The Wind Through the Keyhole review

The Dark Tower: The Wind Through the Keyhole.

This is the first book review written for Type No Evil.

 

Stephen King. The name evokes images of vampires, werewolves, antichrists, killer plagues, haunted houses and demonic clowns. But, although he is known for his exceptionally large back-catalogue of horror novels, King’s true talents lie in other areas. He has written many novels that are best described as human dramas, albeit with varying amounts of supernatural overtones. The Green Mile, Hearts in Atlantis, and the Shawshank Redemption are just three of the powerful stories that fit into this category. These all display a deep understanding of the human condition and the joys and trials of life. But it is King’s least-known work that is his true masterpiece: the eight-volume Dark Tower saga, set in the mystical Mid-World. This rich, inventive, varied, heart-rending, exhilarating story, despite its fantasy-world setting, feels more real than anything else written by King.

Constant Readers (as King has affectionately dubbed his most loyal fans) have been dreading and anticipating the prospect of an eighth volume ever since the door closed on Volume 7: The Dark Tower, which was meant to be the conclusion of the story. This latest book takes us back in time to an incident that occurred between Volume 4: Wizard and Glass and Volume 5: Wolves of the Calla, and involves our hero, Roland of Gilead, telling two tales to his Ka-Tet. As a result, The Wind Through the Keyhole manages to be both a worthy addition to the saga and a missed opportunity, all at once.

The stories that Roland tells are certainly worthy of the telling (although they lack the life-shattering impact of the revelations in Wizard and Glass). The first is the tale of a younger Roland on the trail of a shape-shifting murderer, and is a solid mystery story with compelling characters. The second is a fairy-tale that Roland tells to a boy he is protecting from the shape-changer (called a Skin-Man) and is full of tragedy, hope, evil-doers, kindness, beauty and magic. Both these tales expand  on our understanding of mid-world, and feature characters and that we are already familiar with. The already clear splendour and horror of the Dark Tower’s setting is made all the more apparent. Certain details about Mid-world’s history and mythology are illuminated in ways that enrich our appreciation of the rest of the saga. These stories are both mesmerising reads, and the dark Tower saga will be all the richer for their inclusion.

However, the framing story involving Roland and his Ka-Tet, the characters that Dark Tower readers have come to know and love, is so brief as to almost seem like little more than a device. It’s wonderful to see these characters again, and they all get shining, defining moments. They are all just as we fondly remember them, maybe even more true to themselves than they are in the previous books. We get to know them a bit better here, and I say thankee. But I can’t help but wish for more. There are no other breaks in the Dark Tower narrative for King to jump back into, and it is very hard to see how any of these characters could be revisited in stories set after the story’s conclusion. So, in all likelihood, this will be the last we will read of Jake, Eddie, Susannah and Oy. That’s a bitter pill to swallow. Sai king had a chance to give us more than this, to give us one more full-length adventure with these characters, and it’s difficult to see why he chose not to.

What I sense from this novel, and from Stephen King’s comments on it, is that King is not done with the Dark tower yet. What I would surmise (emphasis placed to indicate wild, reckless supposition), is that King feels the call to write more, but does not yet quite know how he can continue or expand the tale. His muse (or Gan, for you Tower-junkies) is not ready to speak to him on the subject. I hope she speaks soon.