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

Missed the original Ka-Tet. Great feel, though.

What did you love best about The Wind Through the Keyhole?

Being back in the Dark Tower universe/Life of Roland.

Have you listened to any of Stephen King’s other performances before? How does this one compare?

Not listened before

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

When the starkblast had hit and wiped out the swamp people.

Say thank ya

May your days be long upon the earth, Sai Wordslinger, and pleasant. I say thankya.

optional?

another homerun for King! shorter than most books by him but really well written and great story.

A Nesting Doll Novel

It's a story, within a story, within a story, and the story I enjoyed the most was the one told in the third layer. The best part of the book by far has nothing to do with Roland or his companions, and in a way that's a good thing. I already said my goodbyes to them by the time I chose to read this. I'm a King fan and I plan to read all his books. It isn't likely I'm ever going to give one of his stories a low score. I appreciate King's writing, however, a lot more than his narration. It was off-putting to not hear the characters the way I had become acustomed hearing them. I did really like his "man in black" interpretation; it sounded like Martin Sheen, and I was very okay with that. Since this is really three short stories nestled within each other, nothing about this novel digs very deep into either story or character. It's simply a fun way of revisiting a familiar world for those who came to love The Dark Tower series and the world it is set in.

Such a FUN addition!

Amazing addition to the story, I listened after all books. I think it was a perfect cherry on top of the series, I probably wouldn’t have read it in middle of series. Steve King narration started off sooo bad!!! But, toward the middle he get a bit more comfortable. I actually liked his evil voice, super creepy! Love love love! I’m just obsessed with everything Dark tower!!

Great story, TERRIBLE narration.

You'll be disappointed in the narration if you've listened to the rest of the series.

Stephen King's narration isn't all that bad...

Would you consider the audio edition of The Wind Through the Keyhole to be better than the print version?

I tend to prefer when an author narrates his or her own work; if it is an author that I admire. Professional narrators are good also, they give character and feeling to the story, but since the stories in this novel don't deal much with Roland and his ka-tet, I don't mind Stephen King narratin. Getting back to the point of the question, I always prefer to read as opposed to listen to a novel but sometimes it's nice to have a story told to me.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Wind Through the Keyhole?

My favorite part of the novel had to do with the wind through the keyhole story. I enjoyed the character Maerlin, who wound up leaving me with more questions than answers about his character. And, of course, the tax collector added exactly the kind of flavor that I would expect from Stephen King. His character always causes me to wonder when or where I will see him again. In fact, the entire story was very well done, in my opinion. If anybody was expecting to have another full journey of the ka-tet then they hadn't paid much attention to what Stephen King stated in the past. Roland telling stories about his childhood was exactly what I expected from this book since the Dark Tower series is over unless King decides to start over from scratch back in the desert, which I have little doubt would ever happened.

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

The main reason I prefer when an author reads his or her own work, is that one understands the inflections and meanings of things better, or at least as the author would have you see them.

Okay story. Horrible narrator.

Where does The Wind Through the Keyhole rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

Not one of the better books of the DarK Tower series but entertaining nonetheless.

How could the performance have been better?

Stephen King should have picked someone else to narrator this audio. Would have gave this a four in overall if it would have been narrated by some else.

Bad direction.

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I would change the narration, who ever was directing this production should be fired. I used to listen to Stephen King read the Dark Tower, Drawing of the three, and Wastelands, on tape. All were well read and entertaining, but this one lead much to be desired. I don't think it's Stephen's fault, again fire the director, he/she didn't do their job.

What did you like best about this story?

Re-visiting Roland's world.

What didn’t you like about Stephen King’s performance?

He was poorly directed, many things could have been improved.

If this book were a movie would you go see it?

I don't think that this book would lend it self well to a movie.

Any additional comments?

I would not recommend this audio production to anyone. (Unless you're a die hard fan like me, and can look past the performance.)

Wonderful story!

Where does The Wind Through the Keyhole rank among all the audiobooks you’ve listened to so far?

This was the the first fiction audio book I ever completed. I loved the experience and will continue to enjoy audiobooks.

What was one of the most memorable moments of The Wind Through the Keyhole?

The transitions between the stories made it much easier to follow where you were in the over all process. There were two additional stories embedded into the main story which was Roland telling another tale from his past.

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

Having the story read to you especially by the author allows you to float and get totally lost in the world King is so good at creating. I felt the emotion and care he had for teh characters he created.

Did you have an extreme reaction to this book? Did it make you laugh or cry?

There were parts that were very emotional to me. When Tim was delaing with how is mother was treated by his step father touched me and had me in tears at some points.