Wolves of the Calla

Dark Tower V

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: George Guidall

Length: 26 hrs and 20 mins

Publisher's summary

Roland Deschain and his ka-tet are bearing southeast through the forests of Mid-World, the almost timeless landscape that seems to stretch from the wreckage of civility that defined Roland's youth to the crimson chaos that seems the future's only promise. Followers of Stephen King's epic series know Roland well, or as well as this enigmatic hero can be known. They also know the companions who have been drawn to his quest for the Dark Tower: Eddie Dean and his wife, Susannah; Jake Chambers, the boy who has come twice through the doorway of death into Roland's world; and Oy, the Billy Bumbler.

In this long-awaited fifth novel in the saga, their path takes them to the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis, a tranquil valley community of farmers and ranchers on Mid-World's borderlands. Beyond the town, the rocky ground rises toward the hulking darkness of Thunderclap, the source of a terrible affliction that is slowly stealing the community's soul. One of the town's residents is Pere Callahan, a ruined priest who, like Susannah, Eddie and Jake, passed through one of the portals that lead both into and out of Roland's world.

As Father Callahan tells the ka-tet the astonishing story of what happened following his shamed departure from Maine in 1977, his connection to the Dark Tower becomes clear, as does the danger facing a single red rose in a vacant lot off Second Avenue in midtown Manhattan. For Calla Bryn Sturgis, danger gathers in the east like a storm cloud. The Wolves of Thunderclap and their unspeakable depredation are coming. To resist them is to risk all, but these are odds the gunslingers are used to, and they can give the Calla folken both courage and cunning. Their guns, however, will not be enough.

Set in a world of extraordinary circumstances, filled with stunning visual imagery and unforgettable characters, The Dark Tower series is unlike anything you've ever heard. Here is Stephen King's most visionary piece of storytelling, a magical mix of fantasy and horror that may well be his crowning achievement. Don't miss the other volumes of Stephen King's The Dark Tower.

©2003 Stephen King (P)2003 Simon & Schuster, Inc., All Rights Reserved, Audioworks is an imprint of Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster, Inc.

Critic reviews

"Gonna be a humdinger of a fight! Fore and aft of the showdown, King stuffs the book with juice...One of the greatest cavalcades in popular fiction is back on track." (Booklist)
"The high suspense and extensive character development here...plus the enormity of King's ever-expanding universe, will surely keep his 'Constant Readers' in awe." (Publishers Weekly)

Wolves of Calla

Excellent story but a bit slow and drawn out where as preceeding book in this series were "sitting on the edge of your seat" type books.
I can't wait for next book (right now!).

Stephen King delivers and the narrator...

Wolves of the Calla is a perfect follow-up to book IV. If you have been reading the series and made it here...keep going, you won't be disappointed! The reason I am writing this review is because I almost didn't purchase the audio book due to the many negative reviews about the narrator, George Guidall. I am very happy that I did buy the audio book and continued listening to this series.

George Guidall has to transition into his role as narrator. He is replacing Frank Muller who did an amazing job with the first 4 books...as a listener, I came to really LOVE Frank Muller's interpretation of the characters and their voices. He helped me create a wonderfully vivid world in which Roland and his Ka-tet wandered. He will be missed as a narrator. With that said, George Guidall is very good as well. He starts out stiff and at first I was a little disappointed. However, after a few chapters he finds his rhythm, he does justice to Stephen King's novel. If you are worried about the narration...don't be...purchase the audio book. I am on the final audio book in the series and I have come to love George Guidall's interpretation as well. Don't be put off by the negative comments about George Guidall...he does find his rhythm and voice.

The wolves are coming.

Its another dark tower story and they are getting closer to the tower. Its a good build up to the end.

I miss you.

I miss you Frank Muller. Thank you for all your work and may you rest in peace.

Editing failures?

I can only assume that the empty voids that plague this audiobook are a result of some editing mishap. There are moments, seemingly entirely random in their locations throughout the audiobook, where the long stretch of silence between chapters/sections is long enough to make you forget what you were listening to in favor of being perplexed at where, exactly, the story has gone.

As for the performance, Guidall does a wonderful job taking up the mantle that is this saga. Muller is missed, of course, in the way that Clint Eastwood would be missed had he been replaced in The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly by Sam Elliott. I mean no insult to Elliott nor to Guidall when I say - you just can't replace the face or the voice, respectively, of the character of a gunslinger.

I am of the opinion, however, that Wolves of the Calla is the beginning of the end of the series. I don't mean this as an insult, merely that the middle of the series has passed and it is where all the worlds, notably ours and Roland's, begin to collide. In other words, this one is the one where it starts to get a little weird. A change of voice, in some ways, is fitting.

Fellow Constant Readers: long days and pleasant nights.

Great story

This book in the Dark Tower series features our heroes battling a surreal enemy called The Wolves.

Without revealing too much it is worth noting that King seems eerily prophetic in this one where he has his titular villains from the post-apocalyptic parallel universe have trappings from Star Wars, Marvel Comics and Harry Potter. King really guessed correctly about what franchises would assume quasi- religious significance back in the late nineties and early oughts.

He also does a great hook involving Susannah that will motivate anyone to buy the next volume in the series.

The story is great but the audio quality wasn't.

The download of this novel was very poor quality. It took away from the story. It was very hard to understand in some part.

Give George a chance!

When I was looking ahead at reviews of DT 5 while listening to Wizard and Glass, I saw the change in narrator and learned why it happened (Muller was in a tragic accident that ended his career and ultimately led to his death several years ago). I made the decision to listen to a few other books before picking up with Wolves of the Calla, and I’m glad I did. George Guidall is more subtle a narrator than Muller, but after finishing Wolves and the next two books, I am very satisfied with his performance. Yes, I liked Muller’s Susannah and Eddie better, but Guidall’s characterizations get more solid over the last 3 books, and honestly I feel that Guidall really nailed Roland’s gritty voice and dry seriousness. Guidall also managed to make robots sound prissy, angry, forlorn or sleazy while always making it clear they were robots. I would have enjoyed seeing what he would do with Blaine, since Muller’s Blaine doesn’t really stand out.

If you also find narrator switches to detract from the story, you too might find it beneficial to metaphorically cleanse your palate before starting this book. I found I was better able to jump right in and enjoy the story without having to mentally overwrite the old voices with the new ones.

As for the actual story, events unfold at a pace that is simultaneously slow and yet inevitable. The residents of the Calla introduce us to the tragedy of their plethora of twins and the kidnapping of half of each pair for nefarious purposes. Roland and his companions arrive in time to exercise the true purpose of gunslingers, assist the Calla, and meet a local priest who has more in common with them than they know. Each reveal is critical to the plot, but both the gunslingers and Constant Reader must let things unfold in their own time. Much of what we learn in this book is highly relevant to the next two, so don’t be tempted to rush through it.

Had much more potential

So, the while book is about how they prepare to fight the wolves but when the fight actually happens it was just like no action. Maybe he could’ve made the fight more interesting like one of the wolves kidnapped Jake or something to had made the battle much more intense. Idk, just my opinion. I was tempted to skip this book half way through it.

Third best book of the series

If you can't get enough of a guy saying "Thankee Sai" and "Ka" and if you think that King is King of Metafiction, then this novel is for you. Watch as King borrows from his own works, and the works of others, watch him weave it all into a coherent narrative, and then watch King become the Overlord of All Popular Fiction.

King dips his straw into every other writer's glass and proclaims "I drink from your milkshake!".

George Guidall does an excellent job reading this story.