REVIEW: THE DARK TOWER VI (SONG OF SUSANNAH) BY STEPHEN KING

GENERAL INFORMATION

TITLE: THE DARK TOWER VI: SONG OF SUSANNAH

AUTHOR: STEPHEN KING

PAGES: 427

PUBLISHER: HODDER & STOUGHTON, FIRST EDITION

YEAR: 2004

GENRE: FANTASY FICTION

COVER TYPE: HARD BACK 

BLURB FROM THE BACK COVER  

Roland Deschain, gunslinger, hero, continues his perilous adventures in search of the key to the quest that will define his life. 

Roland’s loyal followers Jake, Father Callahan and Oy set out to break Susannah’s date with destiny. She has used the power of Black Thirteen to transport her from the farming community of Calla Bryn Sturgis to New York where she prepares to give birth to an unknown entity. 

Meanwhile, Roland and Eddie brave the state of Maine in the summer of 1977. It is a frightful world, a real world, where bullets are flying. A world inhabited by the author of a novel called Salem’s Lot… 

REVIEW 

Song of Susannah picks up where Wolves of the Calla finished – Susannah/Mia has buggered off to have her chap at a restaurant called the Dixie Pig in New York in 1999. There’s a group of people in Calla Bryn Sturgis known as the Manni who perform magic and are supposed to be able to time travel. Roland gets them to open a magic door twice. Jake, Pere Callahan and Oy are sent to New York in pursuit of Susannah/Mia. Eddie and Roland head to Maine.

Song of Susannah essentially splits into three separate stories.

In New York, Susannah is able to use a small tortoise shaped stone to hypnotise a man into paying for a hotel room for her. She deposits Black Thirteen in the safe deposit box in the room. She travels to the outskirts of Castle Discordia, the last castle in End-World with Mia and learns all about the ‘chap’ and how Mia came into being.

Eddie and Dean arrive in a general goods store in Maine to a hail of gunfire. Eddie’s old friends, Balazar and his cronies are waiting for them. Mia told The Crimson King where they were heading and he sent the troops in. The shoot-out ends with Eddie and Roland alive and many dead thanks to some help they received in the form of a man called John Cullum. They visit Stephen King who’s stunned to see a character he wrote in the flesh in front of him.

Jake, Pere Callahan and Oy end up at the Dixie Pig thanks to some clues left by Susannah. The Dix Pig is full of agents of The Crimson King including creatures called Taheen who have the heads of various animals and wear masks made of living flesh and Callahan’s Type One vampires. They prepare to breach the building as Susannah/Mia gives birth.

Song of Susannah ends on a cliff-hanger. You’ve come so far and need to read the final volume.

Song of Susannah is the weakest of the last three volumes. It’s much shorter than the other books in the series (with the exception of The Gunslinger) and is essentially a filler. Nothing is concluded in Song of Susannah. King would have been better splitting the events of Song of Susannah between Wolves of the Calla and the final volume. The events in Song of Susannah are too short and weak to stand on their own. As I read Song of Susannah I was very much aware this was a stop-gap between Wolves of the Calla and the final volume.

I’m not wild about the title of Volume VI. It gives the false impression that the novel is all about tracking down Susannah/Mia but this only a small part of what happens. I think this reinforces the idea that the novel should have been part of Wolves of the Calla and the final volume instead of a volume in its own right.      

OTHER STUFF 

THE OPENING LINE: 

‘How long will the magic stay?’… 

HIGHLIGHTS

My favourite part was the first half of the novel where Susannah finds out how she came to be pregnant and how Mia came to be part of her. In the first volume The Gunslinger, Roland has sex with a female oracle to save Jake’s life. This oracle is actually one of six powerful demon elementals who can be male or female. This demon kept Roland’s sperm and put it into Susannah as a male demon when she had sex with it so they could bring Jake safely through in volume III, The Waste Lands. Hey presto, baby. Mia was demon who wanted to be a mother after she saw a human baby and made a deal with The Crimson King to be mortal and be a mother. Hey presto surrogate-mummy.

In Song of Susannah you find out a bit more about the beams that hold The Dark Tower up. I found this fascinating. At the start of the novel one of the Beams falls and creates a sort of earthquake (beamquake) that can be felt in Calla Bryn Sturgis. Roland states only two remains – the one they are following and the one that is opposite on the other side of The Dark Tower. We find out about Breakers, people with psychic powers who are working to break the Beams and who are fed the brains of the children from the Callas.

LOWLIGHTS

Once again I have an issue with the fact King wrote himself in the last three Dark Tower novels as a character. I can’t help but see this as pretentious whether King intended this or not. This spoils the last three novels for me.

FINAL THOUGHTS

I read this in one setting. I was keen to finish it and get onto the final volume. I like the events in the novel I just don’t thing the overall novel is strong enough to be a novel in its own right. 

RATING: