The Wind Through the Keyhole

The Dark Tower

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Stephen King

Length: 10 hrs and 26 mins

Publisher's summary

For those discovering the epic best-selling Dark Tower series for the first time—and for its legions of dedicated fans—here is an immensely satisfying stand-alone novel and perfect introduction to the series.

Beginning in 1974, gaining momentum in the 1980s and coming to a thrilling conclusion when the last three novels were published in 2003 and 2004, the Dark Tower epic fantasy saga stands as Stephen King’s most beguiling achievement. It has been the basis for a long-running Marvel comic series.

Now, with The Wind Through the Keyhole, King has returned to the rich landscape of Mid-World. This story within a story within a story finds Roland Deschain, Mid-World’s last gunslinger, in his early days during the guilt-ridden year following his mother’s death. Sent by his father to investigate evidence of a murderous shape-shifter, a "skin-man", Roland takes charge of Bill Streeter, a brave but terrified boy who is the sole surviving witness to the beast's most recent slaughter. Roland, himself only a teenager, calms the boy by reciting a story from the Book of Eld that his mother used to read to him at bedtime. "A person's never too old for stories," he says to Bill. "Man and boy, girl and woman, we live for them."

Sure to captivate the avid fans of the Dark Tower epic, this is an enchanting introduction to Roland’s world and the power of Stephen King’s storytelling magic.

Please Note: This audio edition of The Wind Through the Keyhole ends with a short preview of Stephen King's The Dark Tower VII, read by George Guidall, followed by a brief introduction and the first chapter of King's Doctor Sleep, both read by the author.

©2012 Stephen King (P)2012 Simon & Schuster

Stephen King is not that bad of a narrator.

I'm in the process of reading through the Dark Tower books, so I read this after finishing Book 4. While I haven't read the last three books yet, I thought this book fit wonderfully after Wizard and Glass. W&G sorta frustrated me with the flashback that took me away from the characters that I loved for far too long. And although Wind Through the Keyhole is mainly about a character that we have never met before, this character and his journey completely captivated me. It's just a wonderful little story that drew me into the world of Roland and his ka-tet and had me excited to finish this awesome series.

Now, I've listened to the last 4 books and have completely fallen in love with Frank Muller's narration. It's hard for me to think of anyone doing a better Eddie or Susannah voice than him. So I was pretty upset to see that Stephen King was narrating and that most of the reviews pointed out that his narration was terrible.

But let it be known that Stephen King's narration is definitely not terrible. In fact, I actually enjoyed it quite a bit. The weakest parts are the few that include Roland's Ka-Tet. King doesn't even really try to differentiate the voices of these characters. Thankfully, these moments are short and only at the beginning and end of the book. When King takes on the story about Tim Ross, he has a lot of fun with it. Basically, if you don't come into the book expecting Frank Muller or George Guidall, you can still enjoy it quite a bit.

Please stick to writing Mr King.

Please stick to writing Mr King. the author's narration was distracting and difficult to listen to

Hmmm...

Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. This book,although good, does not do the dark tower series justice. The story is okay, it just feels a little too different than the others in the dark tower series. Get the book, it is worth the listen, but if you have not heard any of the other books in the dark tower series, please do not make any assumptions about them based on this book. The Dark Tower series is outstanding and I think everyone should read or listen to it. One other thing, Mr. King narrated Bag of Bones, Needful Things, and other books that were just fine. However, you can not create a series like this one, have it narrated by two other men with the voices they have and then write a book to go in the middle of the series and narrate it yourself! It is not that you are a bad narrator, you are okay at it, but George Guidell and Frank Muller are seasoned narrators with deep powerful voices. I am very sorry Mr. King, your books are excellent, but the choice to read this one yourself was a mistake. If it was re-released, with George Guidell or Frank Muller reading it, I would buy the book again and see if it changed my overall rating much.

Great Stephen King fantasy

I loved the Gunslinger series and the character Roland of Gilead. I was so excited for a new book. And this does not disappoint. In this story Roland tells his katet a story from his past. Stephen King is a wonderful reader. I could not stop listening.

Very enjoyable.

If you could sum up The Wind Through the Keyhole in three words, what would they be?

questions answered/clarified.

Who was your favorite character and why?

My favorite character is Roland and of course his ka-tet.

What does Stephen King bring to the story that you wouldn’t experience if you just read the book?

The proper annunciation of names. The type of voices he used for some of the characters was good in bringing about a better mental picture.

Was there a moment in the book that particularly moved you?

Nothing comes to mind right now, still enjoying the book.

Any additional comments?

Very fun and entertaining to have one of my favorite authors read to me one of the best series and characters I have grown to love since I read the first dark tower book 20 years ago.

Not bad bad needed a better narrator.

Would you listen to The Wind Through the Keyhole again? Why?

No once is enough it is a good story but is not as exciting as the rest in the series.

What did you like best about this story?

Back to the tet.

What aspect of Stephen King’s performance would you have changed?

He could have read with more energy

Great story - King should stick to writing

Listening to the Dark Tower series now and really loving it. Except this is hard to listen to - Stephen King is not a voice actor and he should stick to writing. Really takes away from the story when you're laughing at his attempts to give voice to the characters.

great book

I really enjoyed the captivating storyline, I have enjoyed the whole series so far

Hard to follow

I often got lost in what was happening and who was talking. Ill end up buying the book.

Some good side stories with a couple of problems

I liked this book quite a bit overall - it's a couple of nested side stories that do a very good job at taking you back into the world of the Dark Tower and shedding some light on its part and its overlaps with "our" world. There are just a couple of things dragging it down a bit. Storywise, the main issue is that the titular central story boss down for a while in the middle. That's not too bad, though, it picks back up again and has a lot of enchanting fairy tale-like elements to enjoy. A bigger issue is the narration. I don't think Stephen King is outright bad, and it's interesting in some ways to have an author narrate his own work. But compared to the high tier narrators of the other books in the series, he falls much tonally a lot of the time, making it easier to lose focus in some of the slower sections. That could be better, but the material is strong enough that the book is still a solid recommend.