Stephen King's The Dark Tower: Beginnings Omnibus by Stephen KingMy rating: 5 of 5 stars
Bruh I am NOT OKAY.
You can read my individual thoughts for each part in my reading progress, but basically this was a rollercoaster.
I really loved the beginning - seeing Roland's battle with Cort play out in such vivid detail was a great opener and it made me very happy. Then watching the gang's adventures in Hambry, knowing how things were going to go down, was quite a thrill. I've always loved Cuthbert and Sheemie's relationship so it was cool to see it here.
The road back to Gilead was a new story created for the graphic novels, and while it was nice to have some new material I felt this one dragged on a bit. It was great for Bert and Alain to have their time to shine but I slowed down a bit at this point as overall it just didn't interest me as much.
Seeing Gilead in its glory was a lot of fun, though, and the new stories that came out here were fantastic. There's so much lore to this world, but throughout the seven-novel series we discover very little about Roland's early years in the city. So it was nice to get a glimpse of how things were, even if they didn't fit quite as seamlessly as I hoped they would.
The Fall of Gilead was absolutely gut-wrenching. This is something we readers of the novels knew happened, but details have always been vague. I've always wanted to know how such a magnificent, powerful place fell to ruin, but seeing it all play out was heartbreaking. There was always a polite distance between Roland's past and his present in the novels, so being confronted with that in-between time and witnessing everything falling apart is really brutal. My heart ached for these characters I'd come to know so well.
I do really love the characters of the series, so in the graphic novel format we do unfortunately lose so much of the nuances of who they are. I was glad to have read the novels first, so I knew these characters better.
This is also, I think, why the last volume was not enough for me. I knew tragedies were coming but they were so quickly left behind in the graphic novel version, due to the nature of the format. There's so much awfulness, pain, death, tragedy, but six issues is just not enough time to feel and grieve it all. It wasn't at all like I'd pictured when reading the novels so I wanted more.
That said, Robin Furth and team have absolutely delivered here. Robin's knowledge and understanding of King's world is incredible and she handles it with great respect, understanding and love. The artwork suits the story perfectly, and the characters are vivid and memorable. The way the stories have been transported into the graphic novel format is simply incredible, and as someone obsessed with the novels I was so incredibly grateful for how brilliantly this was done.
The graphic novel collection also includes short stories and insights into mid-world, which was an unexpected delight. This colours in our understanding of Roland's world and enhances the overall experience. I loved all the extra details, but I did get impatient at times so skipped some of the end stories with the intention of going back at a later time.
Overall, this made my heart happy. Bruised, battle-worn and weary, but happy.
A must-read for fans of the novels, and highly recommended for people wanting to access such a massive story in a slightly easier format. Also just a fantastic read for graphic novel fans of darker fantasy and horror.
I loved it - I hope you do, too.
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