The Drawing of the Three
Ratings546
Average rating4.1
This review is for, I think, my third read of The Drawing of the Three. I've spent November re-reading a bunch of King's works, and am surprised at how nice it feels. Apart from the nostalgia—not so much for the times in which I read these at first, which were not good times, and these books were escapes from—there is the familiarity of the world and characters.
Just like my re-read of Duma Key, I found myself remembering things just before they happened, or picking up on things that I remember from later books I hadn't realized were being foreshadowed. I still have a sense of anticipation, suspense, as I read about Roland's sickness, Eddie's detox, and Susannah's emergence.
I only vaguely remember the first time I set down to read The Dark Tower. I got fed up around book 4 or 5. It took years for me to come back, restart, and ultimately finish the first time. I wondered if I'd ever read through it again. I used to never re-read books, but more and more I have a set of books that I really enjoy re-reading. I don't think The Dark Tower is a series that'll ever be annual for me, but I can see myself re-reading these every 5 or 10 years. The world is so rich and I love these characters.
Ka is a wheel, after all.
I've read this one a couple times. I really loved when the story was in our world, especially the last door but the trip along the coast and the handling hostile Ms.Walker was not the greatest of story-time for me. Overall, still in the ‘very good' category.
Continuing my re-read of The Dark Tower series, which still stands as my favorite series of all time. I guess the re-read is partially to check and see if that is still the case. Anyway, The Drawing of the Three is the second book, in which Roland gathers his group for his adventure. Whereas the Gunslinger (book one) is slightly more poetic/mystical/meditative, this book is action from the very first chapter. (The first chapter of this book is one of the scenes that has stuck with me for years after reading this the first time.)
It's Stephen King, so it is dark, but it is not horror. It combines elements of fantasy with the feeling of a Western. And it has its funny moments as well. This book begins the sense of connectedness among/between the characters and the different worlds they come from.
If you tried The Gunslinger and just couldn't make it through, there is an argument that you can start the series with this book as well. So, if that is you, maybe give this one a try!
Exciting from start to finish, deeply hilarious at times, and tense at others. Slows down a little anytime Roland's world becomes the focus, but I think the only reason we aren't as invested in that space is because there hasn't been solid worldbuilding there yet. Hoping book three remedies this
Definitely a 4.5 stars for me. I feel like the gunslinger (book 1) is really just a 250 page prologue to this book, which I feel overall is book 1, this books is definitely THE book to drive forward the plot and establish our main characters. Which I really enjoyed having this fresh new idea of how to tell a fish out of water story. Kings way of telling his own version of a fish out of water story was so fun, seeing Roland travel to our earth inside of Eddie's body and having to learn and help Eddie and the other two “drawings” with their earthly problems was extremely fun. The book definitely slowed down for me once we got to odetta/detta but only when Roland traveled to her time period of New York to “draw” her, after the “drawing” this character really shined having that element of (when is this character going to eventually shift to her “evil” alter ego to cause more chaos for Eddie and Roland was for sure one of the best parts of this book). And of course the “third drawing” was great.
Overall this book definitely felt like the true first book in to (what I can already guarantee) one of my favorite series I've read so far.
TLDR
Definitely the first true book to this series with a lot of fun and adventurous ideas. King was definitely more comfortable in his writing style in this one I think
I read the first book in this series (The Gunslinger) over a decade ago now. I didn't really care for it, but there were things about it that I did like, and the fans of this series are very vocal in their praise of it, and there is a possible new tv show in the works for it. So I thought I'd try to continue on.
I'm not sure how I feel about this one. At times it is thrilling, but at other times I find it to be either a slog or just straight up off-putting. The story of "edgy" King that I don't love tends to rear his head a fair bit.
I was leaning towards a 2/5 on this, but the last section of the book is a string of tense action scenes that had me captivated.
I'm not super eager to contine the series, but I probably will get around to it in under a decade this time.
80/100 score
Y'all. This thing is wild. I was very unsure of continuing if the writing style of the gunslinger continued but this is much more the King I know and can understand better. While I do enjoy a lot of this book. It feels like a giant set up. Which is great but sometimes I'm wondering when the main story will continue. We do get some great back story and interesting characters and we do get some excellent and thrilling show downs. But the pacing suffers for me to a point and carrying the narrative is lacking. Very excited to go into The Wastelands next.
a great book that would be even greater if it wasn't for the weird stereotypical portrayal of detta
The second book resolves none of my issues with the first book. It remains confusing and the setting is ill-defined. If I had kept reading the series, I may have been able to come back, understand this book, and enjoy it. But I can't. Not worth it.
Age range: 16+
Younger readers may have a hard time with the convoluted plot and shifting setting (older readers, too!).
I am a fan of Stephen King and the Gunslinger is one of his more interesting series. Originally written in short story format (1978-1981), these books are unlike anything I have read. Currently, I have read the first two books and I am not sure whether I am in love with the series yet. But the way the books are written not only makes you imagine the wasteland of the desert and the bustling city of New York City, but feel it. With the aid of drug slinging heroin addict, a woman in a wheelchair with dissociative identity disorder, and more unknown characters, an “unlikable” main character, Ronald, (based on a western cowboy) are on a quest to get to the unknown “dark tower.”
This book is weird, man. Even for a Stephen King book, it's weird. I suppose the weirdest thing about it is that if Stephen King hadn't written it, I wouldn't be reading it. It reads like a very long short story: there are few characters, the world is sparsely populated, and although the characters get through an ordeal, they don't truly make much progress. Well, they do and they don't. I suppose you could argue either way. A lot happens, but it doesn't get Roland much closer to The Tower.
The point is Stephen King did write it, so it's a lot of fun to read and hard to put down.
This book was much much much better than “The Gunslinger”. It has given me a budding hope that I may actually like this series.
We follow Roland as he goes through 3 different doors to get what he needs to find the tower as prophesied. We meet 3 new characters: Eddie, Odetta/Detta, and Jack. Getting to experience these unique personalities was very interesting to read. The characterization in this book is really what makes this book so successful. We get to see new relationships bloom and grow, while also seeing these characters struggle through their inner demons.
I have 2 big gripes with this book. The first is the caricature that King has made Detta. I understand that this was intentional, but having been written by a white person, it felt incredibly hard to read her parts. The way the dialogue was written and the excessive use of slurs was difficult, to say the least. Again, I know that this was an intentional move by King to create the dichotomy, but I felt that it could've been done more tastefully. My second gripe is the constant use of insta-love in these books. First, we saw it with Jake in the previous book. Then, in this book, we see it again throughout all of the characters. Everyone hardly knows each other, yet they are all constantly professing their love. It felt disingenuous and awkward to me. It brought me out of the story multiple times.
The plot was ok. I think the concept was pretty cool, but I feel like a lot of the action, while fun, isn't completely necessary to the story. I could be completely wrong, so I guess we'll see as I continue the series.
Overall so far, I think this series is worth the read. Even though I really disliked “The Gunslinger”, this book made it feel worth it to me. I hope the rest of the series continues to improve as I go along.
TW: racial slurs, homophobic slurs, racial stereotypes, drug use, drug overdose, explicit sexual content, death, gore, amputation, decapitation, assault, gun violence hospitalization, needles, fatphobia
Por un lado es un libro entretenido, avanza a buena velocidad y Stephen king es un maestro describiendo escenas complejas de forma sencilla. Cosas como tener multiple voces en tu cerebro o escenas de accion complejas.
Por otro lado hay un par de cosas que me molestan bastante. Ronan, el protagonista tiene este super-poder con el cual siempre sabe lo que hacer. Sabe donde esta cada una de las puertas por ejemplo, simplemente lo sabe. Sabe quien necesita que viva para que la magia continue y quien puede morir, no pasa nada. Al principio del libro hace experimentos para aprender y eso me gusta pero luego simplemente lo sabe. Cuando a la historia le interesa lo sabe.
As King notes in the Afterword, a more complete tale than the first.
I loved the Eddie and Jack storylines, but the Detta/Odetta part was frustrating. I'm glad that character changes to Susannah at the end, who seems much less annoying to me.
Looking forward to book 3.
I liked this one way less. The characters were not likable and I had a very hard time with it. Giving the third one a shot!
Wow what a ride! Wholly different from the first book, and I know that was intentional on King's part. The story and world building are so unique, and the character development is rich. I can't wait for the next book!
Check out my book review here https://youtu.be/4AeSwxd0mVo
This is book 2 in The Dark Tower series and where things really start happening. Book one is basically just the set up for what's to come. While book 1 is slow going I still think it should be read just know that once you get through it things definitely pick up.
I don't really have much to say about this book. It's definitely a step up from the first book but I still can't give it a full five stars because it did lag at times and I am still left with so many questions. I expect them to be answered eventually but still I don't like not knowing what is going on or what the purpose is.
I also have to applaud King for having a character that is a double amputee and in a wheelchair. I can relate to this and I love seeing myself represented in a book. While he didn't really dive deep into the character I think what he included was done very well and never came off as offensive to me.
It took me so long to get into this one and in the end I finished it on audio which was a great choice as the narrator is excellent!
This instalment feels like a completely different book to the first and we really start to get an idea of how this journey is going to be begin for our gang.
I really like Eddie and I really hate Detta which I think is the point of her character being so vile and detestable.
I'm really looking forward to continuing on in the series!
I've been thinking about reading this book for years. After 3 different false starts I finally finished it and am glad I did. It feels very different from other King novels but it is well written and engaging. The world of the story is intriguing and I am excited to begin the next book this is the year I make a dent in my king collection.
Not the story I was expecting. It went in a very different direction but enjoyable.
Now this is a little more like it. Far more intriguing, cohesive, and epic than The Gunslinger, Drawing of the Three continues to follow Roland on his quest to the Dark Tower - only now he's discovered worlds other than his own, and companions to help him locate the Tower. Those companions help us better understand the scale of what Roland's undertaking, the same way birds or structures are added to fantasy art to show something is at a much larger scale than otherwise assumed.
Also, the relevation of the identity of the man in black brought a big smile to my face; I knew going in that The Dark Tower had connections to a lot of the other King books I've read (Hearts in Atlantis being the one that always first comes to mind), but I assumed that that was just a one-way relationship. It will be interesting to see how that develops further in this series.