Journey step started: July 28, 2026
Journey step ended: ???
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Day 1670: Jul 28, 2026
It’s a glorious day when I get to begin the next tome in my Stephen King journey! And I’ve finally, after 2 years, reached the end of The Dark Tower main saga. This ranks as the fifth longest book (by page count) in King’s bibliography, so I’ll be here for a while.
Like many, I nabbed this when it first came out in 2004, raced through to the end, and other than that now infamous ending, I remember none of it. So a new experience awaits!
๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ๐ด ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต๐ช๐ท๐ฆ ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ.
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ, ๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ณ, ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ค๐บ๐ค๐ญ๐ฆ
๐ช๐ด ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฅ๐ช๐ค๐ข๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ.
๐๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฅ๐ข๐บ๐ด ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฏ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต๐ด.
What is this? King & sons? Or a gaggle of Kings from different ages?
The previous Dark Tower novels had R-themed subtitles:
Resumption (The Gunslinger)
Renewal (The Drawing of the Three) Redemption (The Waste Lands)
Regard (Wizard and Glass)
Resistance (Wolves of the Calla)
Reproduction (Song of Susannah)
And here is what the 7th book has drawn. Interestingโฆ Multiple subtitles and several repeats?
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ด๐ต ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ฃ๐ซ๐ฆ๐ค๐ต ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ข ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ธ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฏ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ข ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ด๐ต๐ช๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ด ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ, ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ธ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ถ๐ต๐ช๐ง๐ถ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ.
The book opens up with Father Callahan, Jake and Oy about to enter into The Dixie Pig to save Susannah.
๐๐บ ๐ด๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ต ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ญ, ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฎ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐น๐บ ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ข๐ต.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ง๐ต๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ช๐ณ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฌ.
I’ll have to refer you to the end of Song of Susannah for the gruesome description of what was ACTUALLY cooking in The Dixie Pig!
โ๐๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ,โ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ท๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ค๐ข๐ญ๐ฎ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด. โ๐๐ข๐ต๐ค๐ฉ ๐ถ๐ฑ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฉ. ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ช๐ด ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ.โ
โ๐๐ถ๐ต ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ค๐ข๐ฏโ๐ตโโ
โ๐๐ฐ, ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ!โ
๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐น๐ช๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐จ, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ณ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ฐฬ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต, ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ด๐ช๐ญ๐บ ๐ข๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฎ๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ, ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏโ๐ด ๐ท๐ฐ๐ช๐ค๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏโ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฉ.
โ๐ ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ต! ๐๐ช๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ! ๐๐ด ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฉ ๐ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ!โ
Pere Callahan was holding the vampires and low-men at bay with his ceramic hypnotizing turtle and Roland’s voice booms out of his mouth.
Yep – a typical beginning to a Dark Tower Novel!
๐๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ด๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฅ๐ฆฬ๐ซ๐ขฬ ๐ท๐ถโ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ต, ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ช๐ท๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐บ ๐ฏ๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ ๐๐ฆ๐ต๐ณ๐ช๐ฆโ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ช๐ณ๐ต ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ถ๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ต ๐ค๐ญ๐ช๐ค๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ต. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ค๐ณ๐ฐ๐ด๐ด ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ข ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ช๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ถ๐ช๐ด๐ฉ-๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐จ๐ญ๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ธ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ค๐ช๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ๐ด ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐จ๐ณ๐ข๐ฃ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ข๐ธ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ช๐ฅ๐ด๐ต. ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ฅ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ธ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ข๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ. ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ด๐ข๐ธ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ถ๐ณ๐ง๐ข๐ค๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ช๐ณ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ด๐ช๐ป๐ป๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐จ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ญ๐ช๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฆ๐ง๐บ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ช๐จ๐ฉ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ด๐ข๐ท๐ข๐จ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด.
โ๐๐ฆ๐ต ๐ฃ๐ข๐ค๐ฌ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ฎ๐ฆ!โ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ. โ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฐ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ! ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ฉ๐ณ๐ช๐ด๐ต ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ! ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฌ๐ข ๐ฐ๐ง ๐๐ช๐ฅ-๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ! ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ ๐ค๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ๐ด ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ!โ
The redemptive arc of Father Callahan is so… satisfying!
๐๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ต ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ซ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ญ๐ถ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ด๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ค๐ฌ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ช๐ท๐ฐ๐ณ๐บ ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ต๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆโ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฎ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ด ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ด๐ฐ. ๐๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฌ๐ฐฬ๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ข ๐ต๐ถ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ณ๐ถ๐จ, ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ข๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ข๐ฃ๐ญ๐ฆ๐ด, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ (๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ข ๐ค๐ฆ๐ณ๐ต๐ข๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฑ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ข๐ต ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ง ๐บ๐ฐ๐ถ ๐ฎ๐ข๐บ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ) ๐ฑ๐ข๐ด๐ด๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ต๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ.
Whoa – this sudden fourth-wall breaking nod to IT was rather disruptive!
๐๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ, ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐ข๐ฉ๐ข๐ฏ ๐ฐ๐ง โ๐๐ข๐ญ๐ฆ๐ฎโ๐ด ๐๐ฐ๐ต, ๐ต๐ถ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ถ๐จ๐ฆ๐ณโ๐ด ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ป๐ป๐ญ๐ฆ ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ๐ด๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง. ๐๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ข๐ด๐ต๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฏ๐ฐ ๐ต๐ช๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ญ๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฌ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฆ๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฏ๐ช๐ต๐บ ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ข๐ณ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ด๐ด ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฃ๐ข๐ณ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ฑ๐ญ๐ข๐ค๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐ข๐จ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ง ๐ฐ๐ง ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ.
โ๐๐ช๐ญ๐ฆ, ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ!โ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ, ๐ข๐ฏ๐ฅ ๐ฌ๐ฏ๐ฆ๐ธ.
Fare thee well and see ye at the end of the clearing, Pere Callahan!
And with that explosive opening to The Dark Tower, I finish reading for today. I am now only 3% of the way through this novel.
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