This is the 6th book in King’s Dark Tower series. I’ve been a fan of that series for years, ever since I first discovered it, and have watched its slow progress with a great deal of anticipation. I’m not generally an avid King follower, to be sure, but this series is an exception, and a few of his stand-alone novels (IT, The Stand, Salem’s Lot) are works I think highly of.
Overall, the Dark Tower series started out very, very cool. The cool factor has been wearing off, and King has been replacing it gradually with his trademark weird factor. This is, I suppose, somewhat inevitable, even if I would have preferred it otherwise. It’s hard to retain the same quality of sparse solitary obsession across thousands of pages without it becoming a source of boredom. In light of that, King has retained many of the qualities of the first novel in the sequence, and has managed to keep things interesting and exciting.
Those who have been following the series have a pretty good idea what the plot of this book will consist of. Susannah Dean has, somehow, managed to get herself pregnant, and Wolves of the Calla closed the story when her baby came due.
Thus, Song of Susannah sends the title character off to have the baby, with Jake, Roland, Eddie, and Callahan going after her. Without spoiling the plot, I will say that I enjoyed the book. The weirdness factor remained about the same, with one startling and worthwhile exception. The book was handled well, with no glaring missteps, and has advanced the plot a fair bit. If there’s a complaint to be had, it’s that the book ends too soon; it’s a doozy of a cliffhanger. If you’ve been following the series, get the book and read it. It won’t disappoint. If you haven’t, read the first two, and if you like those, you’ll probably like the rest.
