The Dark Tower 4.5: The Wind Through The Keyhole

The Wind Through The Keyhole was fantastic.  It was like I could hear Roland’s voice as he was telling his ka-tet the story of another storm and then the story he told to a boy there.  I was a little worried about the triple-layered story.  I know Stephen King likes to give his readers loads of information about characters that may not matter by the end of the tale, but that wasn’t the case here.  I loved visiting Roland, Jake, Susannah, Eddie and Oy.  I missed them.  I also liked that we saw a different friend of Roland’s youth. I always found that Jamie was mentioned in passing, as someone who was there, but he wasn’t Cuthbert or Alain and so his personality was never detailed.  I enjoyed quiet Jamie Redhand.  It was nice to see the Sisters of Serenity, the group of women that were Gabrielle Deschain’s refuge, also only mentioned in passing.

I have to say the highlight of the novel for me was the actual The Wind Through The Keyhole story.  Tim was an amazing character.  His story had me captivated.  I had to know what happened to him and his mother.  I worried about them.  All the little Dark Tower bits littered through the story were really interesting too.  I wonder if Roland saw them.  I loved Daria.  Really, I don’t know if I have anything bad to say about this story.  The Wind Through The Keyhole fits nicely into the Dark Tower canon. It doesn't change anything, we sadly don't get to see the ka-tet for too long, but the story Roland tells is worth hearing.  In a way, I feel like Roland was a vessel for King to tell the story of Tim Stoutheart and maybe as a way to get in some Roland/Jamie time.  Everything connected together though and I really enjoyed it.  Any fantasy fan would like this story, whether or not they have read the other Dark Tower novels.