I was impressed enough with the first novel in the Dark Tower series, The Gunslinger, that I immediately started reading this next novel. While The Drawing of the Three is indicative of King's excellent and unique writing style, ultimately it just didn't do it for me.
The novel picks up right where The Gunslinger left off. Roland has had his confrontation with The Man In Black, who planted in Roland's mind enough clues to the Dark Tower that our hero is even more determined than ever to find the Tower. There's just one problem: Roland is exhausted from his travels through the desert, he's dehydrated, and, as occurs almost immediately as we jump into this novel, he becomes crippled.
Right there is where King began to lose me. Roland is an indomitable character; nothing is going to stop him as long as he's got his six shooters at his side. We learned that from the first book. But what King does is change the game right from the get-go as Roland is severely wounded by a lobster-like creature (called 'lobstrosities'), thereby impairing his ability to use his weapons in quite the same fashion as he did in The Gunslinger.
It's fairly obvious what King is doing. The Man In Black told Roland he would need to draw three people from the other side (i.e., our world) to aid him in his quest. These three are then to become Roland's crutches. This might have worked if the Three were as strong as characters as Roland himself. But instead they are a druggie, a crazy black woman with a severe split personality disorder, and… well, I won't reveal the third. Suffice to say I couldn't get into the crutch characters. They become too much of the story and just weren't nearly as compelling as Roland himself.
While King shines through with his usual well-thought supporting characters, and the writing truly kept me engaged, I just don't like where this series is going. I read a review of the next book in the series, The Wastelands, and it didn't sound like it was much different. In fact, the reviewer said it was even more out there than this novel.
That being said, I don't think I'll be following Roland any further on his quest to find the Dark Tower. I am, however, looking forward to the Ron Howard directed movie adaptation. King has penned some amazing novels that have later been adapted to the big screen. I think Howard is going to come up with something superb with this material. The Drawing of the Three , however, was not good enough to compel me to want to continue reading the series.
Join my reader's group and get The Hall of Riddles (An Alchemancer Prequel) and The Assassin's Dilemma (An Assassin Without a Name Prequel) as a welcome gift.