Stephen King

Frank Muller

The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, Book 2)

In the second novel of Stephen King's bestselling fantasy masterpiece, Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger, encounters three mysterious doors which open - for Roland, and Roland alone - to different times in our world. He must draw the three who should accompany him on the road. 

In 1980s New York, Roland joins forces with defiant Eddie Dean. The second door leads to the 1960s and conflicted civil rights activist Odetta Holmes. The final door reveals Jack Mort, a deadly serial killer, in the 1970s. Mort is stalking Jake, the young boy Roland met in Mid-World.

As titanic forces gather, a savage struggle between underworld evil and otherworldly enemies threatens to bring an end to Roland's journey toward the Dark Tower...

The Dark Tower II

The Drawing of the Three

Stephanie 

The voice of Cort interrupted the run of his thoughts sternly: 

Control the things you can control, maggot. Let everything else take a flying fuck at you, and if you must go down, go down with your guns blazing

This is what romance gets you – a noose around your neck and a crazy woman with two guns somewhere behind you.

Gosh I swear, every character in this series is deranged and insane 😂 

The man meant to drop the brick on someone. He didn’t care who; when it came to murder, Jack Mort was an equal-opportunity employer.

If it sent all to hell, then hell with it.

There was no reason to do such a thing, but a woman like Detta, Eddie thought, needed no reasons. 

A woman like Detta was perfectly willing to do such things out of sheer meanness.

'She talks like a cliche. Do you know that word?’ 

‘It means what is always said or believed by people who think only a little or not at all.’

’ he said. ‘It’s like being an alcoholic, or ’basing. It’s not a thing you ever get over. I used to hear that and go “Yeah, yeah, right, right,” in my head, you know, but now I understand. I still want it, and I guess part of me will always want it, but the physical part has passed.’

And guess who we’re going to meet? 🌝 I‘m deadass excited for the next chapters. 

Stripped of jargon, what Adler said was this: 

the perfect schizophrenic – if there was such a person – would be a man or woman not only unaware of his other persona(e), but one unaware that anything at all was amiss in his or her life. 

Adler should have met Detta Walker and Odetta Holmes.

He looked like a farmer or innkeeper or small-time mafioso who had been successful more by virtue of being at the right place at the right time than because of any brains.

Uhm thanks for the advice, a little too late though. 

'Don’t make the mistake of putting your heart near his hand.'

He walked out of nowhere toward nowhere, a man from another time who, it seemed, had reached a point of pointless ending.

Patrick Book

This might be the best of the series, although it explores the least of the Gunslinger’s world. 

And yes. The language and some of the characterizations would be problematic today. But that’s a thing that happens.

THE DRAWING OF THE THREE is the second volume in Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series. The Dark Tower is now a major motion picture starring Matthew McConaughey and Idris Elba. In the second novel of Stephen King's bestselling fantasy masterpiece, Roland of Gilead, the Last Gunslinger, encounters three mysterious doors which open - for Roland, and Roland alone - to different times in our world. He must draw the three who should accompany him on the road. In 1980s New York, Roland joins forces with defiant Eddie Dean. The second door leads to the 1960s and conflicted civil rights activist Odetta Holmes. The final door reveals Jack Mort, a deadly serial killer, in the 1970s. Mort is stalking Jake, the young boy Roland met in Mid-World. As titanic forces gather, a savage struggle between underworld evil and otherworldly enemies threatens to bring an end to Roland's journey toward the Dark Tower... JOIN THE QUEST FOR THE DARK TOWER... THE DARK TOWER SERIES: THE DARK TOWER I: THE GUNSLINGER THE DARK TOWER II: THE DRAWING OF THE THREE THE DARK TOWER III: THE WASTE LANDS THE DARK TOWER IV: WIZARD AND GLASS THE DARK TOWER V: WOLVES OF THE CALLA THE DARK TOWER VI: SONG OF SUSANNAH THE DARK TOWER VII: THE DARK TOWER THE WIND THROUGH THE KEYHOLE: A DARK TOWER NOVEL

The Drawing Of The Three

Tobias V. Langhoff

While the first book in the series was written in a very arcane and mysterious way, which reminded me of The Road, this novel is more King-esque, for better or for worse. If you have read It or The Stand, you know what to expect here; sidestories from the minds of background characters who play no role in the plot, a lot of internal dialogue, repetition and boring passages; but also really funny quips, exciting action and memorable main characters.

Like the first book, this one is also clearly a part of a longer story. It’s slow and explains very little of its overarching plot; not just because the backstory is still kept in the shadows, but also because it’s in the passenger seat while King introduces and spends the entire book fleshing out what I expect to be the main characters for large parts (if not the entirety) of the series.

The audiobook narration is great. Frank Muller (who also narrates two other TDT books) juggles the different characters very well, even the 60s jive talk of Detta Walker – it was very impressive how he slowly changed his narration while the point of view shifted to her, finally adopting the African American Vernacular completely and convincingly before she actually speaks a line.

Although the protagonist Roland Deschain is most often compared to Clint Eastwood’s character The Man With No Name, with good reason, he also reminds me of the eponymous character in the Morgan Kane series (which begins with Morgan Kane - Without Mercy), who also has a similar-sounding name. Like Morgan, Roland also loses the use of fingers on his gun hand in this book.

Many people have said that if you don’t like the first book, you should read the second one before giving up on the series. I agree, because this is a very different beast. However, I preferred the writing style of the first book and had more issues with this one. Nevertheless, I will press on.

Lara Engle

At first, I thought this book's pacing was too slow, spending too much time with Eddie Dean. Then, everything exploded into tension and gunfire. I was entranced. Then, just as suddenly, I stalled out at the introduction of Detta and Odetta. I set the book aside for weeks. Another new character to spend pages and pages on before they link back together? Ugh. Plus, Detta is repellent. Foul-mouthed and foul-tempered, she is unpredictable in the worst of ways. I pushed through. Once we returned to Eddie and Roland, all was well, not for them, of course, but for me. From there, this book barreled to the end. The way it all came together in the last storytelling beat redeemed it for me, taking it from three-star slog to five-star spectacular. The quest for the dark tower continues and I'm definitely along for the ride.

Prashanth Srivatsa

2 out of 7. Nothing great, nothing to crib about. King's inventiveness keeps you on the edge, and the time travel is all fascinating, but in all his hurry, King has left behind a bit of the magic he'd conjured with the Gunslinger. Onward to the Dark Tower, book three.

Victoria Saxon

This is my favorite from the Dark Tower series. I couldn't put it down, it was so good.

How to tell you’re reading a Stephen King book:

That’s how reading this book felt like. But don’t get me wrong, I loved every second of it. This was fantastic. And weird. But awesome.

Book 1 felt like an insanely long prologue, this one on the other hand was completely dedicated to character introduction and development. That might not sound exciting but trust me, it is because the characters are truly unique. We also get more information about the worldbuilding and I‘m equally confused and mindblown. And I love that King himself states in the afterword that he doesn’t really know where this is going to either.

Anyway, I can‘t wait to get my hands on the next book.

How to tell you’re reading a Stephen King book:

- A lot of cursing, strange slang, made-up words and concepts explained after 500 pages

- Dark humor, bad puns, sarcasm

- All characters are insane

- The villains are evil villains

- The heroes are evil villains

- An unhealthy amount of violence and gruesome details

- People tend to die

That’s how reading this book felt like. But don’t get me wrong, I loved every second of it. This was fantastic. And weird. But awesome.

Book 1 felt like an insanely long prologue, this one on the other hand was completely dedicated to character introduction and development. That might not sound exciting but trust me, it is because the characters are truly unique. We also get more information about the worldbuilding and I‘m equally confused and mindblown. And I love that King himself states in the afterword that he doesn’t really know where this is going to either.

Anyway, I can‘t wait to get my hands on the next book.

Celeste Richardson

I loved everything about this book. I’m not really sure why I’m surprised by this, but I am. I expected to like The Drawing of the Three in the same way that I liked The Gunslinger, but I love it with the same ferocity I do The Stand. It is, in my opinion, the most powerful and successful entry into the portal fantasy subgenre since C.S. Lewis penned The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. Yes, it’s really that good.
“Because the difference between seeing and not seeing can be the difference between living and dying.”
The Drawing of the Three begins exactly where The Gunslinger left off. Roland finds himself on an incredibly freakish beach, so odd in fact that I assumed it was some kind of fevered dream sequence. This setting is also the source of my favorite new made-up word: lobstrosity. It’s the perfect description for the hellish crustaceans that populate the beachscape. (Seriously, they’re terrifying.) After enduring a horror that I won’t go into since I view it as a spoiler, Roland begins the drawing of the three he will need to find the Dark Tower. He finds these three through supernatural doors he finds along the coastline. Each door leads to a particular time and place in our own world, and each door represents a different person: the Prisoner, the Lady of Shadows, and the Pusher. The way in which Roland interacts with these individuals is fascinating. And these new characters in the cast are incredibly compelling. Eddie in particular grew so much throughout the telling of this story. By the end of the novel, I cared deeply about every single character.
“What we like to think of ourselves and what we really are rarely have much in common....”
One element of this book that I found surprising was how deftly King handled demons. Not supernatural, Hail Satan demons. I’m talking about demons that we all face and fight throughout our lives. In the pages of this book, King explored addiction, mental illness, and physical handicaps in ways that are honest yet so respectful, and that are most of all relatable. Whatever you’ve struggled with in your life, there’s something about this book that makes you feel seen. There’s also a level of tension that King manages to maintain so well over the course of the book. No part of this story felt like it was dragging to me. But even in the midst of some incredibly tense scenes, Roland’s complete befuddlement with our world and his baffled interaction with it had me actually laughing out loud on occasion, which was a welcome relief from all that tension. His reaction to his first sip of Pepsi is a prime example.
“For every mother who ever cursed God for her child dead in the road, for every father who ever cursed the man who sent him away from the factory with no job, for every child who was ever born to pain and asked why, this is the answer. Our lives are like these things I build. Sometimes they fall down for a reason, sometimes they fall down for no reason at all.” 
Something I’m coming to love more and more is King’s tendency to reference himself. For example, there were quite a few blatant references to The Shining from one character, though this was regarding the Kubrick film instead of the novel. I don’t know that anyone else could refer to their past work so believably, as King has left such a huge imprint on the modern collective consciousness. One of my favorite aspects of reading any of King’s books has become the hunt for these little references to his own catalogue. I’m super excited to see how everything I’ve read, and the books of his that are in my future, are going to end up tying into the Dark Tower.
“We are going to fight. We are going to be hurt. And in the end, we will stand.”
The Drawing of the Three is quite honestly one of my most surprising reading experiences of 2020 so far. I’m ecstatic that I loved it so much. The more I read from King, the more I love him. I can’t believe that an author whose writing style I once could not stand has become one of my very favorites. I honestly cannot wait to see where Roland’s journey to the Tower takes him and his companions next.

You can find  this review and more at Novel Notions.

Cams Campbell

After the first in the series, the story really starts to pick up with this one and become the sort of Stephen King writing that I enjoy so much, particularly in audiobook format. I had to rewind the audiobook of The Gunslinger a few times when my mind had wandered and I'd missed bits. That didn't happen with this one. 

I got it from Audible and the narrator was superb.

dead line

This made more sense, but I wish it didn't.

Way less viby than the previous book.

I haven't read a King book before, but if this is the common experience then I'm good. Everything is so drawn out. It's like he's trying to fill in as much detail as possible, but the details are things that don't need detailing.

I listened to this book, and hearing a white man put on the voice of a caricatured black woman, was too much to bear at times. Honestly, Detta made me very uncomfortable. King calls out Detta as being a cliche in the text, but the explanation stopped there. It was just cringy.

Andy Nicolaides

Off to an interesting start. 

The first book in the series was slow going, and pretty confusing, but this second book pushes things forward at a decent pace. I'm looking forward to continuing the journey.

Ben Nathan

Exactly as good as I remembered it being, which is excellent. The combinations of characters, the twists of the story line, the enjoyment of the parts that are as expected. Just a joy to read. I'm definitely looking forward to getting to book 3 soon.

Heather Killeen

This book was so amazing! You hear about Steven King's uncanny and unparelled talent in fiction but it is somewhat unexpected from a fantasy novel. This book weaves together so many interesting themes and the twists and turns! It's a must read for a fast paced intelligent dark fantasy lover:) Enjoy

The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower, Book 2)

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