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He makes up square details and then hammers them into a round story with a ball peen hammer until they fit. He’s extremely long-winded, which explains the length of some of his novels.
For the last year or so I’ve been reading through Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. Currently I’m reading the Song of Susannah. His stories are fun and engaging, and I can see why people like them. But why, oh why, can’t he just stick with the story at-hand?
The overarching story in the Dark Tower series chronicles the journey of Gunslinger Roland Deschain and his companions Eddie, Susannah, and Jake of New York on their quest through a wierd fantasy land that’s half-western, half-sci-fi, half-Mad Max, and half-horror to a place where all worlds meet called the Dark Tower.
It’s a straightforward storyline; the Journey has been the main plot element in hundreds of great stories from the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien to On The Road by Jack Kerouac to the Pilgrim’s Progress by John Bunyan. But for some reason, King seems to wander off on random tangents, taking his characters on adventures that have nothing to do with the quest for the Dark Tower. It’s extremely annoying. In fact, if it wasn’t for his friggin awesome characters, his books would be sitting there, rotting on my shelf.
For instance, 90% of book 4, Wizard and Glass, was a flashback. The flashback would’ve made an excellent story by itself, but since it was part of a book that was supposed to be part of the search for the Dark Tower, it really got in the way. Wizard and Glass is an 800 page tome. That’s a lot of superfluous information. As I read it, I kept yelling at the characters in my mind to get the backstory over-with so they could focus on the journey at-hand.
The Song of Susannah started directly where the last book, the Wolves of the Calla, left off. Susannah had become posessed by one of her multiple personalities, and run away somewhere. I really could’ve cared less. Where’s the forward progress? I just keep wanting them to hurry up, bring her back, and keep journeying towards that tower. That is the gist of the story, isn’t it?
It also seems like they keep on finding random mysitcal symbols and magical artifacts that have just been laying around. It’s a way to expand the story and keep it moving, but I’m not so sure it’s one I like. It’s good to make stuff up as you go, but some of the things that King is creating seem to have no relationship with anything that has previously been in the story.
For example, the number 19 suddenly appeared one or two books ago Its presented in such a way that it should have some sort of significance. However, nothing in any of the previous books even mentions that number in any particular way. And also, all of a sudden, every character in the story seemed to have some sort of reverence for the number, but no one has explained to the reader why. The characters seem to get it. Why don’t they let me in on the gag?
Luckily (I’m in the middle of the book right now), the characters seem to have gotten their act back together again (it took them three whole books to do it) and regained the path that will lead them to the Tower. Roland Deschain is all hardcore and shooting people again, so that’s good. Stephen King just really really needs a good editor to cut some of the fat.