The Dark Tower III: The Wastelands

Stephen King

1991

With the three united and the path towards Roland’s ultimate goal realigns old and new faces reappear as the Ka-tet reaches the city of Lud. This is where the reader finds themselves at the beginning of what is considered one of Stephen King’s greatest works "The Wastelands." Compared to the first two Dark Tower books "The Wastelands" is really where King once again shows off his prowess for the utterly strange and terrifying he is so well known for.

 Whereas "The Gunslinger" was a mostly classic Western story with some supernatural elements, and "The Drawing of the Three" was a slightly erratic and introspective story about the character of the Gunslinger other two members of the group that he travels with. But "The Wastelands" is closest to a classic lord of the rings type adventure story complete with mythical monsters, deep worldbuilding, and a group of adventurers traveling into dangerous and unknown places. 

King not only builds upon the existing characters of Roland, Eddie, and Susannah but builds upon the building of the strange world the reader finds themselves in as King provides many answers to the Gunslingers world but also leaves the reader with just as many questions.

Overall "The Wastelands" is a strange and wonderful third addition to the Dark tower series and earns its place high up on the list of Stephen King’s already great works. I give it a final score of 10/10