Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

[The Dark Tower][1] V

After escaping the perilous wreckage of Blaine the insane Mono and eluding the evil clutches of the vindictive sorcerer Randall Flagg, Roland and his ka-tet find themselves back on the southeasterly path of the Beam. Here, in the borderlands that lie between Mid-World and End-World, Roland and his friends are approached by a frightened band of representatives from the nearby town of Calla Bryn Sturgis. In less than a month, the Calla will be attacked by the Wolves--those masked riders that gallop out of Thunderclap once a generation to steal the town's children. The Calla folken need the kind of help that only gunslingers can give, and if the tet agrees to help, the town's priest--Father Callahan, once of 'Salem's Lot, Maine--promises to give them Black Thirteen, the most potent and treacherous of Maerlyn's magic balls. He used it to enter Mid-World, and now it sleeps fitfully beneath the floorboards of his church. Meanwhile, in the New York of 1977, the Sombra Corporation plots to destroy the lot at Second Avenue and Forty-Sixth Street. How can Roland and his friends both save the rose and fight the Wolves? Only by using the magic of Black Thirteen, but how can anyone trust this sinister and treacherous object which is, in actuality, the eye of the Crimson King himself? Time is running out on all levels of the Tower, but unless our ka-tet can defeat the minions of Thunderclap both in our world and in Mid-World, they will never reach that great lynchpin of the time/space continuum which, even now, begins to totter . . .
([source][2])

[1]: https://openlibrary.org/works/OL81600W/The_Dark_Tower_1-7
[2]: https://stephenking.com/library/novel/dark_tower_wolves_of_the_calla_the.html

Executive Summary: While I don't feel this to be as strong of an entry as the previous two books, it is still a good book in it's own right. Besides if you've made it this far in the series, how can you really stop now?Audio book: Since I listed to the revised edition of [b:The Gunslinger 43615 The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, #1) Stephen King http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309288354s/43615.jpg 46575], I got a taste of George Guidall at the start of my audio journey with Roland on my quest for the tower. I found him to be good, but not great.Then with [b:The Drawing of the Three 5094 The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, #2) Stephen King http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1309281704s/5094.jpg 2113248], it reverted back to Frank Muller who originally read books 1-4 on cassette tape. Unfortunately for Mr. Mueller (and to a much lesser degree all of us), he got into a car accident and eventually died a few years later from the complications. This is the first book where I've gone back to Mr. Guidall.He is a great reader, but he's not Frank Mueller. I like Mr. Guidall's voice for Roland better than Mr. Mueller's. Everyone else's however are not as good. Though to be fair to Mr. Guidall, I'm not sure he's really trying to make them sound like he thinks they would, rather than simply trying to make them sound distinct from one another.I particularly miss Mr. Mueller's voices for Eddie and Susannah. That said, I enjoyed Mr. Guidall once I got used to him.Full ReviewI liked this book better on this re-read than I did originally. I think part of the reason I was down on it was how much I love [b:Wizard and Glass 5096 Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4) Stephen King http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327946510s/5096.jpg 750558]. After that book, and how long I had to wait for this one, almost anything was going to feel like a letdown.But this story mixes elements from several things I enjoy. It's like a cross between some of the Clint Eastwood spaghetti westerns, and Kurosawa film, which King himself acknowledges as influences to the story at the end of the book.This book probably more than all the others pulls in pop culture from all over the place, including Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvell Comics and even some of Mr. King's own work ([b:'Salem's Lot 11590 ‘Salem's Lot Stephen King http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327891565s/11590.jpg 3048937]).In many ways it's another diversion for Roland's Tet from their quest to the beam, but an important one as several developments occur here that make it possible for them them progress further.As this series is really all about the journey anyways, it's an enjoyable entry that not only gives us more insight into what a Gunslinger did in the time before the world moved on, but it's first real taste of what his Tet can do collectively as Gunslingers themselves.With this re-read and some time from my original read, I was better able to appreciate what this book has to offer. It does take a bit of a turn in direction from the previous 4 books that originally left me a bit disappointed, but now I found highly enjoyable, and probably inevitable.The Dark Tower runs through just about everything Mr. King writes, and he fully embraces that notion with this book, but it really started in [b:Wizard and Glass 5096 Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4) Stephen King http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327946510s/5096.jpg 750558] and Randall Flagg.I'm eager to finish my journey with Roland, but will be taking a hopefully short break to do 1 or 2 other books before continuing on with [b:Song of Susannah 5093 Song of Susannah (The Dark Tower, #6) Stephen King http://d.gr-assets.com/books/1347565645s/5093.jpg 1178083].

I think this is my favorite in the Dark Tower series because the world building, sitting around the campfires telling stories, and reminiscing, is done and the action begins to move forward in time. Also the overlapping of worlds and other King stories is very prominent.

[in honor of Jenny “Reading Envy” Colvin]
#jennyguycolvin

Makes me want to read Salem's Lot. Clever on the author's part!

I enjoyed the previous novel in the series more than I did this one, but they both get three stars. This one was entertaining, and good enough to hold my attention enough for me to delete unheard podcasts to make way for it. A good sign. But it feels bloated, with too much padding.