Oy is gonna make it.
But he’s gonna be the only one. He’s going to be at the Tower-
"Oland. Ake. Eddie. Usannah. Alitha Unwin.
Regarding Harry Potter. Maybe it’s got to do with something that appears at the end of the book.
Seems a strange way to tie things in though 
Finished it last night. Now the wait for “Song of Susannah”!
I hope he puts out a dictionary of the phrases in common speech of all-world.
Also finished it last night – and I also have the tell-tale black fingers today. Geez louise, nothing in the house would get that stuff off! I thought I had gotten a defective book from a bad dye lot, I was surprised so many people mentioned it.
I’m giving it a big thumbs up! I was not overly impressed with DT#4, so I was cautious when I picked up Wolves of the Calla. I feel that in recent years, his writing has become more mellow, which works okay for books like Hearts in Atlantis, but I was THRILLED that this is a like a return to his more high-energy, roller coaster sort of writing style.
Mostly things I loved about the book, and a few quibbles:
I give an A+ to:
–Noticing the Harry Potter font and then what is revealed at the end
–Reading the description of the wolves’ long glowing rod weapons, and thinking “hey, that sounds like a …”
–bringing back the thugs that Eddie killed in DT#2
–the mini-flashback to Roland and Cuthbert
–I would have been more ticked off about King writing himself in like that, except for the fact that way back in DT#2 (I think, or was it #3), Eddie has already mentioned the movie The Shining, which for some reason makes this feel less contrived and more like a plan.
–Father Callahan (although I thought King devoted too much time to his backstory, did we really have to go through all of his wandering and drinking and wandering and drinking?)
–Oy, who is simply always great. By all rights, a furry semi-talking cute character should have Ewok-syndrome written all over it, but Oy is just the best! Oy!
Which brings us to the quibbles
–I’m not really sure how I feel about Callahan’s stance on Susannah’s condition, that seemed mightily righteous for a person who has seen all that he has. I mean, I know he’s a (sort of) Catholic priest and all, but how much do you want to screw around with demon spawn after you’ve been living in Roland’s world and seen them in action?
–okay, I know this is a picky little detail, but hey, my life is about picky little details – when they go to NY and visit the rose, Susannah asks Roland if they are dreaming, he tells her that if she cuts her foot in NY, she’ll have a cut on her foot back in the Calla. But SHE DOESN’T EVEN HAVE FEET back in the Calla. I could see Eddie saying something like this as more of a figure of speech, but Roland is just so literal-minded, I can’t for a moment believe that he would forget about her lack of feet.
And finally a question:
I was very confused about how quickly they all get on board with this plan that involves going back and forth between the worlds a bunch of times – shouldn’t they, especially Roland, be a little more wary of the possibility of mucking up time, seeing as that led to such problems with the Jake dead/not dead thing? What’s up with that?
Jesus, blanx, that was kind of chilling. And kind of cool.
Thanks! I like it.
Minor nitpicks below…
More nitpicks- SK clearly has never visited Detroit. Not to make too much out of it, but that address on Michigan Ave of the Sombra Corp is a shithole- nowhere near the nice part of town. Plus, it’s physically impossible for a building in Detroit to overlook Lake Michigan. Why, you ask? Hold up your right hand, palm towards you. See where the base of your thumb joins the palm? That’s Detroit. Now see where the padded part of the opposite side of your hand is? That’s Lake Michigan. A distance of probably 200 miles. That’s one tall fucking building.
There are a lot of glossary terms in the compendium. There’ll be a Compendium II after the last 2 books are released.
I thought that the Harry Potter reference was a touch much. It seems like that was forced reference, and maybe one just for contemporary literature. However, I liked the idea of Callahan’s discovery. Along with the Star Wars and Dr Doom references, it could have been VERY cheesily handled. I think that King did at least a decent job of meshing these in to the fabric of the story.
And King references are nothing new in his own works. He’s referenced (though not by name) in Tommyknockers. And there has been at least other book, outside of this series, where he’s mentioned by name. And the second version of Charlie the Choo-Choo was written by the widow of his pen name, Richard Bachman. In fact, I think Bachman’s mentioned, too.
Ooh! I just had a thought: Suppose that Susannah’s baby is Tak from Desperation and The Regulators. According to the index at the beginning of Wolves of the Calla, both of those books are related to the Dark Tower series. It doesn’t really say how, or when, though. And those both take place AFTER the times that Roland and gang have travelled to New York.
Just a thought.
I finished it yesterday.
One observation.
Look at the list of his books in bold at the beginning.
Count them. Subtract the screenplay for the Stand as it is a repeat.
How many are there?
Neat!
I liked it a lot… and I can’t wait for Song of Susannah.
RolandGunslinger What the hell are you talking about?
Delphica You’re upset about the [spoiler]cut on her foot remark** do you forgive the east is west problems in Drawing of the Three? (facing north, turns right, now facing west?)
damn. coding sucks.
I don’t know for sure, but I think you may have been whooshed, my friend. I think that rolandgunslinger was making a little joke for the people who hadn’t finished it yet.
I was hoping…
Unless
not having an ‘ending’ is a surprise
which, if you’ve read any of the other books and realize that this is a series, you wouldn’t be surprised anyway.
Especially since
King SAYS in the intro that parts 6 and 7 will be published next year.
blanx, I thought it was pretty clear that Sombra Corp. was in Chicago, not Detroit. And Michigan Avenue is indeed very close to the lake of the same name.
Spoilers about the ending of this book:
[spoiler]I LOVED the whole book, but thought the ending was ludicrous. I don’t mind it when SK gets self-referential, but he’s always done it in such a way that the characters of any given book understand themselves to be real, and often understand other incidents/history/people from other SK books to be real. Characters from one book may encounter characters from another book, for instance, or know about how such-and-such happened in Castle Rock (or whereever) in a given year.
But this one really bothered me. I think he’s inserted himself far too much into the plot to the point of making me, the reader, be all too reminded that this is a work of fiction. Nothing in a fictional book should EVER remind the reader that they’re reading fiction. It pissed me off.
But, given that this whole series has been amazing throughout, I am quite hopeful that SK will redeem this and I’ll happily eat crow. I’m also unsure of where all this “fictional” stuff is headed, what with the lightsabres, Harry Potter model sneetches, Dr. Dooms, etc. Whatever is revealed will likely help override my objections above.
And while I am at it, would a Catholic priest really, truly object to aborting a DEMON?! Don’t they, in fiction at any rate, perform excorcisms? How is this different, philosophically? It seemed pretty dumb, to me.[/spoiler]
OK, all that said, I loved the book and found it as engrossing and enchanting as its predecessors. I CAN’T WAIT for the final two.
Beadalin- You could be right, but I was pretty certain that the Sombra corp was in Detroit. I’ll re read that section tonight. You’re right, of course about Mich Ave in Chicago.
And, I concur with the stuff in your spoiler box.
I was struck by this too, as Detroit was mentioned, but then the view of the office on Michigan Avenue was of Lake Michigan. I know it’s not our earth, but that’s quite a relocation.
Truth be told, that doesn’t bother me as much because it seems like bad proof-reading, rather than bad writing. Also, probably because I’m the kind of person who is always getting right and left and east and west mixed up. 
The other thing that really gets me is the name of Eddie’s little sister (the one who was killed by a car, leaving Eddie’s mom to obsessively demand that Henry watch out for Eddie) is given in one of the books as Gloria, and in the other as Serena. (I think 2 and 3 respectively, but I could have that mixed).
Also, Jack Mort’s eye color changes from one book to the next – and I don’t mean when Roland’s eyes show up, I mean aside from that. You know, I think I should have gone into proof-reading as a career.
Yes, I know I’m annoying.
yup. 
Crap. Another book I’ve got to buy. And I’m so broke.
Hm. Over Thanksgiving weekend, I suppose.
Beadalin- I was right.
check page 453 in your US version- “The Tishman Building, 982 Michigan Avenue, one of the finest business addresses in the D.”
Last I checked- the D is Detroit. Plus, earlier, the letter about the $$$ refers to Richard P Sayre, Exec. VP, Detroit.
although, all of this means nothing- it could simply be that in this particular version of Earth Detroit is where Chicago is. But I doubt it.
Cry your pardon for being so nit-picky, but I drive down Michigan Ave in Detroit every day to work and this one was just glaring to me.