The Waste Lands by Steven King

It took me a bit longer to finish the third book in the Dark Tower series - in part because I became busy and didn’t have much reading time during the week and in part it was because this one moved a bit slower.

The book begins with Roland training Eddie and Susannah to be Gunslingers. Susannah graduates when she shoots the antenna dish of a gigantic cyborg bear that is trying to eat Eddie. It is here the trio picks up the Beam, a line of energy that will take them to the center of the world and eventually to the Dark Tower.

The downside is, Roland is having problems with a split in his personal time-space continuum - part of his brain is saying one reality happened and the other half is saying it didn’t. He’s beginning to crack. Eddie is having strange dreams, dreams of the boy Jake that Roland may or may not have actually killed in book 1. Susannah is the only sane one left. Yet, in his own world, Jake is also having difficulties with a split personality, but he seems to be handling it a lot better, accepting what his brain is telling him and acting on it.

There is so much going on in this book that I don’t think even a nutshell could hold a summary. We see the birth of the key that will pave the way for Jake to enter Roland’s world and cure the split in time. Jake holds another key - a pair of books in this case - for getting them to the Dark Tower via Blaine, a psychotic monorail train. And there is little Oy, a billy bumbler (think racoon) with a great big huge heart for Jake.

So this story really isn’t about Roland. And it’s not really about Susannah. It seems to focus on Eddie and Jake and the World that has Moved On.

Did I like this one? Yes. I didn’t think it was quite as strong as book 1 and 2, but that was because I like the bits with Roland. However I did like the bit with Blaine - a train/city who’s slowly gone psycho over the last 800 years. Very creepy and futuristic. I look forward to reading book 4.