middle of moving house so was sat on my bum for 6 weeks. I re-read all of them, one after the other and as SK says just before the end, you are likely to be disappointed with the ending so don't read on unless you want to be.

Very upsetting with Eddie, Jake and Oy, Oy most of all I feel as he knew his ending was coming whilst the others didn't.

A wonderful series, recommend it to everyone.

Answer 4

I know how you feel I read the entire series of the Amtrak wars by Patrick Tilly.

and then right at the end the main characters just die, its as if this guys publisher said "right that's it no more books for you wrap it up now" even though he wanted to carry on.

I was gutted spent months waiting and hunting for these books to come out! I feel cheated

If you like fantasy I can recommend books by R A Salvatore. The Icewind dale trilogy and so forth you can get all three books in one now much easier.

Answer 5

absolutely positively let down...i hated the ending
i cried in frustration at the ending.....that's the first time that i have ever wanted to just smack stephen king!!! don't feel bad, i felt the same way about eddie, jake, oy....and all the rest of them...i was so into the series when i was pregnant and on bed rest that i felt like members of my family had died :-(.....so ur not the only one!!

Answer 6

it didn't really end for me either. Feel for me, I read the first book in the mid 80's and have had to wait a long, long time to take that journey with Roland and Jake toward the Tower...........

Answer 7

I read through 5 and forced myself to stop because the series was getting worse and worse. 1 and 2 were the best. If you're getting into fantasy, I'd suggest Terry Goodkind's "Sword of Truth" series.

Answer 8

I know that ending was really annoying. It is one of those that you can't really see ending any other way though. One of the best series out there though.