The Dark Tower series continues moving forward with a very different fourth volume, Wizard and Glass. I was somewhat put off by the telling of this story; almost this entire book is a flashback to Roland's youth. Though the Tower is closer, it's not much closer by the time this one is over. I understand the compulsion to fill out some of Roland's backstory, but I wonder if knowing this level of detail is truly necessary and useful. I think it has worked to the series advantage to have Roland be mysterious and unfathomable--he is after all from a world that is very different from Earth, and it makes sense that he would be emotionally alien.
To a lesser extent, I was annoyed that the book is so filled with 'thou' and 'ye' and 'aye'. Supposedly this represents part of dialect that is commonly used out in the hinterlands where the action takes place, but it just brought to mind bad period fiction to me. Still, if you've read this far, you're committed to the series, and I don't want to make it sound like I hated Wizard and Glass. There is plenty to enjoy, and it's strengths are some of the same as earlier volumes in the series. But I hope we can put this episode behind us now, and that King will move toward the climax without more tangential stories.
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