Entertaining the Alien

39. The Dark Tower IV: Wizard and Glass, Stephen King*

This is undeniably my favorite of the Dark Tower series so far (Number 7 is sitting on my bookshelf waiting for me, so we'll see if that continues to hold true). Roland becomes so much more human, and we get a much clearer glimpse of the world that was lost, both by him and by everyone he's known.

Susan Delgado, one of the things Roland loses, is one of my favorite characters in any book: she's smart, she's resourceful, she's clever, she's brave, she's beautiful--but she's human, she does things that fall outside of the usual "romantic interest of the hero" stereotype--like generally keeping her head. Her fate always, without fail, every single time I read this book, makes me cry. It's right for the story, but if I were to attempt an alternate universe fanfic, I'd change her fate in a heartbeat. (Scary. I'm tempted to try that now.)

This is one of those books that I love so much that it's hard for me to put into words exactly what I love about it. I'm not even sure that I could tell you what about it stands out for me, it just does. Is it weird and wrong that this is one of my comfort reads?