I finally finished The Dark Tower last night, and I'm going to have to be different and say I did not like the ending. When Roland finally went into the tower and we heard the door slamming shut forever, I thought that was the end, and we would have to come to our own conclusions about what happened inside. I didn't particularly like this, as I am not a fan of "open" endings. I like to have it spelt out for me. Then I was surprised and happy to see that the book returned to Roland.
I was intrigued as Roland climbed the tower and saw all those rooms with aspects of his life. I wondered why they were there, but just before he stepped into the room at the top, I suddenly
knew what was going to happen, a split second before I read it. And I was right.
I thought the whole loop thing was absolutely terrible, not in terms of being crap, but a terrible thing for Roland. I was horrified. I know Roland is an anti-hero, who did terrible things in the name of his quest, but he didn't deserve this.
The whole thing does not make sense to me. The quest was always about saving the Dark Tower, and thus saving all the worlds. To me this is a noble cause, surely? Doesn't the Tower/Gan/Ka set him on this quest? If so, Roland complies, saves the Tower and saves all the worlds. He is doing what he should be doing, what the tower
wants him to do. When he is successful, surely he should be rewarded with peace/death/an end to his quest. I thought he would somehow remain at the Tower as its guardian, or go to the clearing at the end of the path and finally have peace. But no, he is doomed to repeat the quest over and over again, and has done so many times already.
Things that don't make sense to me:
1. After Roland is sent back to the beginning, the Tower must begin the cycle again and the Beams will fail, worlds will move on, the Tower will be in jeopardy again. Why? What is the point of this? When the Tower is powerful and has been saved, why would time "reset" like this? No doubt the Crimson King etc will suddenly wink back into existence, and round we go again. To me, this does not make sense.
2. Why does Roland have to earn redemption for what he has done? The things he did were all to ensure the success of his quest, ie to save the Dark Tower and all the worlds at all costs. The Dark Tower wanted and needed to be saved, so why punish Roland for doing what had to be done? If he had not done these things, the quest would have failed and the tower and all the worlds would have ended.
3. The matter of Eld's horn. This, I feel, is just a device to give the thoroughly depressed reader a tiny smidgeon of hope that Roland's endless quest has the chance of finally ending. But if Roland's quest ever did end, what would happen to the Tower, given that it seems to need the quest to continue? Would the duty pass to someone else?
4. On Roland's next quest, will the "three" he draws still be Susannah, Eddie and Jake, or versions of them? Or will they be three completely new people?
Maybe someone can explain it to me.
I can't really pick a favourite book, as I read the first three so long ago, and have not re-read them. I think Wolves of the Calla was probably my least favourite - it seemed a bit like a pointless filler. Callaghan was pointless to me, I was not interested in his story in the slightest. I did not think Oy was pointless, how could he be when he saved Roland? The relationship between Jake and Oy was beautiful. In fact, all the relationships were beautifully written. I sniffled at Eddie's death and cried at Jake's (last) death, and at Oy's.
I did
not like the introduction of King as a character, especially when they were referring to him as a god. He was certainly rather unlikeable. It seemed very egotistical to me for him to write himself into the books! Especially when Jake had to die to save him.
I must admit that I was hoping that Eddie, Susannah and Jake would somehow be reunited. I don't care if it was cliched, I wanted it to happen and was overjoyed when it did.
The story of Susan upset me a great deal, it would have been nice if Roland could have been reunited with her in the clearing at the end of the path.
I think King's writing could have been more succinct, but I'm a constant reader so I know what he is like! As I said, Wolves seemed ultimately pointless, and many other parts of the later 3 books could have been shortened without losing anything important.
The introduction of The Artist was very contrived and rather unsatisfying. He is discovered, and lo and behold, he happens to have this wondrous talent that saves everything! Then he wanders off again and King blithely says that he doesn't know what happens to him.
So, I am very glad I finally finished reading this series. For the most part, it was wonderful, gripping, emotional stuff. But I have big problems with the ending. Hmm. Maybe someone can talk me round on that.
But it would be interesting to see how another person envisions Roland's world. 
