The Drawing of the Three

This book was much much much better than “The Gunslinger”. It has given me a budding hope that I may actually like this series.

We follow Roland as he goes through 3 different doors to get what he needs to find the tower as prophesied. We meet 3 new characters: Eddie, Odetta/Detta, and Jack. Getting to experience these unique personalities was very interesting to read. The characterization in this book is really what makes this book so successful. We get to see new relationships bloom and grow, while also seeing these characters struggle through their inner demons.

I have 2 big gripes with this book. The first is the caricature that King has made Detta. I understand that this was intentional, but having been written by a white person, it felt incredibly hard to read her parts. The way the dialogue was written and the excessive use of slurs was difficult, to say the least. Again, I know that this was an intentional move by King to create the dichotomy, but I felt that it could've been done more tastefully. My second gripe is the constant use of insta-love in these books. First, we saw it with Jake in the previous book. Then, in this book, we see it again throughout all of the characters. Everyone hardly knows each other, yet they are all constantly professing their love. It felt disingenuous and awkward to me. It brought me out of the story multiple times.

The plot was ok. I think the concept was pretty cool, but I feel like a lot of the action, while fun, isn't completely necessary to the story. I could be completely wrong, so I guess we'll see as I continue the series.

Overall so far, I think this series is worth the read. Even though I really disliked “The Gunslinger”, this book made it feel worth it to me. I hope the rest of the series continues to improve as I go along.

TW: racial slurs, homophobic slurs, racial stereotypes, drug use, drug overdose, explicit sexual content, death, gore, amputation, decapitation, assault, gun violence hospitalization, needles, fatphobia