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Wizard and Glass

Wizard and Glass

Epic FantasyFantasy
Pages
752
Published
1997
Language
English

Synopsis

Roland the Gunslinger and his ka-tet continue their journey toward the Dark Tower, but their path is blocked by a sentient monorail with a death wish. To pass, Roland must recount the heartbreaking story of his first love, Susan Delgado, a tale of passion and loss that shaped him into the man he is today.

Prose complexity
7/10

Vibe

EmotionalDarkReflectiveRomantic
QuestForbidden LoveComing of AgeSacrificeBetrayalDual Timeline

Genres

Epic Fantasy Fantasy Literary Fiction Dark Fantasy Horror Adventure Paranormal Thriller

About the author

S
Stephen King

Stephen King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author whose work has defined popular horror fiction for more than half a century. Born in Portland, Maine, he grew up in poverty after his father abandoned the family, and credits his mother's resilience and a voracious reading habit as the foundations of his imagination. He began selling short stories to men's magazines while working as a high school English teacher, and published his first novel, Carrie, in 1974—his wife Tabitha retrieved...

Characters

Roland DeschainProtagonist
Jake ChambersSupporting
Susan DelgadoSupporting
All characters in Wizard and Glass

Frequently asked questions

  • How does Wizard and Glass fit into the Dark Tower series?

    It is the fourth novel in the series and by far the longest—over 800 pages. Most of the book is a story-within-a-story: Roland tells his ka-tet the tale of his first love affair and his earliest days as a young gunslinger in the town of Hambry, decades before the events of the main series.

  • Who is Susan Delgado?

    Susan is a young woman in Hambry who has been pledged to an older man against her will, and with whom the teenage Roland falls deeply in love. Their romance is the emotional center of the novel and one of King's most sustained love stories. Susan is widely considered one of the great tragic figures in King's universe.

  • What is the Wizard of Oz connection in the novel?

    After the flashback to Roland's youth ends, the ka-tet enters a world corresponding to a blasted post-apocalyptic Kansas and eventually encounters Blaine the Mono at Emerald City—an explicit parallel to The Wizard of Oz. The Dark Tower series engages throughout with the idea that all stories—including Oz—are shadows of the same mythology.

  • Why is this the most romantic of the Dark Tower novels?

    The Hambry flashback gives King the most extended canvas to develop a relationship in the entire series. Roland's love for Susan is not incidental—it explains why the adult Roland is emotionally closed, why he places duty above feeling, and why the cost of the Tower is so personal to him. King has said this book is the heart of the series.

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