Status
Available
Call number
Call number
F Kin
Series
Genres
Collection
Publication
Berkley (1990), Edition: Reissue, 320 pages
Description
Fantasy. Fiction. Literature. Thriller. HTML:The second volume in Stephen King's #1 bestselling Dark Tower Series, The Drawing of the Three is an "epic in the making" (Kirkus Reviews) about a savage struggle against underworld evil and otherworldly enemies. "Stephen King is a master at creating living, breathing, believable characters," hails The Baltimore Sun. Beginning just less than seven hours after The Gunslinger ends, in the second installment to the thrilling Dark Tower Series, Roland encounters three mysterious doorways on a deserted beach along the Western Sea. Each one enters into a different person's life in New Yorkâ??here, he joins forces with the defiant young Eddie Dean, and with the beautiful, brilliant, and brave Odetta Holmes, to save the Dark Tower. "This quest is one of King's best...it communicates on a genuine, human level...but is rich in symbolism and allegory" (Columbus Sunday Dispatch). It is a science fiction odyssey that is unlike any tale that Stephen King has ever writt… (more)
Subjects
Original publication date
1987-05
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User reviews
LibraryThing member deslni01
"The Drawing of the Three" is the second book in Stephen King's "Dark Tower" series. The story continues following Roland, the last Gunslinger, on his quest towards the Dark Tower in Stephen King's vision of an epic fantasy.
As Roland continues his journey he must leave his world - a different world
The different worlds provide a sense of connection for the reader, as well as feelings of humor. Roland struggles to grasp many aspects of our life - for example Roland is familiar with apothecaries in his world, who are more like mystics and run a dimly lit potion shop. In one of his adventures, he enters a drugstore expecting "a dim, candle-lit room full of bitter fumes, jars of unknown powers and liquids and philters," and is taken aback when he sees the brightly lit drugstore familiar in our world.
Different, yes. Interesting? Very. As Roland "draws the Three," King introduces new characters and an intriguing, elaborate story that will surely leave the reader gripping the pages tightly. Where "The Gunslinger" was slower paced in some areas, "The Drawing of the Three" keeps the reader rapidly turning the pages with very little downtime. However, the Plume publication of 2003 leaves a little to be desired in the formatting of the illustrations and the text. The text and illustrations do not match up - being at least several pages off, resulting in more of a hindrance than anything.
For those who read "The Gunslinger", this is obviously the next step in the story. If "The Gunslinger" was enjoyed, this will only further pique interest in the story. For those that read "The Gunslinger" and are unsure if the story is worth going on - this book will quickly change that feeling of unsureness and bring the reader further into King's epic fantasy world.
As Roland continues his journey he must leave his world - a different world
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known from the first book, "The Gunslinger" - into our world. This is one of the different aspects from the first; the story does not take place in the fantasy world as much as it takes place in a world all too familiar for many readers.The different worlds provide a sense of connection for the reader, as well as feelings of humor. Roland struggles to grasp many aspects of our life - for example Roland is familiar with apothecaries in his world, who are more like mystics and run a dimly lit potion shop. In one of his adventures, he enters a drugstore expecting "a dim, candle-lit room full of bitter fumes, jars of unknown powers and liquids and philters," and is taken aback when he sees the brightly lit drugstore familiar in our world.
Different, yes. Interesting? Very. As Roland "draws the Three," King introduces new characters and an intriguing, elaborate story that will surely leave the reader gripping the pages tightly. Where "The Gunslinger" was slower paced in some areas, "The Drawing of the Three" keeps the reader rapidly turning the pages with very little downtime. However, the Plume publication of 2003 leaves a little to be desired in the formatting of the illustrations and the text. The text and illustrations do not match up - being at least several pages off, resulting in more of a hindrance than anything.
For those who read "The Gunslinger", this is obviously the next step in the story. If "The Gunslinger" was enjoyed, this will only further pique interest in the story. For those that read "The Gunslinger" and are unsure if the story is worth going on - this book will quickly change that feeling of unsureness and bring the reader further into King's epic fantasy world.
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LibraryThing member bardsfingertips
This book was so episodic it was ridiculous. But, it worked! It worked very well, and I wholeheartedly enjoyed the story. It ventured away from the dreamscape exploration of the first installment of the Dark Tower Series, the Gunslinger, and focused on what I feel King does best: character
I have never felt like King's characters were flat, and usually they are far more complex than most others I read. They have their moments of weakness, heroics, fear, and joy (and sometimes all on one page). They make the bi-polar populous seem stoic. And this is not because of erratic behavior, it is because King explores all aspects of what goes on in the head of his characters.
I believe this is well exhibited and established in The Drawing of the Three. It is an excellent piece of writing.
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development. Essentially, that is exactly what this segment of the series is: a 300-or-so page introduction of two of the four main characters that make up the band of pilgrims. I have never felt like King's characters were flat, and usually they are far more complex than most others I read. They have their moments of weakness, heroics, fear, and joy (and sometimes all on one page). They make the bi-polar populous seem stoic. And this is not because of erratic behavior, it is because King explores all aspects of what goes on in the head of his characters.
I believe this is well exhibited and established in The Drawing of the Three. It is an excellent piece of writing.
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LibraryThing member badgenome
The Drawing of the Three marks a pretty dramatic shift from the weird, highly stylized Western that was The Gunslinger. With the introduction of two new characters, the focus is no longer so tightly centered on Roland, and relatively little time is spent in Mid-World as we go a-traipsin' through
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20th century New York- much to my initial chagrin. But King handles all these new twists and turns with such aplomb that I found myself warming to it pretty quickly; a lesser writer would have seriously bunged things up here, but he is a master of his craft and doesn't do that for a few books yet. Show Less
LibraryThing member ALLLGooD
The first book was more of the laying down of the groundwork of the tale. The Drawing of Three had a significant change of pace. The jumping in and out of Roland's world kept me in the story. It was refreshing see the modern world through Roland's eyes. I can't wait for #3
LibraryThing member edgeworth
In my review of the first volume in the Dark Tower series, I commented that, while it was a good book, it was somewhat sparse and very obviously a foundation for a greater story to come. I don't think it's such a hot idea to start your 22-year magnum opus heptalogy (yeah, I went there) with a weak
Having found himself on the shore of a turgid grey sea, tasked by the man in black with "the drawing of the three," Roland is attacked by a lobster-like monstrosity that severs two of his fingers and leaves him with an infected wound that will soon kill him. Dragging himself along the beach with the last of his strength, Roland comes to a doorway standing alone on the sand - a doorway into another world.
Entering the doorway, Roland finds himself inside the mind of an inhabitant of that world, a man named Eddie Dean, who is sitting on a plane from Nassau to New York with two bags of cocaine strapped to his armpits.
The subsequent story is an example of Stephen King at his best, as Roland attempts to bring food and medicine back from our world to his, and to prevent Eddie from being arrested at customs. The point of view jumps from Eddie to Roland to a flight attendent to the pilot to customs officers and more besides, and yet never throws off the pacing or flow. One of King's finest talents as a writer is to look inside his characters' heads, to establish their motivations and make their behaviour and reactions perfectly understandable. Consider this scene, where Eddie has locked himself in the plane's toilet and the flight crew knows damn well he's smuggling cocaine:
Deere, the co-pilot, suggested Captain McDonald ought to lay off pounding on the door when McDonald, in his frustration at 3A's lack of a response, began to do so.
"Where's he going to go?" Deere asked. "What's he going to do? Flush himself down the john? He's too big."
"But if he's carrying-" McDonald began.
Deere, who had himself used cocaine on more than a few occasions, said: "If he's carrying, he's carrying heavy. He can't get rid of it."
"Turn off the water," McDonald snapped suddenly.
"Already have," the navigator (who had also tooted more than his flute on occasion) said. "But I don't think it matters. You can dissolve what goes into the holding tanks but you can't make it not there." They were clustered around the bathroom door, with its OCCUPIED sign glowing jeerily, all of them speaking in low tones. "The DEA guys drain it, draw off a sample, and the guy's hung."
"He could always say someone came in before him and dumped it," McDonald replied. His voice was gaining a raw edge... something was not right about this one. Something inside of him kept screaming Fast one! Fast one! as if the fellow from 3A were a riverboat gambler with palmed aces he was all ready to play.
...
McDonald - who had never put anything stronger than aspirin into his system in his entire life and then only rarely - turned to Deere. His lips were pressed together in a thin white line like a scar.
With only three throwaway lines nestled amongst the narrative, King establishes exactly why the captain is so determined to apprehend Eddie, without disrupting the flow at all. It adds a lot to the story, and proves that King can write quite well when he wants to.
After the "drawing" (recruitment) of Eddie Dean, we follow the formulaic drawing of the other two. All three of them are natives of New York City in various different periods of time, and the vast majority of the book is set there, with only brief interludes on the long, bleak beach in Roland's world. The second recruit is probably the low point of the book; I found her particular quirk to be somewhat annoying. The third, however, brings us back to the excellent storytelling of Eddie Dean's segment, with Roland going on a gunslinging shootout across New York City in his final desperate quest for antibiotics.
The strange thing is that, while this book is much better than "The Gunslinger," it too is clearly a set-up for a greater story to come. "The Gunslinger" gave us the hero and the quest; "The Drawing of the Three" gives us his posse. While I enjoyed this book a lot, I find myself wondering whether Volume III will advance the quest and give us more of Roland's world, or busy itself with yet more set-up. Once again, King himself acknowledges this in the afterword: "This longer second volume still leaves many questions unanswered and the story's climax far in the future, but I feel that it is a much more complete volume than the first... and the Dark Tower draws closer."
Unfortunately, we're in early '90s territory now, so King's inevitable decline in quality also draws closer...
Show More
book, but fortunately, "The Drawing of the Three" makes up for what "The Gunslinger" lacked.Having found himself on the shore of a turgid grey sea, tasked by the man in black with "the drawing of the three," Roland is attacked by a lobster-like monstrosity that severs two of his fingers and leaves him with an infected wound that will soon kill him. Dragging himself along the beach with the last of his strength, Roland comes to a doorway standing alone on the sand - a doorway into another world.
Entering the doorway, Roland finds himself inside the mind of an inhabitant of that world, a man named Eddie Dean, who is sitting on a plane from Nassau to New York with two bags of cocaine strapped to his armpits.
The subsequent story is an example of Stephen King at his best, as Roland attempts to bring food and medicine back from our world to his, and to prevent Eddie from being arrested at customs. The point of view jumps from Eddie to Roland to a flight attendent to the pilot to customs officers and more besides, and yet never throws off the pacing or flow. One of King's finest talents as a writer is to look inside his characters' heads, to establish their motivations and make their behaviour and reactions perfectly understandable. Consider this scene, where Eddie has locked himself in the plane's toilet and the flight crew knows damn well he's smuggling cocaine:
Deere, the co-pilot, suggested Captain McDonald ought to lay off pounding on the door when McDonald, in his frustration at 3A's lack of a response, began to do so.
"Where's he going to go?" Deere asked. "What's he going to do? Flush himself down the john? He's too big."
"But if he's carrying-" McDonald began.
Deere, who had himself used cocaine on more than a few occasions, said: "If he's carrying, he's carrying heavy. He can't get rid of it."
"Turn off the water," McDonald snapped suddenly.
"Already have," the navigator (who had also tooted more than his flute on occasion) said. "But I don't think it matters. You can dissolve what goes into the holding tanks but you can't make it not there." They were clustered around the bathroom door, with its OCCUPIED sign glowing jeerily, all of them speaking in low tones. "The DEA guys drain it, draw off a sample, and the guy's hung."
"He could always say someone came in before him and dumped it," McDonald replied. His voice was gaining a raw edge... something was not right about this one. Something inside of him kept screaming Fast one! Fast one! as if the fellow from 3A were a riverboat gambler with palmed aces he was all ready to play.
...
McDonald - who had never put anything stronger than aspirin into his system in his entire life and then only rarely - turned to Deere. His lips were pressed together in a thin white line like a scar.
With only three throwaway lines nestled amongst the narrative, King establishes exactly why the captain is so determined to apprehend Eddie, without disrupting the flow at all. It adds a lot to the story, and proves that King can write quite well when he wants to.
After the "drawing" (recruitment) of Eddie Dean, we follow the formulaic drawing of the other two. All three of them are natives of New York City in various different periods of time, and the vast majority of the book is set there, with only brief interludes on the long, bleak beach in Roland's world. The second recruit is probably the low point of the book; I found her particular quirk to be somewhat annoying. The third, however, brings us back to the excellent storytelling of Eddie Dean's segment, with Roland going on a gunslinging shootout across New York City in his final desperate quest for antibiotics.
The strange thing is that, while this book is much better than "The Gunslinger," it too is clearly a set-up for a greater story to come. "The Gunslinger" gave us the hero and the quest; "The Drawing of the Three" gives us his posse. While I enjoyed this book a lot, I find myself wondering whether Volume III will advance the quest and give us more of Roland's world, or busy itself with yet more set-up. Once again, King himself acknowledges this in the afterword: "This longer second volume still leaves many questions unanswered and the story's climax far in the future, but I feel that it is a much more complete volume than the first... and the Dark Tower draws closer."
Unfortunately, we're in early '90s territory now, so King's inevitable decline in quality also draws closer...
Show Less
LibraryThing member danconsiglio
Not nearly as good as the first, but unfortunately, you get sucked into the world of the story. Read it quickly.
LibraryThing member Assassin13
I think this book is good, but a little overrated. I, unlike most people, didn't really like the shifting between Roland's world and our world at different time periods. I just think it all kind of fell flat compared to Roland's mystical and fictional world.
But on the plus side, this book was very
So overall, it was a decent book, just not one of my favorites. I enjoyed the first book much more, and I am currently reading The Waste Lands.
But on the plus side, this book was very
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unique and interesting for what it was, and it introduced one of the creepiest creatures I have ever read about, the Lobstrosity. So overall, it was a decent book, just not one of my favorites. I enjoyed the first book much more, and I am currently reading The Waste Lands.
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LibraryThing member jseger9000
And the quest continues... The Drawing of the Three begins just hours after the final chapter of The Gunslinger. Roland the Gunslinger has fallen asleep on the beach and wakes to find he is not alone.
While I don't have an affinity for King’s Dark Tower stuff (I'll always prefer his stand-alone
The entire book takes place along a desolate stretch of beach. Giant lobsters come out of the surf at night and occasionally a door will appear that allows Roland to enter 'our world' where he meets various characters, some of whom will help him on his quest to find the Dark Tower.
Though the second Dark tower book is an almost immediate continuation of the first one, it was written years afterward and it shows in the strength of King's writing. The Drawing of the Three is a massive improvement on The Gunslinger (though I missed the post-apocalyptic western flavor of the first book). The depth of character and attention to detail that I missed in the first book are here.
I did like the book, though I don't love the Dark Tower series in general. I would say that if you read The Gunslinger and didn't like it, you owe it to yourself to read this second book before deciding to abandon the series.
While I don't have an affinity for King’s Dark Tower stuff (I'll always prefer his stand-alone
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novels), The Drawing of the Three is a very enjoyable read. Though the plot when you get right down to it, is surreal.The entire book takes place along a desolate stretch of beach. Giant lobsters come out of the surf at night and occasionally a door will appear that allows Roland to enter 'our world' where he meets various characters, some of whom will help him on his quest to find the Dark Tower.
Though the second Dark tower book is an almost immediate continuation of the first one, it was written years afterward and it shows in the strength of King's writing. The Drawing of the Three is a massive improvement on The Gunslinger (though I missed the post-apocalyptic western flavor of the first book). The depth of character and attention to detail that I missed in the first book are here.
I did like the book, though I don't love the Dark Tower series in general. I would say that if you read The Gunslinger and didn't like it, you owe it to yourself to read this second book before deciding to abandon the series.
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LibraryThing member adaynasmile
I liked this one far more than the first and am excited to continue the story.
LibraryThing member jwood652
Book 2 of the Dark Tower series: You've got a gunslinger, secret doors between times/worlds, split personalities, drug addicts, real bad people and much more. The master spinner of bizarre tales and developer of unique characters does it again!! Stephen King is a national treasure!
LibraryThing member regularguy5mb
"There I will sing all their names!"
Here we have the second book in Stephen King's massive Dark Tower series. This was my second read-through of this one and, like my second read of The Gunslinger, I feel I could appreciate this one more the second time around. This is probably partially because I
Picking up almost exactly where the first book left off, Roland has been left quite a prophecy by the Man in Black. One that he doesn't quite understand just yet, but he will. Of course, not to make things too easy on our hero, he soon is confronted with terrors of the sea looking to have him for lunch! He doesn't come away unscathed, and now the clock is ticking.
Last time, Jake Chambers was pulled into Roland's world. This time, Roland is going to get pulled into ours. Three need to be drawn; The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows, and Death. Each of these three will bring their own unique challenges for Roland, who is already in a world of hurt from those damned lobstrosities. Can he draw these three to his world before the infection takes him? Or will one of them get to him before that?
Yet another fantastic read from King, who knows how to pace a story within an inch of his life, or in this case, Roland's!
Here we have the second book in Stephen King's massive Dark Tower series. This was my second read-through of this one and, like my second read of The Gunslinger, I feel I could appreciate this one more the second time around. This is probably partially because I
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knew what was coming, even though it had been long enough that some of the minor details had slipped.Picking up almost exactly where the first book left off, Roland has been left quite a prophecy by the Man in Black. One that he doesn't quite understand just yet, but he will. Of course, not to make things too easy on our hero, he soon is confronted with terrors of the sea looking to have him for lunch! He doesn't come away unscathed, and now the clock is ticking.
Last time, Jake Chambers was pulled into Roland's world. This time, Roland is going to get pulled into ours. Three need to be drawn; The Prisoner, The Lady of Shadows, and Death. Each of these three will bring their own unique challenges for Roland, who is already in a world of hurt from those damned lobstrosities. Can he draw these three to his world before the infection takes him? Or will one of them get to him before that?
Yet another fantastic read from King, who knows how to pace a story within an inch of his life, or in this case, Roland's!
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LibraryThing member siew
Ask the lay person on the street, and they will tell you that Stephen King is a horror writer. A smaller percentage of the population will point to the fact that he has also written some pretty memorable fantasy fiction. In fact, I would have to say one of my more favourite King books is in fact a
No less so my dabbling in King’s magnum opus (well, its fans would call it so), The Dark Tower series. I’ve just finished up book 2, entitled The Drawing of the Three, and I am now glad that I persisted after what I thought was a lacklustre gambit (The Gunslinger).
I was absolutely hooked on how Roland, in this episode, manages to pull three people from different times in New York City, into his mysterious world. I’m still flummoxed as to the meaning of it all, and to whatever is so darned important about the Tower, but I have to tip my hat to King’s amazing narrative, how he keeps you enthralled, wondering how on earth Roland, the last gunslinger of his world, can come through with the goods despite lobstrocities that sever digits galore, Customs-cornered-junkie-drug-smugglers, menacing Mafia figures, deadly schizophrenic invalids and perpetual fever and infection (thanks to those lobstrocity-severed digits). Sounds like an incredible mish-mash, but King weaves his story so convincingly, from one world to another, that it is pure magic.
And now, at the end of it all, stay tuned for the next installment coming your way, The Wastelands; no way I’m putting the series down now.
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fantasy book he’d written. Though I’m not one to follow the genre, my small dabblings in it have, admittedly, been quite enjoyable.No less so my dabbling in King’s magnum opus (well, its fans would call it so), The Dark Tower series. I’ve just finished up book 2, entitled The Drawing of the Three, and I am now glad that I persisted after what I thought was a lacklustre gambit (The Gunslinger).
I was absolutely hooked on how Roland, in this episode, manages to pull three people from different times in New York City, into his mysterious world. I’m still flummoxed as to the meaning of it all, and to whatever is so darned important about the Tower, but I have to tip my hat to King’s amazing narrative, how he keeps you enthralled, wondering how on earth Roland, the last gunslinger of his world, can come through with the goods despite lobstrocities that sever digits galore, Customs-cornered-junkie-drug-smugglers, menacing Mafia figures, deadly schizophrenic invalids and perpetual fever and infection (thanks to those lobstrocity-severed digits). Sounds like an incredible mish-mash, but King weaves his story so convincingly, from one world to another, that it is pure magic.
And now, at the end of it all, stay tuned for the next installment coming your way, The Wastelands; no way I’m putting the series down now.
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LibraryThing member chris.library.marks
In the second book in the Dark Tower series we pick up with Roland on the beach just after the end of the events in The Gunslinger. A series of misfortunes leads the gunslinger down the coast and into the process of Drawing his new companions: The Prisoner, The Lady of shadows and Death “But not
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for you Gunslinger”. The shadow of death hangs over the gunslinger in this story that feels at times like the greasiest of crime novels while still maintaining that bizarre element of the fantastic that sets the Dark tower series apart. Show Less
LibraryThing member theportal2002
Fantastic series. This book was by far the better of the entire series. The later books go too much over the top.
LibraryThing member Djupstrom
I was pleasantly surprised by this book. I was not a big fan of the first one in the series, and was a bit apprehensive in continuing the series. The Drawing of the Three is better written and contains a great deal more substance than its predecessor. I am now looking forward to reading the rest of
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the series. Show Less
LibraryThing member Blazingice0608
This is the perfect book in my opinion, while not my personal favorate, it is easily the best book in the series. A wonderful follow up the the intro novel of the series, this is where the characters other than Roland enter the story and you get a great background of each one. The concept was
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wonderful, heck, everything was wonderful, this is what got me hooked on the series Show Less
LibraryThing member TexasTam
This is one of my favorites of the "Dark Tower" series. I just love how he gets to meet his new companions and their background stories on the road to the dark tower.
LibraryThing member pingobarg
great series, i recommend it to anyone who ever had even a nodding acquantance with walt whitman
LibraryThing member paghababian
Book 2 of the Dark Tower is more narrative than its predecessor. Roland, with the Man in Black's tarot cards on his mind, finds three successive doors on a wasteland beach. Each door leads to New York - our world - and to fate.
The most compelling of the three doorways (and sections of the book) is
The most compelling of the three doorways (and sections of the book) is
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The Prisoner. Eddie Dean feels the most human of all the characters in the book and is the person the reader can most identify with. I was particularly struck with the writing when Eddie, a junkie, starts telling his story - the language becomes compressed and fast-paced, like someone itching to get another hit. Show Less
LibraryThing member ragwaine
Cool, harsh characters, kinda gross and disturbing, no plot really, he didn't know where he wanted to go with it so he stalled.
LibraryThing member placo75
After reading The Gunslinger (DT 1), this volume seemed really to lack the poetic voice that I thought (hoped) would characterize the entire story. Nevertheless, the completely unpredictable turns of plot (Here are some key terms. Piece them together as best you can and then read the book and see
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if it came close. Might be fun. Heroin, Wheel chair, white, black, bricks, trains, legs, brother, cops, guns, lobsters, fingers, doors . . . go!) really caught me. Perhaps they'll catch you. Show Less
LibraryThing member mainrun
This was a tough one to rate. I liked it better than Dark Tower I. However, it gets the same number of stars. Book one was Roland hiking across his world to get to this book. This book was a few short stories getting the players together. I am not a fan of short stories.
LibraryThing member JohnMunsch
What a difference some years can make. The poor ending of the first Dark Tower novel and the somewhat ham-handededness of the book as a whole had been almost enough to make me not go on to the second novel. I'm glad I did. The second novel shows what years and years of writing taught King in the
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interim and I enjoyed it a lot. Also I was switching back and forth between the audio book and the paper version and I can say that the reader for the audio book is very good indeed. A mark of that is that Frank Muller seems to be the one they had read all of the later books in the series as well. Show Less
LibraryThing member jphillips3334
In this book, things start to pick up for both Roland and the reader. As Roland trudges across the land towards the Dark Tower, he runs across a door that's standing upright and by itself on a beach. One of three doors our "hero" uses it to traverse from his world to ours. His quest requires
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companions and the doors provide the means for him to get them. He manages to bring back some companions to help with his quest, but they are just as flawed as he is and not so willing to help. Yet, they do have an inner strength and a strong will that's necessary on the hazardous trek to the Dark Tower. Both Eddie Dean and Odetta Holmes are really flawed human beings, one is a heroin addict and the latter has multiple personality disorder. Very untypical people you would think of to be on an epic quest with Roland, the last gunslinger. Yet, the reader can't help but root for and care for these flawed people. Roland is also fleshed out more, he no longer seems to be just a hard-core gunslinger but one who has become hard due to his environment and past. Of course, more unanswered questions arise, and you are no closer as to finding out what the Dark Tower is, or why Roland needs to find it. But now he has help on his quest and it'll be interesting to see what happens in the next volume's in this epic story. Show Less
LibraryThing member SonicQuack
The Gunslinger was a surreal fantasy which, to be honest, was quite hard work. The fact that there are answers available, from questions left unanswered in the first book, make The Drawing of the Three rather irresistible. The good news is Drawing is a thoroughly different style. The surreality is
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still there; King has a clear idea of how this other world exists. That said, this book features no more than a single stretch of beach, yet at no point labours it's points. The lack of otherworldly scenario is compensated by three Earth bound stories as the Gunslinger forms his 'company', for that is all that occurs in Drawing - it is the creation of a fellowship which (presumably) will fuel the next four books. The initial Drawing, the addition of a junkie to the Gunslinger's cause is superbly written. Carl Hiaasen-esque with a Tarentino twist - you'll be absolutely transfixed by it. The rest of the novel never lives up to that chapter, but it's all good none-the-less. Fate (ka) ensures the book doesn't seem like separate stories, with the beach as a strong link between each. The plotting of Drawing is excellent. Enough praise for this one - just go and read it! Show Less
Pages
320