As you all know, I reviewed the first Dark Tower entry, The Gunslinger, in a favorable light. After I read the final page – I immediately wanted more. The problem was, I had a stack of books to read and no where within was the sequel. 3 books later, I cracked open “The Drawing Of The Three”.

Plot Summary:

After his confrontation with the man in black at the end of The Gunslinger, Roland awakes to find three doors on the beach of Mid-World’s Western Sea-each leading to New York City but at three different moments in time. Through these doors, Roland must “draw” three figures crucial to his quest for the Dark Tower. In 1987, he finds Eddie Dean, The Prisoner, a heroin addict. In 1964, he meets Odetta Holmes, the Lady of Shadows, a young African-American heiress who lost her lower legs in a subway accident and gained a second personality that rages within her. And in 1977, he encounters Jack mort, Death, a pusher responsible for cruelties beyond imagining. Has Roland found new companions to form the ka-tet of his quest? Or has he unleashed something else entirely?

Thoughts:

While there was no particular scene in “Drawing of the Three” that outshone the Battle of Tull in “The Gunslinger” – I still enjoyed the sequel nonetheless. Some of the action as well as most of the intense moments kept me from putting the book down at times – to the point where I was fighting off sleep. It was that good.

King does a masterful job introducing “The Three” referenced at the end of “Gunslinger”. Eddie becomes an easily likeable character – someone who you feel sympathy for almost immediately. While I did find Oddetta/Detta to be ridiculously annoying at times – I had a hard time with the language King wrote for her character – she did her job adequately.

Continuing along the same path for Roland – we do see him warm up to the idea that reaching the Tower might be near impossible as well as his struggle with what will become of his newfound protege.

While keeping the overall tone – “Drawing of the Three” introduces a little humor into the series. Not overly but I did find myself laughing out loud more than a few occasions. Having someone from “our world” in with Roland worked really well – I enjoyed it a lot more this time around; more than Jake Chambers from “Gunslinger”.