Wolves of the Calla is the fifth novel in Stephen King's Dark Tower series. It is also the worst book in the series thus far. There are a ton of small plot holes here, and quite a few things that happen are pretty convenient. King tries to create suspense by hiding the main characters' knowledge from the reader for hundreds of pages. But this is just tiresome and amateurish.

This book takes about five hundred pages to get going. It's bogged down by a large amount of back-story and general farting around, much of this having to do with the homoerotic vagabond adventures of Father Callahan, who makes his first appearance since `Salem's Lot, the second book King ever published. And Callahan is written inconsistently. He really doesn't believe in God much, if at all, yet he staunchly holds to Catholic positions (seemingly for no other reason than the sake of the plot).

King continues his highly derivative, winking-at-the-reader "homages" to various other sources: this time it's Star Wars, Harry Potter, Marvel Comics, and even King himself. When you combine these (Doctor Doom in the wilderness with the lightsaber and the exploding Harry Potter ball - it sounds like ridiculous Clue), the effect is exponentially worse.

If this were a stand-alone novel, there would be no compelling reason to read it. Unfortunately those committed to reading the Dark Tower series through don't have a choice.

(Semi - Spoiler Alert. No specifics on the plot.)

As a stand alone book, Wolves of the Calla is great story, although references to other Dark Tower and Stephen King novels may leave readers feeling left out.

As the 5th book in the Dark Tower series, it is still a great story but another story that makes little progress towards the final goal of reaching the Dark Tower. I had the same opinion about Wizard & Glass. A great great story on its own but being a flashback, very little progress was made towards reaching the Dark Tower.

My other gripe with Wolves was that SK went overboard on "name dropping". Too many references to Dark Tower world items, too many references to 20-21st century pop-culture items (Harry Potter, Star Wars). I can't explain it well, but I just got less of a feeling of creative new ideas from SK. The first 4 books were mind blowing. Such a perfect blend of fantasy, sci-fi, reality. There just seemed to be too many references to SK's past and pop-culture as I previously mentioned.

Overall this is a great book though and I give it 4 out of 5 stars. If only the next book could score this well...

I am not going to go into a rendition, I see this has already been done. This is the 5th book in the Dark Tower series and continues to follow Roland and his posse on their quest for the Dark Tower. I enjoyed this book. I thought the way Stephen King innertwined characters and places from his other stories brought depth to the characters and brought more realism to the world surrounding the Dark Tower. I do recommend this book and the series. You will need to read these books in order, I do not believe this book can stand alone as a novel.

This is the most boring book i have ever read. The only book that comes close to it in sheer boredom is Wizard and the glass, but that was at least redeemed by the part with blaine the mono. nothing happens in this book. nothing. for 700 pages. and the plot is a complete rip-off of the 7 samurai. The Wastelands was one of the best books I have ever read - fast-paced and full of interesting concepts, but this book is just a mess of interminable old west cliches.

And we're back on track! After the massive flashback segment in "Wizard and Glass" the real story of the series begins to drive forward once more, picking up soon after the conclusion of book four.

This story is a little different from previous instalments. The journey towards the elusive Dark Tower slows as the team, King's own "fellowship", stop to help a town that anticipates a violent and devastating attack from the "wolves", a group of almost-men who may kill or abduct their children. There are many secrets in this book, all of which are revealed satisfactorily, and many of the mysteries surrounding Roland's world are also uncovered - although there are just as many new questions as there are answers.

The writing is, as ever, great; the dialogue particularly brings such clarity to this aspect of King's complex series that you don't feel you're reading fantasy, which, as a writer of the genre myself, can often get bogged down in the narrative. King lightens the novel where it needs light, and darkens the novel when the various truths are revealed. Speaking of light and revelations, we see the protagonist Roland in an entirely new light, adding yet another layer to the full rounded character and his companions. It's wonderful and heart-breaking to see our beloved characters in this way, who by now feel like family.

Do we want Roland to succeed? Always. Do we want him to succeed at the expense of his companions, who are also our friends? There are new aspects of the Dark Tower, its substance and purpose, that almost make us think "maybe they aren't all that important after all ..."

Don't miss it. It's a series back on track after a minor slowdown, and it is so intriguing that you'll still be thinking about it weeks later.

The whole series is a must read but this book, in particular, is outstanding and an universe in its own. Leaves an imprint in your mind not many books do.

My friend told me this was the best book of the series and so far he's right. I am not starting on Song of Susannah so I can't comment on the last two books yet, but yeah, so far this is the best book of the series.

My favorite parts of the Dark Tower series have taken place in "Roland's World". I don't care so much for their trips to New York. I like the land of the lobstrosities and Blaine the train and most of this book took place in that world, Calla bin Sturgis to be exact.

The build up to the coming of the "Wolves" was well done and I, at least, was surprised with what they turned out to be. Like all the other Dark Tower books there is really no way to read them out of order and have any idea about what is going on. This really is a series that must be read in order.

Thus far, this is my favorite book of the series and I was excited about going straight into the next one.

This is the fifth book in the Dark Tower series. I found it very similar to the 4th book. I liked the 4th, so I liked this one. The characters don't really progress towards their final objective. The first three books had them moving towards the Dark Tower, but in the Wizzard and Glass and this one, they don't make much progress. The book was a fast easy read (like all of the books in this series).

The Tower Series by Stephen King, where do I start? I enjoyed reading these books a great deal, but near the end, it felt like it had just been going on for far too long. It is an epic tale, and King doesn't really pull any punches. Heros die, and for the most part stay dead. Making the books recursive and self referential was little odd, and felt a bit trite in my oppinion. Having himself as a character in his own book was odd. I'm not sure if it worked or not. I think the goal was to again bring the story into "our world" after it had strayed far away into the lands of Rolland.

I feel that now that the books are completed, that the author and editors need to have a pow-wow, and re-edit the books after reading them in one fell swoop over the period of a week, and then a V2.0 version can be released.

If I were to compare these books to JK Rowling's Harry Potter books, I would say these books address more adult themes, but maybe don't hold together as well. There are more gimmicks in the writing, and it is often hard to relate to the character's struggles.

Sincerely,
Ira Carmel.

So far this has been my favorite book in the series. It seemed to develop an entire story line that differs from the previous four novels. It gathered me from the very beginning and held my attention. As I was reading it, I was able to capture the spirit of the entire town and feel the demise that they were in. I have one solitude question though...how to I stop the vivid dreams of rabid robots and gunslingers with no legs?

The first four books of Stephen King's Dark Tower series are engaging, somewhat endearing works of fiction, some of which ("The Drawing of the Three") are individually stronger than others ("The Gunslinger"; "Wizard and Glass"), but "Wolves of the Calla" (Book 5) smokes them all. Not only is this rip-roaring piece of epic fiction the strongest book in the series yet, it's also one of the best things King has ever written. Period. Considering my struggle to make it through "Wizard and Glass," I found the writing in "Wolves" so engaging that it swept me in its grip every time I sat down to read. Roland and his ka-tet come across the town of Calla Bryn Springs where, every 23 years, a cluster of "wolves" on horseback steal the children and send them back home towering mongoloids; the gunslinger concots a plan of retaliation, all while trying to protect the Rose, housed in a vacant lot in 1977 New York City. The suspense in "Wolves" builds with majestic mastery, laying out the plot in the extended prologue and getting mileage out of characters who, on the surface, are seemingly generic stereotypes of fantasy townfolk. While the climax only amounts to a scant few pages, the richness of the narrative as a whole shines through. And the illustrations--by "Cycle of the Werewolf" illustrator Bernie Wrightson--may be the best visual accompaniment to Roland's (and King's, and Our) journey yet.

I have long been a fan of Stephen King's earlier works but have found his newer stuff leaves something to be desired. A friend talked me into reading this series and I was enjoying the story until "Wolves of the Calla". 1st he introduces Walter or Flagg from "The Stand" and next he drags in Callahan from "Salem's Lot" and goes into a long dull retelling of that tale! The final straw comes when he inserts himself into the story and then Roland et all realize they are only characters in a writers mind!!!! Talk about ruining the flow of the story! Foul play, Stephen!! After this I found it hard to reinsert myself into Roland's world. I now doubt that I will be able to finish the series, which does not live up to the rave reviews.

It's been a while since I read The Wolves of the Calla, so I can't remember specifics. My overall impression, though, is that it was just way too long. I have no problem with a long book as long as the amount of story justifies the length, but Wolves felt like it was 800 pages merely for the sake of being 800 pages. King has often been accused of producing bloated work, but the fifth installment of the Dark Tower series is the first time I've really felt it as a reader: a plot that should lead to a taut, tense thriller is nearly rendered into a tedious essay on a society that doesn't really exist. This isn't even mentioning the fact that the detour to the Calla isn't really more than a subplot, anyway, as far as the overall Dark Tower story is concerned. The entire book takes place in one setting, and very little progress toward the ultimate goal is made. If The Dark Tower was a TV series, Wolves would be little more than a "filler" episode.

Another complaint is that so much information is introduced that either never pays off or is clearly just a sloppy mechanism to solve some future conflict. There is a fixation with a certain number (eighteen, if I remember correctly) that is only vaguely explained and, predictably, turns out to be rather important in the end. So much vital information, rather than being discovered, just appears in the protagonists' minds without explanation, like some Jungian archetype. If this concept had been further explored, it might be intriguing, but as it is it feels like little more than a deus ex machina. There's also a lot of conflict afflicting the characters that is meant to increase tension as the time for the final showdown draws near, but then as they finally face the wolves, said conflicts just seem to disappear and have no bearing on the fight.

So what's good?

Well, there is a great novel lurking in there somewhere, insulated in the protective blubber. I love the idea of a fantasy version of The Magnificent Seven, and the final showdown, in spite of being only ten or twenty pages long, is a knockout. I like the return of Father Callahan from Salem's Lot, and it's interesting to see King tackle some of the exact same scenes, decades apart (to give you an idea of what a geek I am, I actually pulled Salem's Lot off the shelf and compared the scenes in question side by side). Apart from Wizard and Glass, Wolves probably has the most traditionally Western atmosphere of the first five books. The roont twins are carefully and sympathetically drawn--King has always had a way with mentally simplistic characters, although I daresay he tends to simplify their angelic qualities. I also love the mythology within the book, specifically the tale of the plate-throwing woman (don't remember her name, unfortunately) and the unique weapon she inspires among the women of the Calla. The ending is a cliffhanger that makes you want to race to the next book of the series to find out what happens.

Overall, Wolves of the Calla is a worthwhile read, if for no other reason than that it's a vital entry in a longer series. I just wish King had gone over the manuscript a few more times, and had an editor who was capable of telling him "No" every once in a while.

Wolves of the Calla was the true beginning of the end for the series in not only the fact it was the first of the last three but also it was a major dip in quality. It seems very forced. It is also very short in comparison to the earlier books in the series.

There are better reviews for this book then i can provide, so i'll keep my perspective short a to the point. Wolves of the Calla is a good addition to the Dark Tower series but it does somewhat lack importance. We see new character development of our favorite "Ka-tet" and are introduced to some new, but not very important, characters as well. The book progresses the Gunslingers further toward their goal of reaching the Dark Tower, but it does so very slowly. Their is many pages of back story to secondary characters in the book, and though these stories are entertaining they are unnecessary and for the most part entirely irrelevant to the quest. The novel was very enjoyable (its still the Dark Tower)I just felt that much of this books trivial "palaver" or planning outweighs the significant parts of the story. I was just hoping for more progression in the quest then was made. You read 900 pages of Wolves of the Calla and at the end your not much closer to the Dark Tower then you were when you began. But with that said,

The Tower IS Closer...

Like in Book 4, have VI ready, this ends in a cliffhanger AGAIN!
It could be the change in readers, but it took me a while to get "into" this audio book. I actually think it just dragged a lot in the story of a new character, the yeast of the story is really good and I was intrigued about the Wolves, but it was not as engaging in the middle. Now, the LAST 4 CDs (there are 22 on this Audio book) are really great, the development is exciting and the ending just had me reaching for the next book. It has some references to other popular current fiction Characters and some from Mr. Stephen King's previous works that kind of baffle me, but hey, this is Stephen King after all.

This book and the ones to follow are read by George Guidall, previous were read by Frank Muller, which I liked much better, and because I started and continued right away with each book, the change really bugged me. But the story is so compelling that I just got hooked again. Join the journey! I really like Eddy and his New York accent, which he does not have on this book due to the new reader.

Is the much delayed Book 5 in King's Dark Tower opus worthy of the ongoing saga? As a long-time King reader who nonetheless struggled wearily with The Drawing of the Three and The Wastelands, I'm not necessarily a reliable arbiter, but while Wolves of the Calla suffers many of the flaws of its predecessors (and some of its own), it seems to me these are balanced by new and striking elements that eventually make for a worthwhile if uneven read.

The Calla in question, straight out of the fictional Old West King used to build the excellent Wizard and Glass, but atmospherically expanded via oddball linguistics, is a sharp conceit. The Calla's dilemna and the Gunslingers' response to it create a classic dramatic engine in the first chapters.

And then instead of driving that engine and building momentum, the book takes a sharp left into Father Callahan's past, creating a short novel within a novel, essentially a sequel to Salem's Lot. It's a fever dream of 1970's America, purposefully reminiscent of King's glory days of thirty years ago. It's lovely; easily the best part of the book. One might argue its not exactly organic to the tale being told, but the Dark Tower books have always been a jumble of elements, and at least this bit is terrific.

Eventually we return to the Calla and it still seems like a long time before reaching the inevitable showdown with the Wolves. Despite taking his time getting there, King ratchets up the tension expertly...only to collapse the entire story under the revelation that the villains are personality-free robots who apparently play Quidditch. Well, at least they didn't turn out to be giant spiders...

So the book is great--and also terrible. Certainly worth reading if you like King, but plagued by the nutty, anything goes anti-storytelling that has defined this series since the long ago second book.

This follows immediately after the events of the fourth book. As Roland's ka-tet continue their quest to the Dark Tower they make a stop in the village of Calla Bryn Sturgis where they are asked to remain and defend their town against the "Wolves" of Thundercap. The wolves come once a generation and steal several of their young children only to return them later in an altered state. Like the movie "The Magnificent Seven" and others like it ("Seven Samurai", "Samurai Seven", and more), Roland sticks around to train the villagers how to defend themselves and help them to make a stand against the onslaught.

There are other goals as well, such as protecting a single, red rose in the middle of an abandoned Manhattan real-estate lot. Added to the large list of characters is Father Callahan from Stephen King's book "Salem's Lot" with several hints of more characters to join from the world of Stephen King.

The story has a lot of plot development to the point that you may be confused on what is going on at times but it sets up the sixth (and shortest) book and brings the story one step closer to the seventh book. This is not the strongest of the books in the series... It is slow at times, weird at other times, but a roller coaster ride the rest of the time. In the end I still enjoyed it as it left me hungry to continue on to the sixth book.

Loved this book. The character personalities really evolved. I would recommend the entire series to everyone. I had put off reading these books due to the commitment of 7 books. Very pleased I made the decision to read them. If you are a King fan, I strongly suggest reading this series. Well worth the read.

Roland is the last living member of a knightly order known as gunslingers. The world he lives in is quite different from our own, yet it bears striking similarities to it. Politically organized along the lines of a feudal society, it shares technological and social characteristics with the American Old West, as well as bearing magical powers and the relics of a highly advanced, but long vanished, society. Roland's quest is to find the Dark Tower, a fabled building said to either be, or be located at, the nexus of all universes. Roland's world is said to have "moved on," and indeed it appears to be coming apart at the seams -- mighty nations are being torn apart by war, entire cities and regions vanish from the face of the earth without a trace, time does not flow in an orderly fashion; even the sun sometimes rises in the north and sets in the east. As the series opens, Roland's motives, goals, and even his age are unclear, though later installments shed light on these mysteries.

This series was mostly inspired by the epic poem "Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, the full text of which was included in an appendix to the final volume. In the preface to the revised 2003 edition of The Gunslinger, King also identifies The Lord of the Rings, the Arthurian Legend, and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly as inspirations. He identifies Clint Eastwood's "Man with No Name" character as one of the major inspirations for Roland. King's style of location names in the series, such as Mid-World, and his development of a unique language abstract to our own, are also influenced by J. R. R. Tolkien's work.

The Dark Tower is often described in the novels as a real structure, and also as a metaphor. Part of Roland's fictional quest lies in discovering the true nature of the Tower. The series incorporates themes from multiple genres, including fantasy fiction, science fantasy, horror, and western elements. King has described the series as his magnum opus; beside the seven novels that comprise the series proper, many of his other books are related to the story, introducing concepts and characters that come into play as the series progresses.

With the Dark Tower series Stephen King has managed to combine an epic fantasy quest with classic Old Westerns, a bit of gothic horror, and urban fantasy thrown in for good measure. What you get from this mix is a series destined to be a classic.

Roland the gunslinger from Gilead and his ka-tet, having survived a giant mechanical bear and other evils in Wizard and Glass, stumble upon the small town of Calla Bryn Surgis. Once in a generation this town with an unusually large number of twins, must give up half of its children to "the Wolves" who take them to the dark land of Thunderclap for a few days and send them back as raving idiots who eventually grow into giants and die in their thirties. Just like the little Mexican town in the classic Western the farmers of this small community ask the traveling gunslingers to help them fight off the bad guys, but this is no ordinary Western.

King has his heroes traveling back and forth to 1970s New York on their quest to save the rose that is the Dark Tower, too, fighting bad guys along the way and discovering the bizarre connections between his world and ours. Also, thrown into the mix is the disgraced Father Callahan of 'Salem's Lot, Maine who just happens to be the local priest in the Calla. Add to that Susannah, a recovering schizophrenic member of the ka-tet, who is carrying something unspeakable in her womb, a robot named Andy who serves the farmers of the Calla by carrying messages and telling horoscopes, and you've got the most unusual adventure story to come out in years.

Amid all this King spins out a story that is both compelling and homey somehow. I felt like I was listening to him tell it by a campfire on a crisp autumn night. Even if you are not normally a Stephen King fan b/c you don't read horror fiction give this book, and this series a try. Fantasy and Sci-fi fans will especially love it.

Beware if you are offended by violence and language. It is not the worst out there, but this is adult stuff.

I admire Stephen Kings work. He is one of the few writers out there, who actually gets better with every book he writes. The Dark Tower series, I feel is quite simply Kings quintessential story, his master piece.

It has taken him most of his adult life to write his tale of the 'The Gun Slinger', but my wasn't it worth the wait. I fully recommend this book, most people who are considering this book, I imagine will already be fans of the series, and you will not be disappointed! For those who are new to Roland's tale, what are you waiting for, 'The Tower' awaits......

tThis book arrived in a timely in excellant condition, and packaged very good. I was pleased with all

I would like to say one thing before I start this one and that is that I DO NOT like to write bad reviews. I do not set out to bash people's work for fun or spite or whatever it is that motivates bashers and trolls. I find it's more fulfilling to try to find the good stuff in any work of art and enjoy that instead of focusing on the negative. Sometimes however, it must be done and I also can't NOT review book 5 in a series I've reviewed 1-4 in.

If anyone actually bothers to read my earlier reviews they'll see that I was absolutely floored by the first three and a half books in this series. I loved it's originality and it's pace (yeah, especially the pace) which kept me turning pages while the plot built to the point where, if this had been a movie, the intermission would have been. That was the end of the big train thing with the riddle game. Funnily enough, this is where this series began to become a train wreck.

After 600 pages of Roland making out with his girlfriend while trying to gain control of a crystal ball whose relevance (enough to spend chapters and chapters on) was never satisfactorily explained, we return to the here and now, have an odd encounter and get ready for the final leg of the journey to the dark tower.

And so I began Wolves of the Calla with that "Ok, now we're getting down TO IT!" kind of feeling that you get when you open Return of the King. Now I was aware that there are two books after this one, but I also knew that he sat down to write these last three books straight through. So with all this in mind I was ready to really get to final push.

POSSIBLE SPOILERS:

Now, after creating that readiness in the reader at the end of Wizard and Glass, the first thing that Mr. King does is lead us on a MASSIVE F---ING DETOUR! Yes, we've established that the Tower is all, our protagonist will sacrifice small children (and anyone else) to get to it. He will do whatever it takes.. but he has time to stop and play Toshirô Mifune in some rehash of The Seven Samurai. Say all you want about this detour being the will of Ka or whatever, but I think it was just an excuse to get Father Calihan into the story.

It is worth noting parenthetically here that I have always loved Stephen King's cross connecting of his characters and this is no exception. The final scenes in this book have some great existential quandries that would have been AWESOME had they happened back in book two or three but only add to the mess in this novel.

Also from the rehash department comes the Susannah plotline, she's a schizo again, and true to form, it was done much better the first time. Thre is also a generous helping of Rosemary's Baby to balance out the books somehow.

But all that is ok, I can deal with all that. Here's what I don't get, The Dark Tower, somewhere along the line, when I wasn't watching.. became a rose being fought over by mobsters. I follow that, but what I don't understand is: Why, after finding out that the rose is the tower, do our gunslinger heroes not gather up Yul Brynner and Steve McQueen and go to the TOWER! NO, they decide to stay and help Ant Island defend itself against the grasshoppers.. pardon me.. robot grasshoppers.

(If you understood all three of those movie references.. you're officially a movie geek :))

Ok, From all of the above, you might think that I think this book sucked. Well, I don't. There is still a lot of good here. There is a lot of suspense leading up to the final confrontation in the book. There are some interesting secondary characters and there is Andy the Robot. Robots are always good. There are also, dispite my above comments, hints that this stop was unplanned but nescessary.

So I'm giving it a three out of five. That's not a bad rating for one book, but the quality of the series is steadily declining and I'm fairly sure that the tower will not be the awesome thing that I envisioned when I read the first books in the series. I think it will end up being quite dull.

First I want to start out by saying that I love Stephen King. And I think that the Dark Tower books are the best of his work. Having said that, I was a little disappointed in this volume, because it seemed like a rehash of the previous volume (Wizard and Glass). It did have unique qualities: introductions of characters from other books and new pivotal characters to the Dark Tower series. The fact that some of the book happens in our "when" is very important and a nice return to form for the series. It does move the story further towards the culmination at the dark tower, but just feels a little familiar and too close in scope to Book IV

One of the better books of this series. King gives us a great discription of a small town in Mid-World and how the people have succumbed to an evil force. That force takes the children and makes them roont. Yet the villagers do nothing to keep the kids safe since past efforts were usesless. This story has some great character development and battles, yet some of the themes from previous books in the series continue to pop up as a thorn. Doors to other worlds is reintroduced and is getting old. I am all for connections between all of these books but some of these themes seem to be ways out for an author who is stuck.

The previous 4 audio books featured amazing narration that kept me immersed in the story and its characters. In book 5 however, the narrator sounds as if he has had a stroke or has down syndrome. The slurring of his words and lack of ability to emulate the voices from the previous books is so distracting that it takes away from every aspect of the book. I would equate it to watching the miniseries "band of brothers" only to find out that a few episodes in they replaced the entire cast with 100 kids from the Special Olympics.

It does rely heavily on the Seven Samurai for inspiration, but it is entertaining nonetheless. The backstory of Father Callahan is interesting, seeing as I've missed him since his Salem's Lot days. The people of the Calla lack intrigue, but this book gets you excited for the impending (in two books) finale.

This book was sort of the turning point in the series...from here on out...everything got very complicated (more so that originally).

Father Callahan is introduced...
The property in New York is introduced...

But at least the novel ends with a pretty kickass battle with the Wolves...with a few jokes thrown in...can you believe they were throwing Harry Potter Snitches?

This book would have been great if it was the length of the original gunslinger. it was a long, long book that seemed even longer than it was. it was actually much shorter than his last book, however the flashbacks were quite useless and added nothing to the story.

lets make everyone happy and cut the whole summary chunk in the middle of the book down to about 30-40 pages, keep the intro, and keep the last 20% of the book. the whole thing could be about 300 pages of top-notch writing. instead, it's a wordy tale that does little to gain your interest.

oh, and another thing, he relies on alcoholism far too much as a character flaw. it's pretty ridiculous.

The Seven Samurai or The magnificent seven it may be, but done Stephen King style. Moving ever closer to the Dark Tower. Excellent!

It almost goes without saying that no one should jump into an epic series mid-stream and Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King proves this.

Roland and his Ka-tet of three (or is it of the 19 or 99 in this book?) have braved many trials together including a giant cybernetic bear, the calculating Detta Walker, time travel, death, riddle-craving sentient monorails, the twisted wasteland city of Lud, and their first encounter with the Crimson King. All these events are alluded to throughout Wolves of the Calla and as a result someone unfamillar with the back-story would find themselves questioning their own sanity.

But for those of you have have followed Roland in his trials through the Dark Tower 1-4, then this is a must read. At times, the story may seem to be bogged down in palaver but all this talk is necessary to develop a feel for new characters and empathy for the town of Calla Bryn Sturgis.

For part of it, Wolves of the Calla feels like a western, as any Dark Tower Book should. But King follows the western archetype even more by placing Roland and his Gunslingers as protectors of a town impacted every generation by taxing raids. With planning, luck, and assistance from the towns-folk Roland's Ka-tet stand up an fight for the town like so many silver screen heroes of the west in classic American Cinema.

Ultimately, the story ends with a mighty (however brief) display of violence and once again the Gunslingers remember the faces of their fathers. And although their time in the Calla has concluded, King beautifully adds enough unforeseen conflict with the Ka-tet to drive the rest of the series. So you if you enjoyed the previous tomes in this epic adventure, please, for the sake of Ka, continue reading and come another step closer to the Dark Tower itself.

I am very pleased with my purchase, and I would do business with this seller again.

Well.... how do I say this?

After four absolutely amazing books, here comes the dud that almost had to happen: The Dark Tower V: Wolves of the Calla. The cover is just as ugly as the pages that sit stacked between it.


Well, there are so many things that make this book my personal least favorite, so let's start from the top:


The boring, boring BORING town that the Ka-tet stays in and does nothing for the entire book long.
Six hundred pages of nothing leading up to a very underwhelming climax.
Ugly surroundings are described that just made me feel sick and very bored as I read.
Trust me, the ending "twist" is very bad.


Okay, now some actual in-depth reasoning, here:

Callahan's backstory, while not completely boring, takes way too long to be presented. King could have told what he needed to tell in a fraction of the amount of pages. Same goes for the whole book, really.
Unlike "Wizard and Glass", the Ka-tet is in fact ACTUALLY detoured and held up for the whole book. The reason I stuck with it was because I knew if sat it down once, I may have never picked it up again. So I plowed through the seven hundred-some pages within a week or two, but not out of excitement to see what came next, but out of boredom and fear of never finishing it.

Even now, I wonder what I will do when I do my first re-read of the series. I may just buy the audio edition and save my eyes and brain the trouble.

This book really can't be skipped, though, because too many important plot points occur here, but I wish it had been done in alot fewer pages and with alot less ridiculous "conveniant" plot elements that pop up out of the blue.

Am I going too hard on it? Maybe, but if you read the series up to this point, you must agree that the feel and direction of the story and/or logic behind this series changes considerably here.

For one thing, the whole series long Roland speaks of how thye need to keep moving, the all of a sudden, he dicides that it is okay for them to take a break here in this town for weeks, it makes no sense to me, and really hurts the obok in my view.

Callahan's backstory IS interesting, and what is even more interesting is how he came into the possesion of an item called "Black 13". But what is not interesting or even helpfull is the unnecissary rambling King does page after page during Callahan's 100+ page tale. He does this during the present tale as well, simply page upon page of nothing.

There are many interesting plot points however that do indeed play a part in the rest of the series and for that you should not skip this volume, however I just feel that it was done poorly and everything else that happens around the important incidents is insignificant and over-long.

I gave this book two stars because, while there are important story points to be had here, that does not save it from being the worste in the series for reasons I can't really go into without giving away the ending.

There is a distinct difference between the books written early in Kings career and those written late. It is a real loss to his career and literature in general that he did not finish this series early in his career.
In any event, this is the best of the late ones.

This books stands apart from the rest of the Dark Tower series in that it pretty much all takes place in the same place. It reminded me of a quintessential Western story where the gunslingers roll into a troubled town and agree to help the poor townsfolk from the imminent arrival of the outlaw band of miscreants who plunder and pillage. Only these outlaws, the wolves, don't steal your money or your horses, they steal your children. Even though the book was less epic than others, I still found it engaging. And there are some mystical twists that keep it from being completely mundane. By now, though, there's a sense that Roland and his ka-tet of gunslingers are unbeatable, so there's not too much suspence. Jake is awesome though; I love it when kids get more credit than they usually do in the real world. Ultimately, though, the book does feel like an in-between pit-stop interrupting Roland's quest for the Tower.

It was a fun read, but mostly it was just a container for other stories to unfold. The last 150 or so pages only dealt with the wolves.

There're plenty of reviews on this story but I have to wtite and tell you how terrible the "new" format from Pocket Books is to me. I just purchased books 5,6,and 7 in the series( which I love) Pocket Books raised the price $2 and made it narrower and taller. It no longer matches the previous books of the series (or much of anything else for that matter-please readjust your shelves) but worse, the new dimensions are unwieldy in the hand when reading. Did the people at Pocket Books not pick up this new format and try to read from it before putting it to market? I'm heading out to the used bookstore to try and find these last three in the standard size and then Amazon will get these three back. $30 for an uncomfortable reading experience? I don't think so.

great, over the top, can't say enough good things about it.. it is 26 hours and still on the edge of my seat.. worth every penny..and then more..

I don't read books, but my wife does. She likes King, and said this is a very good book.

This book is what I see as a love-it or hate-it kinda book. I personally enjoyed it, but it did seem to drag. The first 4 books I flew through, and this one definitely took some personal initiative to sit down and read. Although it isn't a bad read, it's more of the Gunslinger and his Ka-tet and more hitches along the dark tower. And it sets up book 6 with some really great tie-ins to their quest for the tower. You will start to see things really become serious about that quest, and will be wholesomely ready for book 6. And whether you loved the book or not, if you have enjoyed the series so far you will enjoy most of this one, and be eager for the next.

If you are a fan of contemporary literature and have followed the series you will love this book.

Wolves of the Calla is a good book. Is it as good as books 1-4? No, in my opinion, it isn't. Does that make it bad though? No, it certainly doesn't. The writing style is slightly different in this book it seems like too. King tries for more imagery, but doesn't accomplish as much as he does in Wizard and Glass (or Wastelands). He writes more words, which ultimately don't paint as clear a picture as he has in the other books with fewer words. So my only gripe is... the books a bit long. You know from the very beginning who will win the fight, and Callahan's story seems ostentatious.

But Wolves has it's moments, and, of course, it is part of my quest to the tower, and for that reason it still deserves credit. I wish though, that we would have actually learned SOMETHING about the tower in this book. Alas!, I must complete the remaining two books for that knowledge.

Loved this portion of the story. We learn a lot about the Gunslinger. New characters and a great battle to round out the end. King is on a roll.

I really loved this book, as well as the whole series. I couldnt read it fast enough.

Wolves of the Calla, in my opinion, does the best job of any Dark Tower book so far of telling a story about people's lives in the world of the Dark Tower. In prior books, the towns/cities that were traveled through were secondary to the journey to the Dark Tower (Tull, Lud, Topeka, etc.). Calla Bryn Sturgis, however, is the entire focus of this book, and while that may make some answer-hungry readers upset, I still found that I enjoyed it immensely.

The ka-tet of Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy are on their journey under the beam, headed toward the Dark Tower, when they are interrupted by a group of people from a town up ahead. These people are in a dire situation, and need the help of the gunslingers. Every twenty years or so, a group of "wolves" comes out of the east, and takes one of every twin in the town (twins are the norm in this world). The twins aren't killed, but they come back "roont," which is to say their brains have been basically sucked dry. The ka-tet meets a man who will be familiary to many King fans, Father Donald Callahan ('Salem's Lot). Callahan lives in the town now, and is one of the main proponents for using the gunslingers to take out the wolves. Callahan also has a secret: in his church he holds one of the colors of the Wizard's rainbow, and he offers it to Roland if they will help rid the town of the curse of the wolves.

If all this weren't enough, Susannah has reverted back into her previous schizophrenic state. She has created a whole new personality, Mia, who is the mother and protector of the "baby" that Susannah is carrying inside of her.

Wolves of the Calla was completely different from what I was expecting when I picked it up. Frankly, the book has very little to do with the Dark Tower when compared to the previous books in the series. Of course, the tower is constantly in the back of everyone's head, but the main focus of the novel is defeating the wolves that take the children from Calla Bryn Sturgis. In this novel, I feel that King has created the best villains yet in the series. He does a great job making the reader truly hate the wolves, and you cannot wait for the climactic battle.

It is also very interesting what King is doing with the whole idea of things from our world being true in their world. The wolves have a few weapons at their disposal that might (should) seem very familiar to you. The whole idea of Callahan now being in the world of the Dark Tower opens up a whole bag of tricks. And it is apparent that King is going back into this bag with a revelation that comes near the end that involves a certain author we all know and love.

But, of course, it wouldn't be Stephen King, and it wouldn't be a Dark Tower novel if there weren't a few crazy twists thrown in just for good measure.

for me this was the most exciting of all 7 books.

as everyone else who has read King's magnum opus Dark Tower series, I was excited for the newest volume. However, in the end I was extremely dissapointed. Besides Father Callahan's recounting of life after Salem's Lot, this book didnt move anywhere, the characters it introduces are boring and easily forgettable, and almost nothing happens. WHich would be fine if it was a 200 page book, but to have to sludge through 700 pages of it is very trialing. King is one of my favorite writers of all time, but this one really let me down. I hope Book 6 picks up where Book 4 lets off.

I won't dissect the installment since many others have done excellent jobs of that here, but I will say that while I enjoyed this installment, it did feel a bit long.

Some have complained about the loose ends that were not tied up here but given the nature of this series, it should be clear that loose ends created in one book will probably be addressed in latter installments.

That said, I could have done without the addition of Fr. Callahan as I felt his back story and connection to Salem's Lot just didn't feel important. I've never been a fan of vampire stories and so that just accentuated my dislike for the long time spent on Callahan.

Taken as a part of the greater story arc, it was satisfying and it compelled me to carry on to the last book.

Out of all the events (and non-events) in this book, the moment that most stood out in my mind is the private palaver between Roland and Jake. The main purpose of Wolves of the Calla in the Dark Tower series is, I think, to tell the tale of Jake's initiation into the Gunslinger order. Up until this point, Jake has been a `prentice, though prepared in the physical requirement, not yet ready to bear responsibilities for strategic decisions. But here in Calla Bryn Sturgis, he finally makes his challenge to his teacher. Jake's questioning of Roland's decision not to tell Susannah of Mia's presence marks what is certainly a less violent coming of age than Roland's own challenge to Cort with his hawk, but a challenge nonetheless. When Roland admits to Jake, "I don't know what to do. Would you like to tell me?" he concedes that Jake has earned a say in the decisions of the ka-tet. Jake is so taken aback with this concession that he thinks Roland is being sarcastic, but after discussion, the two come to a compromise concerning Mia. Jake at first has trouble accepting that the ka-tet will follow his decision for good or ill, and accuses Roland of passing the buck, but Roland (Ah, gods love him - could King have written this part at eighteen? I think not.) bids him put aside childish indecision once and for all to claim his rightful place. Out of all the moments in all 900 pages, this is the moment that got me most.

Other highlights:
The weapons and appearance of the enemy have surprising origins.
Roland gets laid by a worthy woman.
Susannah learns a new weapon and rocks it. (Yeah, girl!)
Eddie meets up with his old drug-dealing pals and owns them once again.
Jake becomes the man.

Lowlights, however:
Vampires? Really?
Susannah's demon spawn?
An entire town full of new characters?
Andy = Jar-Jar?

Wolves was a great book, albeit too long, and probably largely unnecessary. Not a waste of time, though. I was thoroughly entertained, as always.