is the work that King fans have waited almost a quarter of a century to read. Stephen King began the series with the first title, The Gunslinger , in 1982. With the final installment in the series that shares the novel’s namesake, The Dark Tower series , Stephen King finally brings the story to an end, ending a series that has spanned years and has seeped into twenty years worth of his own works outside of the series itself.
Song of Susannah left Susannah, Father Callahan, and Jake Chambers within the confines of the Dixie Pig as Mia commandeered Susannah’s body in order to give birth. The child was to be the biological child of Susannah Dean and Roland of Gilead as well as bearing genes of the Crimson King, the main villain of .
Mia, having finally separated from Susannah and manifesting in human form, gives birth to her child which subsequently shapeshifts into a multi-legged spider form and begins to cannibalize its birth mother. Mordred, the child in question, attempts to slay the remaining inhabitants of the Dixie Pig until Susannah manages to wound the spider form of Mordred by shooting and obliterating one of his legs.
As the novel and series close in on its final conclusion, characters who have been with the reader throughout the series are ticked off one by one as if they are bowling pins being knocked about by a speeding bowling ball.
Fans of the series and of King will probably find themselves confused and perhaps even disappointed by the final conclusion of the series which seems to raise more questions than provide a true and just conclusion to the series. Some fans might even complain that they have been duped. Other fans will, no doubt, argue that the ending was the only way the series could have turned out the lights.
The ending is open and, should King ever want, there’s nothing to stop him from reopening the last chapter and concluding Roland’s tale and his quest for the Dark Tower . Even King warns his readers to shut the novel before reading the ending as if he, himself, isn’t sure of the ending.
However, at least finally puts to bed a series that has been over twenty years in the making which is in and of itself quite an undertaking and accomplishment.
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