Book Series Review-The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

 

I am rolling through the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. I am currently on the 4th book (just started) and am loving it! I will do a combined review of the books that I've finished so far. This *may* contain spoilers but I'll try to avoid them as much as possible. 

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First impressions were a bit iffy. You basically get thrown into a world that makes no real sense when you crack open The Gunslinger. You're on a depressing journey with this guy that's looking for someone or something. He's Roland of Gilead. A Gunslinger, but you don't know exactly what that means. The story is disjointed and chaotic but something about it tickles your brain and keeps you reading. 

Roland eventually meets up with Jake, a boy who isn't from Roland's world or time line. Speaking of timelines...you aren't quite sure about that with Roland's world. When is it? Where is it? There's things that show you that they have technology, or had technology, but everything is crumbling and decrapitated. Roland's world has "moved on." This is a phrase that's said often, but explained very little. 

Roland is on a quest to catch up to The Man in Black, for some reason. It's vague. It's intriguing. It kept me reading and engaged. Things happen along the way. Action and adventure. Good stuff! 

The first line of the book sums it up perfectly. "The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed." 

That's pretty much the story. 

The 2nd book in the series gets even more funkier with the timelines and the characters (sometimes one character has multiple personalities!) and is an even wilder ride that the first book! The writing is tighter, you get more character development. Roland gets fleshed out more. There's time travel-ish, with characters from the 60's, 70's and 80's. And then whatever time Roland is from. It can be a tad confusing before everything is pulled together but when it does it's glorious! We're introduced to Odetta/Detta and Eddie. His new companions.  More time travel shenanigans happen. Some personality shifting happens. And a lot of weirdness happens. The 2nd book was much better than the first, with better more cohesive story threads and fleshed out characters. 

Definitely a good start to a LOONG series. 

So the 3rd book takes the funky fun even further. The trio (Roland, Eddie and the newly Susannah..formerly Odetta/Detta) are on their journey to find the Dark Tower. On the way, they have to rescue and reunite with Jake...remember from the first book? Well he is pulled back into Mid-world and right smack into danger. So the gang has to get him out of said danger so all of them can get back to the tower plan. 

Again with the time travel-ish, and again with the shifting of realities. It should be getting old by now but it's not. King's writing continues to get better with each of these books. You can tell he's getting more and more comfortable with the characters and with the weirdness (I mean duh, it's Stephen King..right?) And you as the reader are also getting used to all the random crap that's being thrown your way. 

Oh oh oh and this book is where you are introduced to the bestest character ever! 

My dude Oy the billy bumbler. 

 Like for reals, once this handsome fella stepped on the scene, it became the Oy show. 

Roland who?

Also there's a talking insane train named Blaine. It's wild man, and I am on this ride til the end. 

I'll post another series review when I get through the next few! 

Have you read this series? What do you think? 

Quickie Book Review- A History Of Women In America

 

I am a bit of a history buff. I'm no expert, don't claim to be, but I am very much a nerd about learning. This book caught my interest when I saw it at the used book store. The pictures on the cover drew me in. I wanted to know about those ladies and how their lives might have looked. 

The way this book was written made these women come to life. History can be a bit dry, but this was not a book that left you needing hydration. It's engaging, lively, and very well pieced together. The pictures and illustrations are well picked and brought some of the ladies highlighted to "life." 

It's a very easily readable and well written book that will inform and in some instances thoroughly entertain you. (Some of these ladies led quite "colorful" lives!) 

Highly recommend this one! 

Reading Plans

 

I finished my first book of 2026! I am really liking the Dark Tower series by Stephen King. So I'm moving into the 4th book, Wizard and Glass. I'm also going to try to dive into the Black Dagger Brotherhood by J.R. Ward, so I'm going to read the first book in that main series. 

So these are what I'm going to try to get into this week. Wizard and Glass is freaking huge so I won't be done with it, but I do hope to at least get through half! 

What are you reading this week? 

Casual Readathon

 This is a casual lil shindig for me! Starting now (Thurs. 15th, @ 11am) and ending Saturday (not yet decided when yet) *maybe even rolling over to Sunday, I dunno* I will be reading any chance I get. Any time I can sit my ass on the sofa, reading. Anytime I have a free moment, reading. No pressure, no goals..though it would be lovely to finish a book..just reading. 

I have work, house chores, taking care of the Lady but in the in between times I have plenty of chances to read. 

This is also impromptu. 

First up:

I'm starting from page: 176 

I'll keep ya posted, probably daily, maybe more frequent. We shall see! 

Weekly Reads

 

This week I hope to wrap up The Waste Lands and start on the 4th book, Wizard and Glass, and finish Pride and Prejudice. 

I'm looking forward to marking The Waste Lands as my first read of 2026. I might make Wednesday a readathon as I have that whole day off. The Lady has a nurse visit so I'll have to take a break for that and of course the typical daily chores that I do, but otherwise I'm thinking about a social media/tv/youtube black out so I can focus on reading as much as I can cram into one day. 

That'll be fun. I have a lot of catching up to do. 

What are you reading or planning on reading this week? 

Check In

 

So how have you all been? Me, I've been all over the place mentally. Lately, I've been wanting to do the things but not finding the energy to actually do them. Starting on things and then putting them down. It's not been fun. I don't like to get political or whatever, but the state of the world lately has really pressed down hard on me mentally. I've kind of checked out and tuned out without any real progress on my goals. Reading, studying and working out hasn't really seemed important in the grand scheme of things, but I know that's not good for my mental health at all. I can only change the things that I can change and I have to remember that. 

So I'm trying to "force" myself out of the slump. Out of the fog that I've found myself in and try to get back to focusing on my goals and what I would like to achieve this year. 

So for the next few weeks I'm going to get back on a work out routine, focus on improving my diet and meal prepping, reading (and writing reviews again..still have several to do!), and studying. I want to take the exam to get my certifications, so I'm going to brush up on my studies and hopefully do the exam mid to late this year. I also want to become decently knowledgeable in Latin (started studying last year and kind of puttered out, so picking that back up). 

I want to aim for 30 books read this year. 

I want to become more fit and lose about 25 pounds.

So how are y'all doing? Are you hitting your goals so far?  How many books have you read by now? 

Most importantly..HOW ARE YOU FEELING? 

Weekend Plans

 

So because of a change in my work schedule I have this afternoon, tomorrow during the day and Sunday during the day. 

So that means I have plenty of time to read! I want to finish The Wastelands (book 3 in the Dark Tower series) and get some in on the rest of my TBR. 

I am extremely motivated! Also, reviews will start to show up here very very soon. I've got a little bank of reviews that need to be posted.  

So what are your plans for the weekend?