Fantasy Buddy Reads discussion

This is a Buddy Read for The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King starting on February 1, 2025.


Happy Reading!

Thanks!

The Appetizers (Preparatory Stand-Alones) [Planning Thread]
・Insomnia (1994) 4.2 (June 1) [link]
・’Salem’s Lot (1975) 4.1 (July 1) [link]
・The Eyes of the Dragon (1987) 2.2 (Aug 1) [link]
・The Stand (1978/1990) 2.1 (Sept 1) [link]
・Everything's Eventual (2002) Skip "Sisters of Eluria" 4.5 (Oct 13) [link]
・Hearts in Atlantis (1999) 4.6 (Nov 4) [link]

The Main Course: The Dark Tower
1. The Gunslinger (Jan 1) [link]
2. The Drawing of the Three (Feb 1) [link]
Recommended Follow Ups: The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon

3. The Waste Lands (Mar 1) [link]
4. Wizard and Glass (Apr 1) [link]
Short: The Little Sisters of Eluria (In Everything's Eventual)
5. Wolves of the Calla (May 1) [link]
6. Song of Susannah (Jun 1) [link]
7. The Dark Tower (Jul 1) [link]

Dessert? Unscheduled
3.5 The Wind Through the Keyhole
Graphic Novels: The Gunslinger Born
And various other connected Kingverse novels, such as The Talisman or It

Started this yesterday and just finished and this one was everything I hoped for after finishing book 1!!! (view spoiler)[Now there are three gunslingers and it was a journey for Roland to get them with him! Eddie behind door #1 was quite the interlude but that didn't hold a candle to Door #2 and Odetta's/Detta's story and then when you get the other perspective of the 2 events that so impacted her life with Jack behind door #3 it was even more tragic! But we end on a much better note than how the story begins, Roland has his people, Susannah and Eddie by his side along with so much ammo and antibiotics lol

Just about the writing - When I was listening to Eddie explaining how he & his brother got addicted to drugs to Roland it struck me just how good King is at writing mundane things like this, he does it in such an engaging way that is so very enjoyable. I also loved the reference to The Eyes of the Dragon :) (hide spoiler)]

I'm still waiting for my library hold to come through.

I'll read this Tuesday/Wednesday...

Really appreciating the opening recap/explanation--really needed that! Also, I didn't realize the poem Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came was inspired by King Lear...

Full text can be found here:
https://allpoetry.com/Childe-Roland-T...

Gonna try to take a closer look at it later.

Read this, over the past 5-6hrs, with some pauses... at 3x speed it's only a bit over 4hr book...

This was a much more straightforward book, and easier to follow... curious if anyone that was gonna quit after book 1 takes Soo/other's recommendations to at least try book 2 and what they think if they do...

Personally, I feel like I'm mostly reading this series because I feel like I should, and I'm curious about "the hubbub"/storyline...

(view spoiler)[it's definitely interesting, to me, how Roland just barrels into paradoxes like not killing Jake so he can appear in Gunslinger, and leaving it to Stephen King to sort out the ramifications of that later...

The frequency of racial slurs felt a bit much, when they kept being used over and over...

The character moments reminded me alot of the vignettes in The Stand... they were definitely a highlight of the story for me, as Ann-Marie noted similarly in her spoiler review... (hide spoiler)]

I never finished the series so I cannot speak to how it ends or if it is a satisfying conclusion but I am going to keep at it. I remembered the most from this book and I enjoyed it as much as I thought I would so I am happy with it for now :)

I rated it 4 stars... it was a much more enjoyable story than book 1, and easier to follow... just noting that this is a book I'm reading because I signed up for it and did all the planning last year for, less than looking forward to, sadly... maybe that'll change as we progress...

Read this yesterday and agree with Iain--a lot easier to follow, more enjoyable story--and with Ann-Marie--that it's the characters that really sold it, especially Odetta/Detta's story... Also agreeing on how good King is at describing the mundane... and adding how good he is at making it creepy... (view spoiler)[Like descriptions of the injection marks Eddie has under his balls, or Detta turning her hands into claws to crawl her way to the gun.... Not that those are mundane, but there were definitely a lot of points that made me think of this story as having aspects of Body Horror reminiscent of Thundamoo's books...

I can't help but admire King for his character work--neither Eddie nor O/D are good people, or people I rather liked, but are such compelling characters. (hide spoiler)]

Started! Just had to point out that the first page of story already had reference to balls 😂

It's not the only one!!

I am not surprised lol

Epub search counts 10 instances of "balls"--less than I'd've thought. But then, King knows how to make them memorable.

Nyssa wrote: "I'm still waiting for my library hold to come through."

Hold finally came through. I will start tonight.

I am about to start chapter 5.
I am intrigued, but I'm not enjoying the story.
I agree, however, that it is much easier to follow than book one.
I plan to finish this one and decide whether to continue the series.

Finished. It kept my attention until the end, so I plan to continue.

Glad you'll continue Nyssa!
I'm through chapter 4 I think? I really like seeing our world through Roland's POV. Makes for some humorous situations

"humorous situations"--lol, yeah... up that to "ridonkulous"

LOL you're not wrong! Just started on Lady of Shadows and yeah (view spoiler)[ agree with Iain about the excessive racial slurs... I understand the usage is in line with the time frame its supposed to be, but its still a little excessive maybe.

But King really does have fantastic character work! You really get under the skin of these people! And that's a horror of itself tbh... (hide spoiler)]

Oh yeah, good point about "getting under the skin" of a character has a particular horror to it as well...

Started this one this morning. Eddie was always my favorite character so happy to be back among friends.

LOL I would not have thought of Eddie that way... though that makes me curious to see... I guess from the first book, I wasn't expecting too many characters to carry onwards...

Oh King likes to kill them off for sure.

I just finished this. I eye read it and really enjoyed it. I read this first back in 2010 and didn’t remember anything. Just like a whole new book to me. I originally rated it 3 stars but I like it a ton more this time around but I think because I generally know how the story goes. Last few pages (view spoiler)[ Roland running in the subway with bullets and meds stuffed in ladies panties had me chuckling at the visual. (hide spoiler)]

Through Ch 5 and this has already been way better than the first book! I am finally enjoying the story and not just wanting it to end already. Good call on pushing through:)