Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower) - Hardcover

King, Stephen; McKean, Dave

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 188041838X ISBN 13: 9781880418383

Publisher: Donald M Grant Publishers,US, 1997

Synopsis

Yes, Blaine said at last. I agree. If I solve. All the riddles you ask me, I will take you with me to the place where the path ends in the clearing. If one of you tells a riddle I cannot solve, I will spare your lives and leave you in Topeka, from whence you may continue your quest for the Dark Tower, if you so choose. Have I understood the terms and limits of your proposal correctly, Roland son of Steven?Yes.There was a moment of silence, broken only by the hard steady throb of the slo-trans turbines bearing them on across the waste lands, bearing them along the Path of the Beam toward Topeka, where Mid-World ended and End-World-began.So, cried the voice of Blaine. Cast your nets, wanderers! try me with your questions, and let the contest begin.It is with this bargain that The Waste Lands ends; it is with this bargain that Wizard and Glass begins. This long awaited sequel designed and illustrated by artist Dave McKean features eighteen full page color paintings, seven black & white drawings and runs over 800 pages. This First Edition is being published in a 1,200 copy two volume slipcased edition signed by both Stephen King and Dave McKean and in a single volume 40,000 copy Limited Trade Hardcover Edition.

About this title

Review:

Wizard and Glass, the fourth episode in King's white-hot Dark Tower series, is a sci-fi/fantasy novel that contains a post-apocalyptic Western love story twice as long. It begins with the series' star, world-weary Roland, and his world-hopping posse (an ex-junkie, a child, a plucky woman in a wheelchair, and a talking dog-like pet named Oy the Bumbler) trapped aboard a runaway train. The train is a psychotic multiple personality that intends to commit suicide with them at 800 m.p.h.--unless Roland and pals can outwit it in a riddling contest. It's a great race, for the mind and pulse. Films should be this good. Then comes a 567- page flashback about Roland at age 14. It's a well-marbled but meaty tale. Roland and two teenage friends must rescue his first love from the dirty old drooling mayor of a post-apocalyptic cowboy town, thwart a civil war by blowing up oil tanks, and seize an all-seeing crystal ball from Rhea, a vampire witch. The love scenes are startlingly prominent and earthier than most romance novels (they kiss until blood trickles from her lip).

After an epic battle ending in a box canyon to end all box canyons, we're back with grizzled, grown-up Roland and the train-wreck survivors in a parallel world: Kansas in 1986, after a plague. The finale is a weird fantasy takeoff on The Wizard of Oz Some readers will feel that the latest novel in King's most ambitious series has too many pages--almost 800--but few will deny it's a page-turner.

Review:

'King at his most ebullient. He's at his best here - as a resourceful explorer of humanity's shadow side, as a storyteller who can set pages on fire' PUBLISHERS WEEKLY

'King's most personal, most engaging work' SUNDAY EXPRESS

'Grim, funny and superbly energetic, it's King at his best' MAIL ON SUNDAY

About this edition

• Publisher: Donald M Grant Publishers,US
• Publication date: 1997
• ISBN 10: 188041838X
• ISBN 13: 9781880418383
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 787