“Good. All right – I’ll drown. Let me drown.”
The Gunslinger lay on the shore of the Western Sea and waited for death. But we are addicted to our stories, our realities.
At the cost of everything else. And thus again, with the whisper of a dead man – Death, but not for you, Roland, you will survive. But not in the way you could bear.
For the story continues – and finality is unacceptable. Thus, Roland loses some fingers but kills the monster from the waves that came to end his story. And sickly, moves forward to find his companions and future sacrifices to the Tower.
What else is a companion good for?
Addiction is presented in interesting ways. From Roland’s almost zealot devotion to the Tower’s path to Eddie’s need for a fix to Odetta’s ability to hide away from her other self.
A good man is a boring hero they say. And that is the truth of the matter – as we find Eddie is a drug mule who needs saving after his brother overdoses as he helps Roland massacre a mafia family, and Odetta has a nasty side to her in the form of the deranged kleptomaniac Detta – born after a tragedy.
Roland is no prize either, carrying the burden of an unforced sacrifice in the form of Jake Chambers, the boy who fell into the wasteland. And he will do it again when the time comes for Eddie and Odetta. Death is the gift he gives for the Tower.
An interesting ‘forming of the band’ sequel to the Gunslinger, the Drawing of the Three shows Roland at death’s door and find support in weird and desperate company. He also earns some closure by the end – and most struggles are good and you have connected with every member of the group. The villains here are mostly each other, as they each struggle with their past and present.
The Tower beckons. Damnation or salvation – for him or for others. What matters is the path.
The rest matters as little as fading breath on a mirror.
+Dynamic new characters with interesting backstories
+Vibrant world building
+The stakes are increased organically
-The flow is still a bit jumpy
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