by Jay Wilburn
The plan is to reread all of Stephen King’s works in the order that they were published. Richard Chizmar of Cemetery Dance had the vision. I’m doing it because I am a writer and I want to improve my fiction. And I love Stephen King’s stories. I think there is something to be learned through this process.
You can also go back to the beginning and read Before Carrie or any of my other posts up through this one and beyond by checking out this link to the Master List of all my #StephenKingRevisited posts.
This book was dedicated to Frank Mueller who hears the voices in Stephen King’s head. King explains at the end of this edition of Wolves of the Calla that Frank did the audio books of the previous volumes of The Dark Tower series, but was in a serious accident. There is an address that went to a foundation to help back in the early 2000s when this work was released. King used Frank’s recordings to get him back into the headspace of the series as he prepared to write these final three volumes back-to-back. He was saddened that Frank Mueller would be reading no more of them. King organized a benefit with other A-list authors. Frank was in the hospital for six and a half years following his accident and died in a hospital in 2008.
I was unaware any of these Dark Tower novels had subtitles. The subtitle for the first novel is Resumption, the second book is subtitled Renewal, the third book Redemption, the fourth Regard, and this fifth volume was Resistance. I don’t know that I’ve ever seen that discussed anywhere else.
“First comes smiles, then lies. Last gunfire.” We are indirectly warned of this at the beginning. It’s as good as an outline. We’re also told that battles usually come down to five minutes of violence and stupidity. Set your watch and warrant by it.
This town, part of a 2000 mile stretch of river towns in this section of this dying world where time and land stretches and distorts, is plagued by twins and wolves. The nature of the threat is still mysterious as a father decides it’s time to fight back. The town will debate this move heavily.
Callahan from Jerusalem’s Lot shows up. At first it seems he’ll be a passing character for this novel, but King hints early on that the old priest’s from the book Salem’s Lot will be making a longer appearance in the series. I wonder if this was a decision made during the course of writing this book or if it was mapped out beforehand. Things get weirder when they find some Stephen King books from another universe. King is writing himself into the story. It’s not the first time his work has been referenced within his work, but this feels like the set-up for something much more pronounced.
“No one ever lives happily ever after, but we leave that to the children to find out themselves.” That’s a heavy truth.
Jake and Eddie “dream” the events of Jake in New York from book 3. Something darker and more dangerous appears to be behind these nighttime todashes. Susannah dreams herself a new personality which forbodes old trouble coming back to threaten future days.
King throws in a “honeychile” for our black female hero. A little more appropriate for this character than in From a Buick 8, but I’m hoping this isn’t his new obsession word to put into the mouth of every black female character for a while.
The robot has secrets, more than he can tell. His inclusion in this western setting is one of the coolest elements of the story over the full arc.
God and Man Jesus, those heavenly gunslingers, loom large intwined with the faith and culture of this region. Big Sky Daddy some of the locals call him. Roland at one point says, “Your Man Jesus is a son of a bitch when it comes to women.” “He spent time with whores,” another offers. “Well, that’s a good start.”
We catch a glimpse of the final battle that made Roland the last gunslinger.
There is a distinct difference to the flashbacks and side tales told by various characters in this novel compared to book 4. In this book, the main tale remains in the present. In book 4, the flashback was everything and the present setting of the stories with characters we followed through a harrowing land for over three books are left behind too long in book 4.
In this book, I wanted to hear Callahan’s tale. It could have been abbreviated a bit, but it was fine. In a side tale about vampires, King spends a chapter on alcohol. It felt a little personal and introspective, exorcising old demons of his own. The AIDS, homosexuality, alcoholism, and vampires all tied together into a narrative in this tale within a tale was unwieldy at times.
Callahan had to deal with the “low men” from Hearts of Atlantis, agents of the Crimson King, now with the Big Coffin Hunter tattoos of Roland’s past.
“The goodbyes we say and the ones we hear tell us we’re still alive.” Deep stuff.
The pieces involved in the plan of defending the town from the wolves are well-placed and paced through the story. What lies under the masks is the deepest mystery of all, and King keeps that close to chest even as characters discover it for themselves, whispering where we can’t hear. The components of the story, the characters, conversations, and revelations stack up perfectly to pull the reader along from page to page.
They can’t win if they are not together, but secrets keep pulling them apart. This theme will have consequences for the future of the series.
The simple description of how a door closes is some of King’s best work.
Jack Kennedy was a gunslinger, a character proposes. The seeds of 11/22/63 are taking root in this section. The ideas that would become that novel have popped up a few times in King’s work over the decades.
The English word with the most graduated meanings is probably “run.”
“That life was richer. This one is truer.” Good line.
Roland tells many lies to save many lives.
Everything King writes may be all about the Breakers in the end.
In addition to King’s own existence creeping into the Dark Tower universe, we see glimpses of lightsabers, Marvel characters, and a tribute to Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling. This last one didn’t age badly, but it was a lot sweeter of a tribute when it first came out before Rawling turned heel. King seems to imply that every story, every inspiration of imagination, that is written in one universe exists for real in another. Art is translation of another reality in a literal sense in the Dark Tower universe.
As usual, King allows characters to come to the same conclusions too easily. Here he couches it in characters having “the touch” or being part of the same ka-tet that comes with a convenient psychic bond. Maybe that is his excuse for every other time characters landed on the same specific conclusions too easily. I don’t think it adds to his stories as much as it takes away though.
On the whole, this book is great. I wanted the next page all the way through to the end and I want the next book after closing this one for good.
An issue is left unresolved and a thing of value goes missing to lead us into the action of the next book. Unlike the harrowing train ride that left readers hanging for so long at the end of book 3, King rolls out books 5, 6, and 7 in short order. As Wolves of the Calla was in final draft form, the following two were completed rough drafts. King was serious about resolving this series, so let’s plow right into Song of Susannah next.
My next post in this series will be Before Song of Susannah which will be linked on the Master List of all my Stephen King Revisited posts.
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