Continuing from
The Waste Lands, the
gunslingers triumphs against Blaine and finds themselves
in a Kansas, that seems eerily similar to that of the Deans’ and Jake’s
Earth.
While travelling in search of the Beam to lead them to the
Dark Tower, Roland tells of the events occurring in his
14th year. After being forced into an early trial of manhood, Roland and 2 of his closest friends are sent to the Barony of Mejis, to be kept out of harm’s way. The best laid plans however will go awry. Roland, Cuthbert Allgood and Alain Johns find themselves in the midst of a nest of
traitors and must play a careful game of cat and mouse with those who would have no compunction to kill 3 boys in their way. Blinded by his feelings for his newfound
love, Susan Delgado, Roland and his companions are caught and nearly killed. Although the boys manage to escape their jailers and prevent the rebels from taking off with the supplies they came for, Susan Delgado is caught and killed instead. Her death and subsequent killing of Roland’s mother, Gabrielle continues to haunt Roland through the years. And all they have achieved is but to delay the inevitable fall of Gilead for another 2 years.
At the end of the book, Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake and Oy find themselves back on the road to the
Dark Tower. Prior to that however, they have a brief but terrifying encounter with Randall Flagg once known as
Marten Broadcloak in Roland’s Gilead. And the man who engineered Steven Deschain and Gilead’s downfall. Flagg warns them off their quest before disappearing.
One of the interesting parts of this story is how Stephen King has woven the legend of
King Arthur and the knights of the round table into his Dark Tower series. Roland is obviously supposed to be descended from King Arthur himself and Gilead or the Affiliation is what was left of Arthur’s kingdom. Thus, the
gunslingers of Gilead are essentially the
Knights of the Round Table. Then, there is Dorothy and the
Wizard of Oz. Or as the case in this tale, we have Roland and the Tick-Tock Man, Randall Flag's servant.
Memorable scenes from Roland’s past is the
Mexican standoff between Roland, Cuthbert, Alain and Eldred Jonas’ Coffin Hunters. And Roland and his companions
ambush on Farson’s rebels as they prepare to transport what they came for in Hambry. If this is what 1 untried gunslinger and 2 gunslingers-in-training are capable of, I wonder how Gilead could have fallen to leave only Roland.