Synopses & Reviews
Roland Deschain and his
ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World, the almost timeless landscape that seems to stretch from the wreckage of civility that defined Roland's youth to the crimson chaos that seems the future's only promise. Readers of Stephen King's epic series know Roland well, or as well as this enigmatic hero can be known. They also know the companions who have been drawn to his quest for the Dark Tower: Eddie Dean and his wife, Susannah; Jake Chambers, the boy who has come twice through the doorway of death into Roland's world; and Oy, the Billy-Bumbler.
In this long-awaited fifth novel in the saga, their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a tranquil valley community of farmers and ranchers on Mid-World's borderlands. Beyond the town, the rocky ground rises toward the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is slowly stealing the community's soul. One of the town's residents is Pere Callahan, a ruined priest who, like Susannah, Eddie, and Jake, passed through one of the portals that lead both into and out of Roland's world.
As Father Callahan tells the ka-tet the astonishing story of what happened following his shamed departure from Maine in 1977, his connection to the Dark Tower becomes clear, as does the danger facing a single red rose in a vacant lot off Second Avenue in midtown Manhattan. For Calla Bryn Sturgis, danger gathers in the east like a storm cloud. The Wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to, and they can give the Calla-folken both courage and cunning. Their guns, however, will not be enough.
Review
"The high suspense and extensive character development here (especially concerning Jake's coming-of-age), plus the enormity of King's ever-expanding universe, will surely keep his 'Constant Readers' in awe." Publishers Weekly
Review
"King stuffs the book with juice, like the big flashback, in which Pere Callahan reveals his past in...Salem's Lot. One of the greatest cavalcades in popular fiction is back on track." Ray Olson, Booklist
Review
"King does not fail us....Fans will delight not only in King's continued gleeful intertwining of multiple genres but perhaps most of all in the return of 'Salem's Lot's Father Callahan." Library Journal
Review
"[King's often brilliant Dark Tower series is an] honorable pastiche of literary works that came before it....King's latest in this seven-course banquet...is a lip-smacking, brain-filling repast." Dorman T. Shindler, The Denver Post
Review
"Like many of King's other books, this is a long one. A hefty 714 pages, it's an investment....Still, it's worth it. Say what you will about Stephen King, the man can spin a yarn, and a great one at that." Phaedra Trethan, Philadelphia Inquirer
Review
"[A] solid addition to the fantasy series....Though King does an admirable job of recounting earlier adventures, newcomers to Roland's journey would be better off starting at the beginning." Todd Camp, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Review
"[T]here's precious little adventure here. For almost 700 pages, King sets up a single battle with the title critters....Wolves of the Calla has no propulsion. It's a maddening exercise in interminable dawdling." Bruce Westbrook, The Houston Chronicle
Review
"The Dark Tower volumes and Wolves of [the] Calla are spellbinding in their own right for the way that King has constructed this other world that may or may not be our own down to the last nuance." Joe Hartlaub, BookReporter.com
Synopsis
The publication of
Wolves of the Calla, the first of the final three books in the Dark Tower series, is the most anticipated event in Stephen King's legendary career.
The world's bestselling author returns to his beloved Dark Tower series an epic, inspired by The Lord of the Rings, that King initiated more than thirty years ago. Now, Scribner and Donald M. Grant Publishers Inc. present the fifth installment of the series in a handsome edition, complete with twelve full-color illustrations by acclaimed comic book/fantasy artist Bernie Wrightson (Cycle of the Werewolf).
Wolves of the Calla continues the adventures of Roland, the last gunslinger and survivor of a civilized world that has "moved on." Roland's quest is ka, an inevitable destiny to reach and perhaps save the Dark Tower, which stands at the center of everywhere and everywhen. This pursuit brings Roland, with the three others who've joined his quest, to Calla Bryn Sturgis, a town in the shadow of Thunderclap, beyond which lies the Dark Tower. Before advancing, however, they must face the evil wolves of Thunderclap, who threaten to destroy the Calla by abducting its young.
With the recent mainstream success of the Harry Potter books, Robert Jordan's The Wheel of Time, and the Lord of the Rings film trilogy, serial fantasy is bigger than ever and the exciting, action-packed Wolves of the Calla, delivered in a beautiful, illustrated edition, is sure to be an enormous treat for fans both new and old.
Synopsis
Commencing in November 2003 with the publication of Wolves of the Calla, continuing in June 2004 with Song of Susannah (Book VI), and ending in November 2004 with The Dark Tower (Book VII), this is one of the most eagerly anticipated publishing events in Stephen King's career.
Table of Contents
CONTENTS The Final Argument
Prologue: Roont
Part One: Todash
I: The Face on the Water
II: New York Groove
III: Mia
IV: Palaver
V: Overholser
VI: The Way of the Eld
VII: Todash
Part Two: Telling Tales
I: The Pavilion
II: Dry Twist
III: The Priest's Tale (New York)
IV: The Priest's Tale Continued (Highways in Hiding)
V: The Tale of Gray Dick
VI: Gran-pere's Tale
VII: Nocturne, Hunger
VIII: Took's Store; The Unfound Door
IX: The Priest's Tale Concluded (Unfound)
Part Three: The Wolves
I: Secrets
II: The Dogan, Part 1
III: The Dogan, Part 2
IV: The Pied Piper
V: The Meeting of the Folken
VI: Before the Storm
VII: The Wolves
Epilogue: The Doorway Cave
Author's Note
Author's Afterword