Quick Question For Any Dark Tower fans.

[Wesley Dodds]

So I've been thinking about getting into The Dark Tower books recently but apparently they reference Kings other novels a lot.
My question is, how much do they cross over? Being somebody who's only ever read one King novel (Salem's Lot) how much homework will I have to do?
Am I gonna have to read most of his back catalogue to enjoy these or are these references no more than little Easter eggs for his fans?

 

[TinkTonks]

They cross over quite a lot. It was more noticeable in his later books, like Insomnia. I started off by reading most of King's other works, and then went into the Dark Tower. There are connections to many of his other books, Salem's Lot included. But if you haven't really read his other stuff, you won't pick up on a lot of that. That being said, you don't really have to read all his other books to be able to enjoy the Dark Tower..... but for those of us who have, you will find many 'Easter eggs'.

 

[Wesley Dodds]

They cross over quite a lot. It was more noticeable in his later books, like Insomnia. I started off by reading most of King's other works, and then went into the Dark Tower. There are connections to many of his other books, Salem's Lot included. But if you haven't really read his other stuff, you won't pick up on a lot of that. That being said, you don't really have to read all his other books to be able to enjoy the Dark Tower..... but for those of us who have, you will find many 'Easter eggs'.

Ah, thanks! So they work perfectly fine as standalone stories, then?

 

[TinkTonks]

I think so, yes. I haven't read every single Stephen King book, and know I missed some references to 'Hearts in Atlantis' in some of the later Dark Tower books. But it in no way hindered the readability of the books. They are kind of like little "shout outs" to his other works. And if there was a cross over that warranted further understanding, King usually did it within the Dark Tower book that the said cross over occurs in. The 5th DT book went into a large flashback of a character that was in Salem's Lot, and told what happened in that book, plus what happened after. So if you had skipped Salem's Lot, King would have given you enough to understand what you needed to.

 

[Bruce Banner]

Okay Salem's Lot is my favorite King story I need to have some spoilers about some stuff mentioned in the Dark Tower.

Spoiler

What is mentioned of Ben Mears and Mark Petrie? I know Mears apprently dies but how/what happened?

 

[TinkTonks]

Well, all I can remember is:

Spoiler

Callahan said that Ben died - I don't recall an actually back story for this, I don't believe one was given - and that Callahan remembered the eulogy that Mark gave for Ben. Callahan is a major character in the last 3 Dark Tower books and the focus is on his tale of leaving the Lot. But Ben and Mark do not factor into it.

 

[Bruce Banner]

Well, all I can remember is:

Spoiler

Callahan said that Ben died - I don't recall an actually back story for this, I don't believe one was given - and that Callahan remembered the eulogy that Mark gave for Ben. Callahan is a major character in the last 3 Dark Tower books and the focus is on his tale of leaving the Lot. But Ben and Mark do not factor into it.

Thanks for the info Tinktonks

Ben Mears is my favorite King character and I was really curious as to what happened. [BLACKOUT]Hoping he didn't pull a Thad Beaumont[/BLACKOUT]

I'll be starting the Dark Tower series eventually I have been looking forward to seeing the [BLACKOUT]redemption of Father Callahan[/BLACKOUT]

 

[TinkTonks]

Thanks for the info Tinktonks

Ben Mears is my favorite King character and I was really curious as to what happened. [BLACKOUT]Hoping he didn't pull a Thad Beaumont[/BLACKOUT]

I'll be starting the Dark Tower series eventually I have been looking forward to seeing the [BLACKOUT]redemption of Father Callahan[/BLACKOUT]

Yeah, I found it odd that [BLACKOUT]King never went into what happened to Ben and Mark. Especially since Callahan showed up in book 5. I was really quite pleased by that. [/BLACKOUT]

There are actually *two* different versions of the first Dark Tower book - The Gunslinger - the original that King wrote when he was very young, without all of the ties with his other books, and a revised version. Personally, I found the original a tad abrupt and hard to get into when I first read it. It has a completely different tone than the rest of the DT books. The revised version he released after he had finished all 7 books, so he went back and made The Gunslinger more cohesive to the storyline. There are added scenes, and things that he just completely changed from the original version. I don't know the availability of the original story, I just mainly see the revised for sale around here, but whichever one you choose, it is an awesome story that only gets better with each subsequent book! I've read them all several times...they never seem to get old!