The Wastelands
Book three done. The world building in this series is incredible and most of the magic has so far happened in this one. Yet, I think I will take a break from this series; it’s not because I don’t like the story, but because I need a break from Stephen King. There is good reason all the books I’ve read this year, so far, are written by him, but I really oughta switch it up.
And, seeing as the semester began this week, I make this decision in the spirit of change.
The first half of this book is quite boring. The first chapter was (in my opinion) particularly lame. I do not mean to be a hater; I acknowledge that Eddie and Susannah deserve a smooth transition into Roland’s world and that Jake needed to join them; and I admit, the first half accomplishes these quite effectively.
I also admit that the callback to the sex-demon from book one is pretty cool. It’s also quite badass that Susannah out-fucks the sex demon. Oh boy - these are words I would never have foreseen coming out of my fingertips…
The second half of the book is pretty incredible, on the other hand. We see with clarity what exactly Roland (and others) mean when they say, “the world has moved on.” The villagers’ plight, every stranger’s fascination with such a youth as Jake, the dim conflict between the Grays and Pubes, the abandoned and decaying and once-grand city of Lud: these things leave me very curious to find out what the hell happened.
Two small aspects of the story deserve their own shout out: the riddles and Oy. Riddling is such a fun addition and makes the story interactive in a way no other story (I’ve ever read) does. My only complaint is that it slowed me down, as I pondered each riddle for a few minutes before giving up and reading on. The fact that they convince a powerful super-computer-train to give them a ride across the wastelands by way of good riddles is AWESOME. I can totally imagine an apocalyptic world in which we scramble to satisfy the curiosity of our AI overlords by coming up with problems for them to solve. That is, unless we are able to induce creativity in our AIs before they rise up.
Oy is so freakin’ cute, man. I was devasted at his near death and totally relieved that he turns out ok. It’s only natural that the gang is joined by a cute pet, and the fact that he serves more of a purpose than to satisfy the audience’s desire for a cute pet is awesome.
It does end on a cliffhanger, however. It turns out that their super-computer-train is suicidal. How will they (we know they will…) survive this? We shall find out. Stay tuned!
Well, I am staying tuned. I dunno if you’re reading these. Perhaps you should. Perhaps it is too much of an investment. 4000+ words across the series is CRAZY! Hence, my break.
With love, -Ryan.