January 2026:
On my first journey, I read this novella between books 4 & 5, where it takes place in the story's timeline.
But this time around, I decided to leave it for the end, as my last encounter with the ka-tet as whole - the good old days - and I preferred it like this. This is how I want to part ways with my ka-tet, all of them happy and together, before the worst of what they go through happens.
The first time around, I hadn't realized how similar the creature in Roland's little adventure in Debaria is to what happens in [b:Desperation|10584|Desperation|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1395764566l/10584._SY75_.jpg|14015]. Anyways, I loved it. It doesn't seem likely that the two
creatures are the same (Tak!), but who knows, maybe it behaves differently on the different levels of the Tower.
October 2020:
I don't know how to rate this story because I love Roland and I love reading about his past, but this one felt different.
I'm currently reading the series' for the first and I'm more or less going with the chronological order (except for [b:The Little Sisters of Eluria|6356190|The Little Sisters of Eluria|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1328794822l/6356190._SY75_.jpg|3252850],which I read after Book 4 and before this one), so the series original tone is quite fresh in my mind. I don't really know how to describe it, but this book felt off.
One thing I didn't like was the first-person narration on the part of Roland. I totally prefer the third-person narration from [b:Wizard and Glass|5096|Wizard and Glass (The Dark Tower, #4)|Stephen King|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1327946510l/5096._SY75_.jpg|750558].
Also, the whole tone of the story, even that of the parts happening in Roland's present time, was different from that of the previous books. I suspect the difference must be because of the time this story was written, but it just put me off nevertheless.
On a side note, why on earth was a bedtime story so long?