WARNING! Includes spoilers.
Here I sit, 2 am on a Saturday, and I've just finished Stephen King's "Wolves of the Calla: The Dark Tower V". Here are my thoughts, in brief.
First off, great book. If you're not familiar with the Dark Tower series, you should be. It's Stephen King's greatest, most far-reaching work, encompassing (at least in part) half of his novels. It tells the story of Roland Deschain, las of the Gunslingers and his obsessive quest for the Dark Tower, the axiom on which the entire universe spins. The novels take place in a world that has strong ties to our own.
"Wolves" puts us back in touch with Roland and his "ka-tet": Jake Chambers, Eddie and Susannah Dean, Oy the Billy Bumbler and, of course Roland. They find themselves in the middle of a small town (Calla), where "Wolves" threaten to steal one of every set of twins in the countryside, as they have for 6 or 8 generations. Most of the children born in the Calla come in twos, the rule rather than the exception.
Enough plot outline, and on to the critique.
First of all, King is a genius and a hack. As far as his creativity goes, he is one of the wonders of the world, as anyone familiar with his work (and many, many of us are) can attest. His writing style, while above adequate, cannot compare to with many of the authors, published and not, of his era.
That said, the man can write plot to beat the band. What I love about much of his work, and "Wolves" raises the bar, is his ability to foreshadow. He'll flaunt the small details, practically flinging them in your face. His novels are filled with so many big surprises and coincidences that he can seamlessly interweave small ones. When the minor ones do show themselves, you nearly smack yourself in the head for not seeing it coming, because he distracts with you by making you try to comprehend the main plot twists.
His arrogance arises in "Wolves", as it does in much of his work. He constantly refers to his own work, even giving the characters copies of his own novels in the story. He puts his name in the novel on many occasions...it's like "Last Action Hero", but instead of being camply, like the film, he takes himself extremely seriously. I won't go into any more details.
In all, I feel "Wolves of the Calla" is a fine continuations in one of my most beloved series, if it do ya. And I say thankya.