The Waste Lands by Stephen King (CBR-III #16)

Series: The Dark Tower Book III
Cannonball Read III: Book #16/52
Published: 1991
Pages: 608 (6,207 total so far)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

This is the third book in the Dark Tower series and I'm definitely glad I kept reading after being not so impressed with The Gunslinger. I loved the second book and this one was good as well. I did find it a bit slow at times, but it really picks up during the last third and keeps going until the cliffhanger ending.

***I'm going to try and keep out any major spoilers, but if you haven't read the first two books in the series, there could possibly be spoilers ahead***

The Waste Lands follows Roland and his companions as they cross the country following "the beam" to the Dark Tower. I think if Tolkien was on LSD, this is how he would have written Lord of the Rings. Seriously, this book is insane, but in a good way. For instance, we begin with a giant parasite-infested cyborg bear who has a satellite dish on his head and we end with a cranky, talking monorail. Very, very strange stuff.

I'm a little confused as to why it's called The Waste Lands when they don't actually get to the waste lands until almost the very end. But like I said, the last third of the book gets intense and then it ends on a cliffhanger that makes you immediately want to pick up the next book.

I'd give it 4/5 stars. Definitely pick up this series if you're at all interested in the fantasy genre.

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King (CBR-III #15)

Series: The Dark Tower Book II
Cannonball Read III: Book #15/52
Published: 1987
Pages: 480 (5,599 total so far)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

This is the second book in Stephen King's Dark Tower series and I have to say I liked it much better than the first. The story flowed a little better and we added a few much-needed characters to keep the mystery of Roland from becoming too dull.

This book continues right where The Gunslinger ended. Roland wakes up on the beach and immediately enters a battle with these giant lobster-like creatures that results in him losing a couple of fingers and toes. After defeating the creatures, he continues his journey up the coast until he finds a door standing upright in the sand.

The door is labeled "The Prisoner" and enables Roland to enter the mind of a heroin addict named Eddie Dean. Eddie is in a completely different world and time than Roland - 1980's New York City. Roland must convince Eddie to join him in Roland's world and go with him on his journey to the Dark Tower.

There are also two other doors placed in intervals down the beach. The second enters into the mind of a schizophrenic woman in 1960's New York. Sometimes she's the calm, mild-mannered rich woman named Odetta Holmes and other times she's the crazy, white-person hating woman named Odetta Walker. Through the third door, Roland enters into serial killer (or "pusher" as he calls himself) Jack's head.

The purpose of this book is pretty much to set up the main characters for the remainder of the series. King introduces us to some pretty interesting (and unconventional) characters and I'm excited to read the rest of the series now. I wasn't so sure about it after the first book, but this one definitely got me hooked.

The Gunslinger by Stephen King (CBR-III #14)

Series: The Dark Tower Book I
Cannonball Read III: Book #14/52
Published: 1982
Pages: 264 (5,119 total so far)
Genre: Fantasy/Adventure

I actually tried reading The Gunslinger years ago, but never finished it. I really want to try and make it through the entire Dark Tower series, so I decided to try again. Hey, even Stephen King himself in the forward says that you need to get through the first three books before you can really get into the story.

Roland is the last gunslinger (he's possibly very old - this book seems to be very vague on a lot of things) and has been following The Man in Black for a long time. The Man in Black has information that Roland needs in order to find The Dark Tower. Again, it's very vague as to why Roland wants/needs to find the Tower, but I'm assuming that's what the other six books are for.

Along the way, Roland wipes out an entire town, meets a strange man who lives in the desert with his corn patch and pet bird, and rescues a boy who has vague memories of living - and dying - in New York City before he was deposited at an old coach station in the middle of the desert. The boy joins Roland in the rest of his journey to catch up to The Man in Black.

The Gunslinger is different than most King books (I should know - I've read most of them!). It's an adventure story, but I found this first book to really drag in places. Luckily, it's a short book or I probably would have abandoned it again. I really enjoyed the actual adventure parts and wish it would have focused more on Roland's travels or on some of the things he encountered such as the mutants or the Subway ruins.

Again, I found parts of the book slow or hard to follow because you weren't given a lot of information to go on, although I do understand that this is basically an introduction to the series. Hopefully everything will make more sense as the books go along because the core story is pretty interesting, but I don't know if I can read one of the 800 page ones in the series if it's only 50% adventure, 30% rambling, and 20% vagueness.

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill (CBR-III #13)

Cannonball Read III: Book #13/52
Published: 2007
Pages: 376 (4,855 total so far)
Genre: Horror/Ghost story

Judas Coyne (how cheesy is that for a stage name?) is a fifty-something goth rock star who likes to collect macabre things. So when he finds a ghost for sale on an auction website, of course he has to buy it. Because he's GOTH you know. However, the ghost was actually sold to him by his ex-girlfriend Anna's sister. Oh, and the ghost is actually Anna's stepdad seeking revenge for Anna's suicide after Judas broke up with her.

So, the ghost wants to kill Judas and anyone associated with him (like his new girlfriend, Marybeth). Judas and Marybeth embark on a roadtrip from New York to Florida with the ghost following until they finally end up at the house where Judas grew up and end up in a weird battle involving dead people, living people, and sometimes dead people INSIDE of living people. I told you, it gets weird.

I don't really like ghost stories. Crazy people who are alive scare me. Dead people do not for some reason. Of course if one ever came after me I'd probably run screaming, but for reading purposes they're not my favorite subject.

I kept reading reviews about how scary this book was but honestly, I was bored and really struggled to finish it. It kept dragging on and on with nothing really new (or scary) happening. The only part that really kept my attention was when Judas and Marybeth confronted the ghost's stepdaughter (Anna's sister), who sent him the ghost.

I'd recommend it if you like ghost stories. If not, don't let the good reviews fool you into thinking this will finally be the ghost story that scares you. It probably won't.