Terry's 3M's
I finished Wizard and Glass. And now the wait for the next book in the series begins.
Picture this: I'm sitting in my comfortable recliner, curled up and reading the section of the book where Roland lures Farson's men into the canyon. The protagonists have bandanas over their ears to dull the sound of the thinny, which we know sounds like a million mosquitos that won't stop buzzing. I can hear the sound of the thinny throughout this section which just adds to the atmosphere of the book and I am thoroughly enjoying this.
How could I hear the sound of the thinny? Delton was in the garage using an electric saw that makes a noise just like the one the thinny was making.
The ending did seem a little rushed--but, that's okay. It was a good book.
I suppose I should finish Swan Song soon. I am still reading mostly good reviews of the book. And I still don't find it nearly as good as other people do. But, last night, I thought about it and realized why I'm not as fond of this book as other people are.
I dislike the characterizations of the villians--with the exception of Alvin.
King villians have a certain-je ne sais quoi--about them. Perhaps panache would fit here.
For the most part, King writes his villians with a richness that seems to say that he loves his villians as much as his protagonists. He writes villians that you love to hate.
Alvin has a bit of panache which makes him an acceptable villian. But, his part in the book is not as large as Roland's or the colonel's. Both of those characters seem to be written as formula characters with gross-out factors added in.
In fact, I enjoy the book when those two are omitted from the chapter I'm reading.
I'm not saying that McCammon is a bad writer. And I love some of the stuff in the book. I love the Job masks when they come off. But, (and this is purely subjective on my part--others are free to disagree) I find him a plodding writer.
King is a master story-teller who enables you to see the story unfolding. It's as if he were unaware of anything but the story. What was that quote? "It's the story--not the teller."?
With McCammon, it seems as if the teller gets noticed too often.
for the border background set.