Whilst I wasn't especially impressed with The Gunslinger (which was good, just not that good), I found The Drawing of the Three to be absolutely enthralling. It was both trippy and exciting, and Stephen King has really managed to make Roland Deschain’s character come to life in its pages as he continues to quest towards the Dark Tower.
The Drawing of the Three picks up right where The Gunslinger leaves off, setting the scene on the desolate beach where Roland falls asleep at the end of its predecessor. This beach actually proves to be one of the major settings for the story and is much more than what it appears at first glance. As Roland journeys down it, close to death, he finds three mysterious doors that lead to another world…
Through each of these doors are challenges and tests. Challenges that Roland has never faced before. Challenges that he can’t fail at if he is to ‘draw the three’ and survive to finally lay eyes on the Dark Tower.
The Good
The Drawing of the Three managed to captivate me right from the beginning and completely sucked me in. in fact, I was unable to put the book down once I began reading it and actually finished it within a week (although it’s taken me far longer than that to actually get round to writing this review)! Its pages are packed with action, but it was more than that which made it so good – it is the weird, almost trippy story that King has thought up. It’s pretty unique and has really begun to show the complexity of King’s ‘macroverse', which will undoubtedly prove important for the books to come.
I really liked the new characters who have made appearances in the book as well. They are realistic, highly flawed and are extremely enjoyable to read about. King has done a fantastic job developing them and I found that I had very little difficultly thinking of them as real people. As always, King has researched the underlying facts of book well, and I was really able to understand the characters backgrounds and views on life.
The Bad
I actually have very little to fault with The Drawing of the Three. If I have to make one comment though, I would say that some of the language becomes a little difficult to understand at times. Basically, King describes many scenes using the voice of a highly stereotyped black woman from a run-down ghetto in America. Now, this might just because I am English and am not that familiar with all of the slang and terminology used, but some of it got quite difficult to follow!
My Thoughts
The Drawing of the Three is undoubtedly one of the best books I have read in a while. Do not ‘forget the face of your father’ – either read this book or begin the series.
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