Receive The Wind Through The Keyhole Presented By Stephen King Represented In E-Text

Believe it or not, there was a time when I hadn't read the Dark Tower series, . . but we don't talk about that, It's a painful time in my history, and polite company lets me keep my shame to myself, But I mention it because since stepping foot into the Tower multiverse, everything changed, I thought I was a Stephen King fan until I read the Dark Tower series, but I had no idea how much I could love King and his books.
I adore this series, No other series or book can claim a higher spot in my heart not even Harry Potter, though that's a very close second, so when I learned that there would be a new book in the series, I SQUEE'd all over the damn place.
Messy cleanup, but so worth it,

Dark Tower is bittersweet, It is. But that's one of my favorite things about King he makes it real, So I couldn't wait, nay, . . COULD. NOT. WAIT. to read the shit out of this book and finally see the katet again, To go on another adventure with them, to see what this new interlude holds, . . despite knowing kashume is coming down the path of the beam for them, But then I admit to feeling a bit cheated after I started, Maybe that's not fair, probably not, because had I read the book description, I'd have known that likely wasn't going to be what I'd get.
. . But those of you who know me well, those who share my khef, do it please ya, will know that I wouldn't want to know, that I'd want to just go where Ka's wind blows.
And so I did but I can't help wanting more of Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy,

As a katet book, low marks for this one because there's just so little of them here, . . but as a MidWorld/multiverse book, high marks, because there's a lot here in that regard, and it's quite interesting to piece together.


What we have here is a story within a story within a story, Not my favorite thing. I love Wizard and Glass, but the Mejis flashback storyline is long, WampG is my least favorite of the series for this reason, and I always get to a point where I'm ready for the Young Roland story to be done so I can get back to Present Roland.
But saying it's my least favorite is not saying much, because every book in the series is fantastic in its own way.


So coming on the heels of Wizard and Glass, in internal story setting order, is The Wind Through the Keyhole, where our katet takes shelter from a starkblast and has another episode from Roland's seemingly endless cache of Adventure Stories From My Youth and Other Relevant Tales from Before The World Moved On.


The first story Roland tells is of being sent on another mission by his father to take care of what's rumored to be a SkinMan a shapeshifter terrorizing one of the baronies.
Within this story is the story from which this book takes its title, which is the story of Tim Ross and his encounter with the Covenant Man, whose horse is called Blackie.
Just sayin'. This story ties into both the Young Roland story, and the Present Roland story, . . in different ways, which was interesting,

These two stories make up the bulk of the book, which is short for King to begin with.
But these are interesting, particularly Tim's The Wind Through The Keyhole, because of how other multiverse books might, and probably do, connect with it.
I counted quite a few references to other books in the three stories, including Eyes of the Dragon, The Talisman, and Desperation, just to name a few.


I won't go into much more detail, since everyone should read it for themselves, Overall for me, this was worth the read, although my heart still wanted more of Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy.
Maybe Maybe Gan will bless King with another Dark Tower book

A girl can dream,

. . This was a delightful romp in the universe of the Dark Tower, I enjoyed the lore if you will of the story and of course the ending is just an added oomph to the ending that was Wizard and Glass.


I can see why people may not like it but I think folks at times forget that even in books it's not always about the destination as it is about the journey.
“The stories we hear in our childhood are the ones we remember all our lives, ”

The story within a story within a story format is something that would put me off a book, yet it works so perfectly in The Wind Through the Keyhole.
In what is effectively an additional backstory book within The Dark Tower series, we learn of another story from Rolands younger years, of when Jamie De Curry and himself are sent to a town called Debaria to look into what has become known as The SkinMan.


The SkinMan is absolutely terrifying, a shapeshifter who takes on the form of numerous animals and goes on murderous rampages, easily wiping out entire families without breaking a sweat.
I love these parts of the story, as Roland and Jamie try to narrow down who the culprit could be.


Within this back story, Roland then tells a different story to a young kid as they are waiting in a jail cell and this is the story given the name of The Wind Through the Keyhole.
And its yet ANOTHER fascinating story that is essentially a dark fairy tale, full of magic and adventure, It actually reminds me a lot of The Eyes of the Dragon by King, although I would enjoy this one more!

The format of this book works surprisingly well, and it helped that I was fully invested in all the different tales that were being told.
Although this novel is not necessarily crucial to the main storyline of the series, it does of course teach us more about Roland, and I love the poignancy of the story with regards to Rolands relationship with his mother.
It always brings a tear to my eye,

I also loved revisiting this at the end of the series, It was such a joy to be reacquainted with the katet, even if only for a short spell, and it has really beautifully rounded off my reread of the series this year.
.stars. I think this is honestly my least favourite book out of the Dark Tower series, Now that doesn't mean that I didn't love it, I just didn't love it quite as much as the rest of the series.
I find in some places that it gets a bit long and my mind constantly wandered and thought of the next book rather than focusing on this book and what it had to offer.
I feel like I'm making it sound like a terrible book and that's definitely not the case, I mean I did give it five! I just find it lacks a little bit of a punch, that's all.
I can't say which way I prefer reading this one now that I've done it both ways, Reading it after reading the originalbooks has its merits but so does reading it between booksand, OK This book has nowhere near come out, SO HOW IN THE HELL CAN PEOPLE RATE IT ALREADY I'm giving it five just to counteract the negativity.
The first fantasy series that I ever read was Stephen King's epic The Dark Tower, Looking back, it is by no means my favourite fantasy series however it opened the door for me to this wonderful genre that I've loved foryears.
In similar fashion to the Russian dollesque tale featured in The Wind Through the Keyhole, there is a story within a story with reference to my experiences too.


This review features one major spoiler for the series yet is referenced in the novel's forward by King himself and a few minor spoilers.


When I was a wideeyedyearold, my grandfather read Stephen King's Wizard and Glass to me, the book that chronologically precedes this entry.
I remember adoring those times and they remain one of my most beloved memories, A train that challenged it's passengers to riddles It was amazing, Instead of that book, I decided to reexperience this narrative as an older, wiser and uglier person,

Here, the Gunslinger Roland presents a tale to his katet midworld terminology for his crew about a younger Roland who had just received his guns and the esteemed title of Gunslinger.


"None of us can sleep," Jake said, "So tell us a story, "

Many years prior he meets a young lad called Bill who is about the age I was when my grandfather would read to me.
Things are not looking great for Bill at present, His father has just been brutally murdered by a skinman, This being is similar to what we are aware of through the myths and stories of werewolves but this version can change into many different animals as and when it deems necessary, such as a bear or a crocodile.
This nightmare of a being has savagely attacked and mutilated far too many people in this quaint little town, From the minors to the working folk, Nobody is excluded from this creature's wrath,

The skinchanger is the reason thatyearold Roland and his gunslinger companion Jamie DeCurry are here, They have been assigned a task to find and eliminate this threat, Bill escaped the massacre and witnessed the beast in it's changed, grotesque form, Roland wishes to question the young gentleman but if things couldn't get any worse a Starkblast is on the horizon.
This is a behemothic tempest and storm concoction that can obliterate all and rip entire settlements to shreds, To keep Bill calm during the event after they are safely secure Roland promises to present one of his favourite tales that his mother used to tell him when he was a little lad called The Wind Through the Keyhole.


"The stories we hear in our childhood are the ones we remember all our lives, " That's why I picked up this book again in memory of my grandfather as I felt it was fitting,

It's not the finest The Dark Tower outing, I would say however though that it is definitely in the top, After the events of Wizard and Glass when the katet leaves the land that was not Oz and before they arrive at Thunderclap and Endworld, this story takes place.
Aboutpages, comprising of the beginning and the end of the narrative is dedicated to the 'current day' Roland, These set the scene and then wrap up the happenings nicely before the gang is seen next in The Wolves of the Calla.
To me, this was simply 'bubblegum' reading and easy going rather than the sort of depth that comes later, It's great to be back with Eddie, Oy, Susannah, Roland, and Jake again, The banter between the katet is as fluent, tight, humorous and natural as ever, It brought me many smiles after a long time away, Oy was always one of my favourite animal companions in fantasy books up there with Ghost ASOIampF and Storm FampTF.
It's a nice touch that Bully Bumblers are important throughout with the many upcoming storms,

About apages are regarding younger Roland who has wisdom beyond his years, The rest of this metaphorical story cake is the portion about the magically haunting fairy tale that features Tim Stoutheart.


The first story within a story is when Roland is sent on a mission with Jamie by his father, the legendary Gunslinger Stephen Deschain.
A descendant of the line of Arthur Eld, There are a couple of neat sections here that enhance Roland's fathers already exceptional reputation, His body is a map of scars, This is the segment that grimdark fans will enjoy the most, It features a few heads being ripped off and devoured, also absolute catastrophic bloody murderous destruction, and a sometimes confused young Gunslinger.
Naturally gifted, of course, but in these early escapades lacks the finesse during certain choices yet at the same time blows the metaphorical doors off with other intense analysis that then leads to very fine decisions.
He's still a flawed work in progress and is living with the demon on his shoulder regarding the fact that he murdered his mother.


The main meat on the narrative is the story within the story within the story, This section is a hauntingly beautiful dark fairy tale, yet even though terrible events happen throughout there is always an underlining degree of hope.
This segment reminded me of the writing King did in one of his other fantasy endevours The Eyes of the Dragon and the Yarnsworld series by selfpublished author Benedict Patrick.
I'll try not to say too much in detail about this part other than it features true love between family, betrayal, alcoholism, murder, a dragon, a forbidden forest, a mischevious fairy, and a couple of magicians.
Readers of the main series will know one of these very well, It also features a Starkblast as do the other two storylines and to conclude, this section is enlightening, fulfilling and magical.


I truly enjoyed reading this book again and devoured it within a handful of days, King states that this entry should be placed between bookand, I agree chronologically, yes, but to be read in that order, no, The reason being is that the majority of Wizard and Glass is a Roland flashback tale from his younger days, as it The Wind Through the Keyhole.
As a first time reader, I would not wish to spend approximatelypages away from the main narrative, I read it originally after I had completed the main series and it sat well there, I'd either read it first or last in the series if I knew what I know now, A fine entry point but also a good final goodbye to the world to those who found the finale of The Dark Tower unfulfilling, leaving a bad taste in their mouth.
In the latter order, it might make things seem a bit better,

Thankee Sai for reading,

Final note: The few pages of artwork by Jae Lee, as it is with the graphic novels is absolutely spectacular!.