Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, Book 6)

Customer Reviews

Dark Tower VI - The best thus far?

I never thought I'd say I loved a book more than I love The Drawing of The Three. Even as I read the second installment of the still-forming Dark Tower story, I knew I was in love and that no other story (or piece of a story, as the case may be) would ever come close. However, I'm glad to say that I have proven myself wrong. Song of Susannah excels in doing what all the DT books have done so far: giving us great action, making us jump out of our seats, creating a rich backstory, and of course, it will make you turn the pages faster than you thought was possible. Without getting into spoiler material, DT6 clears up a lot of what happened in Wolves. Susannah's bond with Mia is explained, as are some of the Crimson King's desires. Some readers were scared that the story was getting too schticky when Roland and Crew discovered that Callahan and the events in 'Salems Lot were apparently works of fiction from a writer named Stephen King. Rest assured, this issue is dealt with in a decidely appropriate manner. Also, there's always the question of the rose. I won't say much, but the rose is handled. In true Dark Tower fashion, the book ends with multiple cliffhangers, but I think they're definitely better than the excrutiating ending of The Waste Lands. I'm sure it sounds like I've ne'er seen the book, much less read it, but I'm being vague as to not give too much away. Trust me, when you read this you'll love all of the "Holy Crap!" moments. It seems as if each chapter (stanza) is packed with them. All in all, I'd rate it as my favorite thus far, and I am officially a slave to King until the final installment hits the shelves. Hopefully the next few months pass without incident, say thankya.

Just a quick ride further along the path of the Beam...

Anyone who is reading the DT series and is truly committed to it can't not read Song of Susannah (SOS -- interesting, given Susannah's predicament at the novel's end...), so I don't know that any reviews have any impact on whether we read it or not -- we're gonna read it people, you know I say true. But it is interesting to read others' thoughts about it.

Here's my quick review:

Overall, I think it's too short (probably because it's time frame is so brief), too Susannah/Mia/Chap focused (but what do you expect from a book called Song of Susannah, right?), recycles old baddies (Andolini and crew), overly convenient helpful people (the little savior and Calvin Tower's partner)and lacks further character development (most probably because it takes place over a period of just a day or so. It's basically a ride over the bridge to the climax, the knob on the next door. It's not the best train ride -- more like a transfer ticket to the final waystation that is the final novel. But King makes it necessary by revealing more and more bits of information that I am sure will become key in the last installment.

My longer thoughts about it:

My biggest problem with this installment is really a personal preference issue -- I've never been able to fully engage in Susannah/Detta's story. In the other novels her story was the slowest moving for me and of least interest, so to have a novel mainly focused on her was a bit tedious for me. I thought King took a lot of license with what Mia was able to "hear" and not "hear" wrt Susannah's thoughts. It seemed Susannah was able to sit back a lot, have private thoughts and go to the Dogan without Mia really cluing in -- a little too convenient. And the last chapters with the Sayre and Low Men and the Dixie Pig seemed to go on for an interminable length. Have that damn baby for the love of the Man Jesus! And I am a little irritated about the baby's father -- King Arthur's been done, please give me something different. Even the baby's name seems trite. I think I heard my eyeballs roll in my head when I read it. (Don't want to spoil it by revealing too much).

WRT to King inserting himself in his novel, initially I wasn't as disturbed as other reviewers here seem to be by this. I certainly never thought he did it out of arrogance or pomposity. As a writing tool, I thought he did it cleverly, sharing his 1977 behavior through Eddie and Rolands' observations and making it believable because of what we know about King now (the drinking problems, the chain smoking, etc). But now that I've thought about it some, I think it takes away from the believablity of the Ka-Tet: To think that King was visited by Roland and Eddie and that's what brought forth the continuation of the story diminishes it for me. ("Dark Half" II??) Funny that I would find Mid-World and Gilead and the story of Roland and his ka-tet believable, but won't buy King being visited by them.

I also thought that Jake seemed suddenly VERY different than in WOTC. I recognize that he's just been through this huge battle, his friend killed before his eyes, but he seems to have aged years in just a few hours. There's a scene where he goes ape at a cab driver -- it seemed overblown. And Callahan seems to have shriveled within himself. Jake is the dinh of their mini ka-tet (Jake, Callahan, Oy) and that does makes some sense. I have this horrible fear that Oy will get killed in the last book. Please, no "Where the Red Fern Grows" ending for Oy!!!

As I said earlier, SOS is a must read for DT fans -- you can't not read it, but I found it to be disappointing, perhaps in part because I am sooooo eager to see what happens. It will all come together, I am sure, in the last novel, but it feels like he could have just skipped the whole Susannah/Mia/Chap thing. And now that I've said THAT, I know it will play some huge, crucial part in The Dark Tower.

The scariest part of the book? King's journal entry reference to his dream regarding the date 6/19/1999. That gave me more chills than anything in the entire book.

Feeble attempt at best....

I have been a long time fan of the works of Stephen King and I have loved the entire Dark Tower series. Book 1 had been my least favorite, because it started off so slowly. But, after reading Song of Susannah, I am convinced that this is the worst book of the series. I felt that unlike the other novels, this one was not a piece of work that could stand on its own. It seems like it the middle chapters of a novel, not a complete novel in and of itself. I hated the whole idea of Stephen King making himself a character in this book, I felt like it made no real contribution to the storyline. The ending with the pages of the scrapbook seemed like it belonged in a prologue moreso than in the actual body of the story. It made no sense!! It's almost as if he has run out of more interesting things to say in regards to the Dark Tower series. The were no real revelations in this novel unlike the others and there was no ending whatsoever. I left me feeling empty after so much anticipation. The final book has a look to make up for.