The Waste Lands: The Dark Tower series #3 by Stephen King (novel #237)

He thought he was at last beginning to fully understand what that innocuous phrase – the world has moved on – really meant. What a breadth of ignorance and evil it covered. ~ thoughts of Eddie Dean

The Waste Lands is the third in Stephen King's eight-volume The Dark Tower series. It is a dark fantasy set in Earth’s future, where physical and metaphysical laws are significantly altered. There is some collective memory of the old world, and characters describe the present state as a world that has “moved on.” There are portals between Roland’s world and the old world.

 

In volume I, the reader is introduced to the gunslinger Roland Deschain. Gunslinger is not so much a description as a title or profession: a knightly order trained in personal combat to be defenders of justice. Roland is the last of the gunslingers.

He had never been a man who understood himself deeply or cared to; the concept of self-consciousness (let alone self-analysis) was alien to him.

 

Like many things in this series, the reader gradually learns the full meaning and significance of “gunslinger.”

He was not broad-shouldered, as Marshal Dillon had been, nor anywhere near as tall, and his face seemed to her more that of a tired poet than a wild-west lawman, but she had still seen him as an existential version of that make-believe Kansas peace officer…  ~ Susannah’s perception of Roland Deschain

 

Roland is on a quest to find the Dark Tower, and once finding it presumably to set something right that has somehow gone wrong in the world that moved on. Through volume #3, the exact purpose of gaining the Dark Tower is not yet precisely clear.

 

In volume #1, Roland was alone. In volume #2, he picks up two companions from 20th-century America: Eddie, a former drug addict, and Susannah, a former schizophrenic and double-leg amputee. Eddie and Susanah become Roland’s companions and gunslingers in training. In The Waste Lands, the three risk great peril to add one more to their group, a boy named Jake, also from the 20th century. It is unclear if Jake will also become a gunslinger, only that Roland loves him like a son. But nothing…NOTHING…is more important than finding the Dark Tower.

 

I enjoyed this volume. It was exciting, like each volume thus far, but it might have been my least favorite. King has created a world of fantastic physical and meta-physical qualities that, in this volume, seemed a little incongruous and confusing. Perhaps my confusion made them seem incongruous. Nonetheless, hard to put it down. So far, each volume reaches a dangerous climax, a miraculous victory, and a brief return to normalcy, normal for Roland’s world, but no real closure. The action and desperation usually pick up quickly in the next volume, so I am off to begin volume #4.

 

My rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

 

In the King multiverse, I understand that there is an interconnection of most, if not all, of Stephen King’s stories. The only other work I’ve read by King is The Stand (loved it), and I’m familiar with a few others due to film. So, I won’t detect most interconnections, but I did find one between The Stand and The Dark Tower. At one point, while traveling the wastelands, Roland and company find a 20th-century newspaper that refers to a worldwide pandemic that exterminated most of humanity. The article identifies the virus as Captain Trips: a direct reference to the pandemic in The Stand.

 

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Withstand by Ryan Kimmel & Jonathan Delger

Withstand: The Culture War is a Spiritual Battle

by Ryan Kimmel & Jonathan Delger

 

 

Withstand is Christian non-fiction. The subtitle gives the central premise: that our current culture war is a spiritual battle for Christians. It provides practical advice on how to withstand the weapons of the enemy by donning the “full armor of God” from Ephesians 6:15-17

 

• the belt of truth
• the breastplate of righteousness
• the boots of peace
• the helmet of salvation
• the sword of the Spirit

 

I am a lifelong student of the Bible and found nothing new in this teaching (I’d be dubious if there were something new). But, it has practical applications in our modern context. I found it insightful and helpful.

 

The authors made one all-important point that I feel is sometimes missed in teachings on this subject:

 

Perhaps one of the most effective strategies of the enemy at this cultural moment is to make us think that other people are our enemy.

 

As Christians, the first thing we think of any person we see should be this – there is a person made in the image of God (Genesis 1:27). Until we see the humanity in people before we see the difference in our politics, we will never be the sort of people needed to bring the message of peace to the world.

 

Amen!

 

Rejoice in the Lord always; again I say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4: 4-7.

 

 

Two local pastors wrote this short book. I don’t believe it is available through normal outlets, though they may be planning a second printing. More information is available at resoundmedia.cc

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

The Imitation of Christ by Thomas à Kempis

     Translated by Rev. William Benham

 

 

The Imitation of Christ is a Christian devotional written anonymously in the early 15th century. Today, it is commonly attributed to Thomas à Kempis, a German-Dutch Catholic priest. It is one of the most widely read Christian works, apart from the Bible.

 

I first learned of this work from a contemporary Christian author who quoted from its text. Then, a fellow believer recommended it, warning that it would challenge my self-perception. Still, later, I learned of noteworthy theologians who thought highly of it.

 

The title alone excites me. It suggests the highest ideal, which I imperfectly aspire to: Christ-likeness. So, I was eager to read this work and had high expectations. However, I was disappointed by certain points and took great exception to one.

 

The author warns about the lure of the world and one’s ego, with little appeal to be like Christ. The author lived and preached a monastic lifestyle and withdrawal from the world, which I cannot reconcile with the Great Commission of Jesus Christ:

 

Go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you... Matthew 28:19-20

 

Despite these issues, the author made some good points. His words convicted me of my shortcomings in mirroring Christ's ideal. In my prayer life, I often ask the Lord to help me see myself as he sees me. The author gave me much food for thought.

 

However, I have one rather significant issue with the author’s writing. He would often write as if in the words of Christ himself. For example:

 

As I of my own will offered myself unto God the Father on the Cross for thy sins with outstretched hands and naked body, so that nothing remained in Me that did not become altogether a sacrifice for the Divine propitiation; so also oughtest thou every day to offer thyself willingly unto Me for a pure and holy oblation with all thy strength and affections, even to the utmost powers of thine heart.

 

I believe this is a serious offense. We are never free to claim something as the words of Christ that Christ did not say. At the very least, it is presumptuous, as if Christ needs a little help with his message. At worst, it is sacrilege.

 

I am reluctant to censure so strongly since greater minds than mine have quoted and lauded this work. But I am lukewarm at best about this devotional.

 

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As You Like It by William Shakespeare

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players. ~ Jacques

 

As You Like It is a comedy by William Shakespeare, written in the early seventeenth century. It is a complex tale of an exiled Duke, his younger brother, and usurper Frederick.

Lest we pity the exiled Senior Duke, he professes acceptance of his lot quite nobly...

 

And this our life, exempt from public haunt,

Finds tongue in trees, books in the running brooks,

Sermons in stones, and good in everything.

I would not change it.

 

But the real story is about Rosalind, the Senior Duke’s daughter, who remains at court until she runs afoul of her uncle and then flees with her cousin Celia, and the court fool, to the forest of Arden where the Senior Duke resides in exile. Rosalind travels incognito as the young man Ganymede, while Celia is disguised as the maiden Aliena.

 

If you know anything of Shakespeare, you should guess that Rosalind, while posing as a man, meets her love in the forest. Orlando befriends Ganymede and laments his hopeless love for the lady Rosalind to Ganymede, who is, of course, Rosalind herself.

 

Why she doesn’t reveal her true identity and profess her love for Orlando was lost on me; likely for some political necessity.

 

Meanwhile, a young shepherdess, Phebe, falls in love with Ganymede despite Ganymede’s/Rosalind’s best efforts to discourage her, for reasons obvious to the reader, but less obvious to Phebe. Phebe in turn shuns the love of the worthy shepherd Silvius.

 

Oh yes, the court fool, Touchstone, also falls in love, with the simple-minded shepherdess Audrey. Of course he does. And then there's a suitor for Celia as well.

 

A perfect Shakespearean comedy. In the end, Rosalind, still posing as Ganymede, concocts an intricate plot that will enable all the lovers and, by their oath, bind them to marry their lovers on the morrow. They agree but are not very hopeful. I wasn’t very hopeful myself, but it may have been more from confusion than genuine doubt.

 

But since it’s a comedy, you might guess how it turns out. Even Frederick repents from usurping his brother, adopts a religious life, and restores the Senior Duke to his domain.

 

If you’ll pardon the pun, all’s well that ends well.

 

I liked this play very much. It is sometimes confusing, but I suspect that is intentional. I think it would likely be clearer, and more comical, if experienced as it should be: enacted on stage.

 

This play contains one of the greatest lines in Shakespearean dialogue, albeit by a minor character, Jacques, brother of Orlando, and a very melancholy soul. This first line should be familiar. I’ve included his entire speech, which shows his cynicism, wit, and wisdom.

 

All the world’s a stage,
And all the men and women merely players.
They have their exits and their entrances,
And one man in his time plays many parts,
His acts being seven ages. At first the infant,
Mewling and puking in the nurse’s arms.
Then the whining schoolboy with his satchel
And shining morning face, creeping like snail
Unwillingly to school. And then the lover,
Sighing like furnace, with a woeful ballad
Made to his mistress’ eyebrow. Then a soldier,
Full of strange oaths and bearded like the pard,
Jealous in honor, sudden and quick in quarrel,
Seeking the bubble reputation
Even in the cannon’s mouth. And then the justice,
In fair round belly with good capon lined,
With eyes severe and beard of formal cut,
Full of wise saws and modern instances;
And so he plays his part. The sixth age shifts
Into the lean and slippered pantaloon
With spectacles on nose and pouch on side,
His youthful hose, well saved, a world too wide
For his shrunk shank, and his big manly voice,
Turning again toward childish treble, pipes
And whistles in his sound. Last scene of all,
That ends this strange eventful history,
Is second childishness and mere oblivion,
Sans teeth, sans eyes, sans taste, sans everything.

 

Contemporary aphorisms derived from this play:

 

Rosalind, posing as a man, asks Orlando…

But are you so much in love as your rhymes speak?

 

To which Orlando replies…

Neither rhyme nor reason can express how much.

 

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The Drawing of the Three: The Dark Tower series #2 by Stephen King (novel #236)

Fault always lies in the same place, my fine babies: with him weak enough to lay blame. ~ Cort, the Gunslinger’s teacher

The Drawing of the Three is the second in the 8-volume The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It is dark fantasy, set in Earth’s future. Physical and Metaphysical laws are greatly altered. There is some collective memory of the old world, and characters describe the present state as a world that has “moved on.” King says it was inspired by two works: “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” a poem by Robert Browning, and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. It resembles Browning’s poem in some specific points and The Lord of the Rings very little, except as an epic fantasy. 

 

In Volume I, the reader is introduced to the gunslinger, whom I assume is the principal character throughout the series. He is on a quest to the Dark Tower, though it is unclear why? At the end of volume I, the mysterious Man in Black tells the Gunslinger’s fortune using something like tarot cards. The Gunslinger is to encounter three enigmatic characters: the Prisoner, the two-faced woman, and Death. The Drawing of the Three is about those encounters.

 

In each instance, the Gunslinger steps through a portal into another world, or more precisely, another time, the world as it was before it moved on: 20th-century America. In this world/time, he exists within the body and shares consciousness with the three persons. Each faces a significant crisis of their own, and the Gunslinger intervenes while simultaneously forcing them into his struggle.

 

It was an exciting read. Each character is damaged. Two are pitiable. Two will form alliances with the Gunslinger. All three are essential to his quest for the Dark Tower. It is riveting right from the beginning. Back in his own world/time the Gunslinger has an ongoing life-and-death struggle with “lobstrosities”— lobster monstrosities, which are almost comical, other than the permanent physical maiming they cause to the hero of the tale. 

 

As I mentioned in my review of Volume I, I didn’t want to commit to an 8-volume series, but I am entirely hooked and anxious to start Volume III.

 

My rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

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The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower series #1 by Stephen King (novel #235)

The Gunslinger is first in the 8-volume The Dark Tower series by Stephen King. It is dark fantasy, set in Earth’s future. Physical and Metaphysical laws are greatly altered. There is some collective memory of the old world, and characters describe the present state as a world that has “moved on.” King says it was inspired by two works: “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” a poem by Robert Browning, and The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien. It resembles Browning’s poem in some specific points and The Lord of the Rings very little, except as an epic fantasy.

 

The gunslinger, the last gunslinger is Roland Deschain. The novel opens on Roland’s miserable and seemingly hopeless trek across a bleak desert in pursuit of The Man in Black, a wizard or demon, or something else?

 

The reader assumes Roland is the good guy and the Man in Black must be the bad guy, but bit by bit, as King narrates Roland’s quest, the reader learns very little is quite so narrowly defined in the world that has moved on. The Gunslinger is at least admirable for his dogged commitment to his quest. You get the impression Roland would just as soon sit down and die, but he’s taken an oath, or bound to a mission, or just stubborn and will not relent. Also, bit by bit, the reader learns that the Man in Black is not the quest; he is just the key to Roland’s true mission, which is to discover the Dark Tower.

 

I’ve wanted to read this for years, but I’ve also been reluctant because I feared reading the first in the series would necessitate reading the entire series. My fears were realized as I am now captivated. Book #1 does not satisfy by itself. So, I’m in it for the long haul.

 

As a single volume, The Gunslinger is compelling and maddening. King references mysteries of the world that has moved on without explanation only later to give a clue or, presumably, in later volumes, sudden clarity. It's maddening and clever. I’d resent this if I felt it was only a gimmick to sell books, but King teases so masterfully it just feels like great storytelling. But it's still a little maddening.

 

My rating: 3 1/2 out of 5 stars

 

 

There was a satisfying, albeit puzzling, allusion to a classic novel. The gunslinger sees some rabbits emerge from their holes.

 

Three rabbits came, and once they were at silflay the gunslinger pulled leather. [shot them]

 

"Silflay" is a word in Rabbit speech from the novel Watership Down that means for Rabbits to go above ground to feed. Perhaps there were allusions to other writings and I’m not well-read enough to have caught them. I did feel a little smug at getting this one.

 

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The Day of the Jackal by Frederick Forsyth (novel #234)

Claude Lebel was, as he knew, a good cop.

The Day of the Jackal is the first novel by Frederick Forsyth. It is a political thriller, suspense novel though the very beginning is historical fiction. It recounts an actual assassination attempt on President Charles de Gaulle of France in 1962. The failed attempt was the design of the Organisation armée secrète (OAS) [Secret Army Organisation]. The novel then becomes fiction. After repeated failures, the OAS decides their best chance is to hire a foreign professional killer, who is later codenamed the Jackal.

 

The Jackal is dashing and aloof. He’s a bit like James Bond, only a villain. He is almost admirable for his quiet confidence, meticulous planning, and dedication to his task. I’m always a bit uneasy when authors make me feel that…respect for the bad guy.

 

But fortunately, half-way through the story, Forsyth introduces the Jackal’s antithesis, the less flamboyant, but genuinely admirable, Detective Claude Lebel.

 

When the French government learns that a foreign assassin has been hired by the OAS, the entire French security apparatus convenes to stop the killer. There efforts are confounded by the President’s refusal to change his schedule, or to publicly announce the manhunt for the Jackal.

 

Lebel, by virtue of being called the best detective in all of France by the National Commissioner of Police, is chosen to spearhead the hunt for the Jackal.

 

He is also set up to be the fall guy.

 

Claude Lebel was, as he knew, a good cop. He had always been a good cop, slow, precise, methodical, painstaking. Just occasionally he had shown the flash of inspiration that is needed to turn a good cop into a remarkable detective. But he had never lost sight of the fact that in police work ninety-nine percent of the effort is routine, unspectacular enquiry, checking and double-checking, laboriously building up a web of parts until the parts become a whole, the whole becomes a net, and the net finally encloses the criminal with a case that will not just make headlines but stand up in court.

 

“Thriller” is an apt description. I typically pace myself when reading a novel, but this was hard to put down. The political intrigue was maddening. Several of the government ministers arrogantly and foolishly undermine Lebel’s efforts. The characters are superbly believable: the killer, the cop, the petty bureaucrats, or perhaps the lofty bureaucrats, bystanders, and accomplices. But the cat and mouse between the Jackal and Lebel is the real story. The Jackal always seems to be one step ahead, and time is running out.

 

 

My rating: 4 out of 5 stars

 

 

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