King of the darkness After 33-year stretch, Stephen King reaches an end to ‘Dark Tower’ series

THE DARK TOWER VII: THE DARK TOWER, by Stephen King, Donald M. Grant/Scribner, New York, hardcover, 864 pages, $35.

This massive volume (even by King’s standards) marks the end of a long and winding road in a number of ways.

The novel is the last in the “Dark Tower” series, which stretches back 33 years. These books are the ones that the Bangor author would always move away from, but could never leave totally behind. (Not that “Dark Tower” fans would have let him.)

Even King admits that in the author’s note at the end of “The Dark Tower”: “I’ve known for some time now … that many of my fictions refer back to Roland’s world and Roland’s story.”

And, after the relative breather that was the series’ sixth volume, “Song of Susannah,” King closes things out with a bang, tying up the loose strings that have developed over three decades. Newcomers to the series may soon find themselves adrift, but avid readers of “The Dark Tower” should end up satisfied … and sad.

As King himself notes in this book, “There is no such thing as a happy ending. I never met a single one equal to ‘once upon a time.’ Endings are heartless. Ending are just another word for goodbye.”

Longtime readers of King know he subscribes to this. At the end of his books, no one lives happily ever after. There are just those strong enough to survive. (An apt metaphor for the author himself.)

“Dark Tower VII” picks up where “Song of Susannah” left off, with the ka-tet (a group joined together in a quest) of gunslingers scattered. Eventually, they reunite, facing crisis after crisis. But just as surely, they fall by the wayside, one by one. (You want more detail? Buy the book.)

This must have been a tiring volume for King to write, because not only was he the book’s author, but he was also a featured character again (in a role bigger than his usual cameos on film). Even his life’s most harrowing moment is fodder for him, as he finds himself once again run down by a character that could only come from a Stephen King book.

Does Roland of Gilead finally reach the Dark Tower that has been his goal these many years? What do you think? Was it worth all the bloodshed along the way? That’s up to the reader to decide.

This volume has long been rumored to be King’s final work of novel-length fiction. His only announced writing project is a non-fiction book, written with Stewart O’Nan, about the 2004 season of his beloved Boston Red Sox.

So is this it for King? He adds fuel to this fire in his author’s note: “I think that, if you have read these last three ‘Dark Tower’ volumes, you’ll see that my talk of retirement makes more sense in this context. In a sense, there’s nothing left to say now that Roland has reached his goal.”

If this be it, at least King is going out on top. “The Dark Tower” series is among his most substantial works (not just in terms of poundage), and this seventh volume brings it, and perhaps his novel-writing career, to a pleasing if somber close.

Dale McGarrigle can be reached at 990-8028 or at dmcgarrigle@bangordailynews.net.