Wizard and Glass

Pew! I've been waiting for this book for a looong time, maybe too long. I didn't hesitate one moment when I found the trade paperback, regardless of the fact D.M. Grant mailed the hardcover version to me a month ago (I just haven't received it yet).

The book starts of where DT3 ended – on Blain the Pain. Our Ka-tet makes it of Blain (what did you expect? The book ending on page sixty? – The interesting part is how).

The rest of the story is quite different from the first three books – it's mostly concerned with Roland and his first love (Susan, who has been mentioned a couple of times in the other books). Entwined in this puppy love story is a story about The Good Man, Farson and how the "moving on" of the world started.

I might as well say it right now: I'm a bit disappointed with this book or at least the first two thirds of it. King is not a romance writer (but manages surprisingly well, it could have been a lot more boring) and I do not expect the main story of a King book to be a "Young Cowboy meets Young Cowgirl and Sweet Romance Is In The Air" kind of story. Even if it is mixed with a story about becoming an adult and a story about the "moving on" of the world. Even if it is very well written and King manages to create some very interesting characters. Maybe my expectations where wrong...

Somewhere between halfway and two thirds in to the book, the books starts to pick up and things start to get interesting. The last third of the book is quite good – King is back on track and travelling through waters that he knows well. We meet some old "friends" and the Ka-tet gets a bit closer to the Tower.

Is this book worth reading? I think so, you will probably be happy that you read it when you start DT5 one day. And as I said – the last third is quite good and you may not find the first two thirds as uninteresting as I did.