I am a latecomer to the Dark Tower series written by Stephen King, and as such was able to read all seven novels back to back, which I did rather rapidly when recuperating from an illness. I have never before ploughed through so many words, and I am a big reader!

King is best known for his horror novels and collections of short stories, but here he tries something a bit different.

There are seven books in the series, in order:

- The Gunslinger
- The Drawing of the Three
- The Wastelands
- Wizard and Glass
- Wolves of the Calla
- Song of Susannah
- The Dark Tower

The Gunslinger introduces us to the central character of the septet of books, Roland, the titular gunslinger. He is on a quest to reach the Dark Tower followed by a stranger in black, though we are not told why and what the Tower is at this point. The characters in this book are strangely modern, for those used to fantasy fiction containing weird and wonderful creatures and characters this can take a bit of getting used to. I have to say that the Gunslinger book is the slowest of the seven and used mainly for scene setting and introducing you to Roland and his world, I often found myself "ploughing" through parts of it as the pace was quite slow but I persevered and I am glad I did.

The Drawing of the Three introduces some of Roland's companions on his quest, who are drawn from a world which looks remarkably similar to modern day Earth, through portals into Roland's world. They include a 12 year old boy, Jake, a crippled woman, Susannah and a former junkie, Eddie. The third book in the series continues their quest.

Wizard and Glass is a bit of a funny one, and almost could be read as a stand alone novel. It is mainly written as a flashback to Roland's earlier life and what has made him into the person you have come to know, and what compels him on his journey. It is a fascinating read as Roland is a fairly insular character despite being the main protagonist, and he rarely "opens up". This novel opens him up in his entirety to the reader and you learn what is in his past and the joys and horrors that he has experienced. Some readers don't enjoy this diversion from the main quest, but I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it an emotional read.

The fifth book puts the characters back on their quest to reach the Tower, though it throws plenty of diversions in their way, the main one being rescuing a little town from being ravaged by wolves. The sixth concentrates mainly on Susannah who has become pregnant but nobody knows if it was a demon that has fathered the child. She gives birth in this book and another thread of story is wound in.

The book does end well in the seventh and final novel, without spoilers I will say that it ended in a fairly predictable way, personally I was a little disappointed with it after some excellent stories along the way of the quest and I felt that it was a touch sappy and sentimental in places. However, it was not enough to take the shine off for me what is an epic series of novels and like nothing else I have read before in its combination of fantasy, futuristic world, parallel universe and modern day life. It swings from wild nursery rhyme lands to nuclear holocaust to shopping in New York.

The only downside for me is that King felt the need to write himself into the story in the latter novels, something I feel was slightly on the self indulgent side and not necessary.

I found the books to be fresh, well written on the whole and unputdownable, and am sad that they are done now!