Steve-Calvert.co.uk
Steve-Calvert.co.uk
A Passion For Horror
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In Wolves of the Calla Roland and his ka-tet won their battle, but also lost a vital member of their team. Susannah, heavily pregnant with a demon baby and possessed by an entity called Mia managed to crawl her way up to the Cave of the Voices. Once inside she passed through a magic door and into another when and where (time and place). Song of Susannah picks up the story and finds Eddie Dean desperate to go in search of his wife, to do this he will need the help of the Manni tribe, who are skilled in the use of magic doors. Although Eddie wants go through the door at once none of the Manni will venture anywhere near The Cave of the Voices in the dark and so Eddie has to wait until the morning. By the following morning though, the cave has fallen unusually silent and Eddie fears that he is standing in front of a door that leads nowhere. "There is no magic left here," he tells Henchick, the leader of the Manni. "There's nothing behind that fucking door but stale air and fallen rock. You're a fool and I'm another." These are harsh words but Henchick does not to take offence, he does, however, give Eddie a little demonstration of Manni magic and soon has young gunslinger wishing he had held his tongue. Susannah is only one of the ka-tet's worries though. They also need to travel to Calvin Tower's when. They have unfinished business with him and if they hope to save The Dark Tower they need to complete that business. With two such important tasks ahead of them it is necessary for the ka-tet to be further divided and it is agreed that Roland and Eddie will go after Susannah while Jake and Father Callahan will go in search of Calvin Tower. Oy will stay with the Manni. That was the plan, but ka, or something else, has other ideas and the first time the door opens -- onto Susannah's where and when -- it is Jake, Father Callahan and Oy that are dragged through. Then when the door opens for a second time Roland and Eddie are sent tumbling into Tower's where and when. Susannah, meanwhile, has troubles of her own. Mia has total control of her and she is little more than a prisoner in her own body. On the positive side, though, she has grown a new a new set of legs, so she is getting around a lot better, even if she isn't in the driver's seat. Song of Susannah is a good read and, as with The Waste Lands, the book ends with a cliffhanger. Susannah -- and Mia! -- are in big trouble. Jake, Father Callahan and Oy are rushing to her (their) rescue, but fighting against the odds as well as the minions of The Crimson King. Roland and Eddie on the other hand have not only concluded their business with Tower, but have been visiting with a writer named Stephen King. Stephen King has done a great job
of writing
himself into the story and even manages to make it all seem believable.
He does not pull any punches either. Roland and Eddie turn up at a time
when (in real life) King had a bit of a drinking problem and (in the
story) it does not exactly help matters when he finds himself standing
face to face with the gunslinger that he created. Anyone would need a
beer after a shock like that. King has a few and Eddie worries that the
writer might succeed in drinking himself to death before he finishes
writing the Dark Tower series. He need not have worried though, ka
has other plans for King and when the ka-ka does finally hit the fan it
is not cirrhosis that tries to end the writer's tale, but a
speeding van. |
