The Dark Tower...whoa!

To those I adore,

Finally after reading 4592 pages of Stephen Kings Dark Tower epic I have finished. It took me nearly a year of reading with a few books in between to finish. The last book brought out the big guns and the tear jerkers. It was one of the saddest and happiest endings to a series I have ever read, I know that does not make much sense right now but it was. Here is my review of the series.

The first book was called The Gunslinger: The Dark Tower I. It was decent, the beginning was slow and there was a point where I almost put it down and gave up on the beginning but somewhere in the middle it picked up and caught my attention, the ending of the first piece of the Dark Tower epic was a little sad but no where near in comparison to what was to come.

The second installment was The Drawing of Three: The Dark Tower II. This was one of those books I find difficult to read sometimes because you think to yourself, "What can go wrong now?" and bam you turn the page and King has made hell for the gunslinger a little bit more extreme.

The third book was called The Waste Lands: The Dark Tower III. This book picked up directly where the last one ended still with the what else can go wrong mentality. It continued for a majority of the book then it slowed down yet again. But soon it picked right back up and got the fingers turning the pages, only to leave in a cliff hanger, that many fans where pissed about. Lucky for me I started reading the books after all had been published so I just went to the book store and picked up the next one.

The fourth book was called Wizard and Glass: The Dark Tower IV. This book picked up on the cliff hanger like there was not even a skipped beat. Soon however the majority of the book became a flashback to the gunslingers youth, and it turned out to be one of my favorite books in the series if not my favorite. King's story telling in this book was fantastic, it amazed me much like the Green Mile did the first time I read it.

The fifth book was called Wolves of the Calla: The Dark Tower V. This book King's writing grew from the last, it was a page turner from start to finish and although not much had to do with the journey to the Dark Tower it was a great aside. Like many journey's the gunslingers was not linear. Here the Wolves of the Calla takes you on one of the obstacles of his journey.

The sixth book was called the Song of Susannah: The Dark Tower VI. This book makes you itch. It is very frustrating, its like King ran into a writing wall and had this story in his head and just had to tell it in it's own book. Meanwhile the reader is itching to know the Dark Tower and wants to get back on the path towards it. I still liked it but it felt out of place almost, the books have a certain feel to them and this one was lacking that feeling a little bit. However, in the long run it was needed to complete the tale.

The seventh and final book was called The Dark Tower: The Dark Tower VII. This book was amazing. By now i f you are still reading you are 3500 pages into the series and your emotions (unless you have a cold dead heart) are entwined with the characters. This book is amazing, so much to explain. Just know you will smile, you will cheer in triumph, you will be sad, you will cry. The ending many people hated and booed King for, there is a happiness to it in one aspect but a terrible sadness in it as well. However, if it had had a fairy tale ending something would have felt out of place. So the way King ended it was the only way to end it, and for that I say bravo.

Anyways, anyone who is a sci-fi, western, or fantasy fan should read these. If you liked the Lord of the Rings type of journey this epic is just for you, but more exciting and more modern writing. Of curse the hero is a gunslinger not a midget...I mean halfling.

That is all for now folks. Please leave comments I want to know that you are reading this, thanks.

Love and kisses,
~Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed."
~Stephen King, The Gunslinger's first line.

absolutley finally

To all those I adore,

Kailey and I will be moving to Idaho Falls shortly. I just got the thumbs up to start on July 16th. Finally.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"Yippie!"
~Me an hour ago

good news

To all those I adore,

The good news I was expecting, well I got it finally. That was a huge relief, thank goodness.

Love and kisses,
Rick

To leave you with a quote:
"I read in a book once the best way to avoid a shark attack is to stay out of the water."
~Kailey :)

love reign over me

To those I adore,

I feel it is necessary to apologize for my absence of updates, sorry. Ok so now that that is done with, let's get on to news, or lack of, to start I will tell about progress with my job situation. It sucks, I am in limbo, purgatory whatever you may want to call it. It's like they're fishing, I am the fish, a very willing fish ready to bite, yet they are fumbling with the worm. So yeah I am still waiting on stuff, I am sure most of you know what is going on for those that do not know I probably would tell you but there are a few out there I do not want to disclose this information with.

In other news Rob got married, Kailey and I went, I was in a tux and may I say I look mind blowingly handsome, just look it's true. As for everyone else I guess they looked spiffy. Hey it's my blog deal with my ego boost I need one now. It was a pretty insane little vacation since we arrived on a Thursday and then on Friday I had the longest physical in my life in Pittsburgh and was late for the rehearsal dinner. Then we went to the bachelor party, which never ever have it the night before the wedding, because you wake up a little tired. The wedding was smooth, the reception was fun beside having extremely sore feet. I had an awesome time up there, finally got to see my nephew (Caden/ham) and niece (Melina/chunk). Also look below, more pictures to come sometime.
So since then I have got kicked out of college resigned from my job and have been stuck in limbo living off my beautiful girlfriend Kailey (she was pretty at the wedding too, my blog again). So I am on the last book of the Dark Tower series, many of you know I have been reading the series almost non stop for a year now. It is an excellent series for any of you who like fantasy novels such as Lord of the Rings, or sci-fi novels, or western novels, or romance novels (speaking only about The Wizard and Glass for this one).

Hmm what else...well today I went to the cheap seats and saw Reign Over Me and thought it to be excellent. I think it is one of the best dramas made this year. Many of you know that I have odd taste in movies though. It was good very well done, Adam Sandler is superb in this non-comical role, the soundtrack to the movie is great as well. A lot of 80's hits are in there with some 70's here and there. The ending song is "Love Reign O'er Me" originally a song by The Who, but performed by Pearl Jam.

Well that is all for now sorry this is so short but I am sure if I get good news some time you will hear a much more joyous update but for now just keep on trucking.

Love and kisses,

Rickolicious

To leave you with a quote:

"Only love

Can make it rain

The way the beach

Is kissed by the sea

Only love

Can make it rain

Like the sweat of lovers

Layin' in the fields"

~ The Who