I started this series with some trepidation... I've never been a Stephen King fan. The first book was interesting enough, I thoroughly enjoyed books 2-4, hated 5, and loved 6 & 7.

However, that ending really, really pissed me off.

Not only does King a) keep Roland's experience in the Tower back and fake us out with a cliffhanger ending, then b) bitch at us in a self-righteous tone immediately after for wanting to see the events that he spent SEVEN BOOKS building up to, and then c) tell us that we're not going to be satisfied with the ending he is about to deign to reveal, he then gives us an ending that basically says "and it all started over again" or "and it was all a dream."

Then he follows that lovely ending with a paragraph or two about how he doesn't want people to use his descriptions of himself and the geography of his home town to assume they know anything about him... and don't you dare stop in to say "hi."

What an asshole. Really, I mean who treats their readers like that?

Regardless, the series itself was a fun ride. I was really moved by a lot of little moments in each of the books... too many to count. The ending was a bit anti-climactic, and the Crimson King most certainly did not live up to his potential as a villain, but then again not many do.

As for it being my first King experience, I think it will also be my last. His style is unique, but he has a very frustrating way of intentionally not developing motives or plots - simple things like how characters obtain information that is either vital to their mission or sets them on a new quest - the characters just seem to "know" things without ever doing anything to find them out. I can't tell you how many of these moments there are in the whole series, but let's just say that whenever a character needs some vital bit of information to, say, operate some elaborate magical door, they just kind of immediately obtain the knowledge by doing absolutely nothing for a few minutes. No one comes along and tells them, they don't have to do some research or consult a higher power. They just know.

Also, King writing himself into the story was an interesting twist. When it first came up I thought that it was going to be a very, very stupid story arc, but King handled it well. The fact that the characters pretty much hated him was probably key to this - if they had loved him or thought he was cool it would have been stupid.

Anyway, just wanted to post my thoughts on it and see if anyone wants to discuss what I thought was a memorable, if not flawed, series.