Saw through the hole in your head but you couldn't have been dead because you stood up in bed and said 'I wasn't waving goodbye, I was saying hello.'" - Elf Power, Felt Good to Burn
The Dark Tower VII: The Dark Tower by Stephen King (Grant). It's done. The journey. The story. The long road to the Dark Tower. It took me a month to finish the book which puts quite a dent in my time to finish the 48 books I still have left to read to accomplish my goal. Was it worth it? I don't know. I can't say that I was satisfied with the ending but I also can't say that I was dissapointed either. I just feel weary. Honestly, by the end I was less interested in whether or not Roland would reach his Tower than I was with hearing more of Ted Brautigan and his band of Breakers or the Tet Corporation and all they had done since John Cullum met Eddie and Roland and found himself on the path of the Beam.
I want to return to the Calla. I want to know more about Dandelo and Patrick Danville. After thousands of pages and 15 years, I still want to know more about the world of Ka and Gan and The Bear Shardik and The Turtle Maturin. But, I'm also just so very tired of this world. I don't know if I have it in me to read all the related works or to go back and read Insomnia again or take another crack at Black House (although I suspect I'll be cracking open Hearts of Atlantis and The Regulators in the near future because of how very much I enjoyed those stories).
I think I have had enough time with Roland's Ka-Tet, though. I don't need any more from Eddie and Jake and Susannah and Oy. I've made my peace with them. In this final book, I've finally come around to Susannah/Odetta/Detta and the complexities of the character;I finally understand both the simplicity and the tragedy of Jake Chambers; and, Eddie, Eddie Dean of New York, the character who I walked with most in this tale, I make peace with how his journey ends as well.
It is entirely possible that it took me so long to read The Dark Tower because I didn't want it to end. I dreaded it actually. Dreaded the death that would come. Dreaded the arduous path. Dreaded saying goodbye.
But after I finish reading The Road to The Dark Tower, I will do just that.
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