The Dark Tower II : The Drawing of the Three

Childe Rowland to the Dark Tower Came

This epic poem by Robert Browning is notable as one of the inspirations for Stephen King's Dark Tower sequence. Some commentators have seen the poem as an allegory for Browning's search for his literary muse, and it is possible that the same is true of King. The sequence has been written over the course of his entire literary career and touches most of his other works, either tangentially or more explicitly.

I listened to the first novel in the sequence last year (and reviewed it here) and at the time I said that I considered it one of the great American novels of the 20th century. The second book in the sequence surpasses it, quite easily.

It opens with the Gunslinger Roland on the shore of an endless sea, his pursuit of the Dark Man seemingly at an end. Grievously wounded and sick, he finds three doorways into another world, filled with casual miracles and unimaginable wealth. It soon becomes clear that the world of flying carriages and impossibly tall buildings is the New York of our world. He must summon three others to join his quest for the tower - a prisoner in thrall, a lady of shadows and one other hiding a dreadful secret.

We learn a little more of the Tower and its place at the center of all things, a little more of Roland's past and his iron determination to see his quest to its conclusion regardless of the sacrifices that he has to make along the way.

The book is superbly constructed with the conclusion being at once both unexpected and logical. I've already ordered the next one from play.com.