The Dark Tower series was created by Stephen King who is known as the "King of Horror" novels for such works as It, The Tommyknockers, Misery, The Stand, and his most recent, The Dark Half.

The Dark Tower series is a collection of books focusing on one character, the gunslinger named Roland. He sets out to search for the Dark Tower, which is a complete mystery and no one, not even the author, is sure of what It is or what secrets It holds. Roland's obsession with this Dark Tower is so great that he will allow nothing to deter him from his chosen path to seek the Dark Tower.

The first book, The Gunslinger, begins with the man in black crossing the desert and the gunslinger following. The entire novel focuses on the gunslinger's chase of this mysterious man in black, which may seem boring, but there is plenty of action. The purpose is revealed in the end, but it is a little disappointing since it only tells the reader that the gunslinger must venture on another quest in search of the Dark Tower. The next adventure is told in King's second book.

The Drawing of the Three begins only seven hours after The Gunslinger ends. Here, Roland travels from his world to our world through three portals and draws out three people to help him continue his search for the Dark Tower. This novel also ends like the first, leaving the reader wanting more, but the third book, The Wasted Lands, has not yet been printed.

The Dark Tower series is quite a spell-binding epic which can keep one up reading bug-eyed till two in the morning, causing an irrational craving for more. On the other hand, I was a bit disturbed by the ending of both novels because they did not seem complete. Aside from these endings, these two novels were very carefully and extremely well-done with just a few minor errors. n

Review by Hanh Bui, Wollaston