[Abyssimal]

Absolutely my favorite read. King's characters are so well fleshed out that you miss them more than the adventure.

As in most of his stories, King kills off a key figure (or three in this case) and that always hits me hard; but his really a testiment to his character development skills. Eddie's death hit me hardest because his character grew more than any other-whereas Roland remained the same throughout the series.

As for most of the grumblings I've read here; while Flagg is a pretty cool antagonist because of his apparent charm, I'm always surprised that his fans lose sight of the fact he is infantile and pretty damned stupid at times, and that his downfall was largely of his own doing. He sees Mordred and thinks, "Ooo a baby! I'll just kill him and hack off his foot then I'll get into the tower with no trouble." Not exactly a well thought out plan. (And I loved the fact King warned the readers not to laugh too hard at that scene)

The way CK was dealt with is another matter, I was dissapointed on how easily he was dispatched - but then again, it would be difficult to stage a battle royale and not have a stalemate.

The ending was fine and felt right, as others have said. I believed that Roland has been this way many many times before and has gotten closer and closer to the truth with each successive turn. Perhaps inthe first go he was killed in Tull, or even Mejas - and I don't think the horn is the key either. He is simply not meant to go into the tower. The scene with Femalo/Fumalo and the other is as close to the truth as the reader gets I think, when one of them says (paraphrase) "No prophesy speaks of you (Roland) entering the tower."

The part that bothered me most was how Suze left. She agonizes for a long while before deciding to stick it out until the end...then leaves after a series of dreams. Roland getting on his knees to beg her to stay angered me - way to far out character for him to be believed.