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 at his best

any fan of Stephen King needs to read The dark tower series, for it embodies all of his work and includes all of his work inside of it and Izzy treat beyond reckoning.... an absolute must read for any Stephen King fan believe me an absolute must read.....

awful reader

Being able to read should not be the only thing that qualifies you to be an audiobook reader. This guy is terrible, has one voice and one tone for everything while also mispronouncing tons of already established names. Rip frank muller

An entertaining story

This side story that Rowland tells was an interesting addition to the Dark Tower Series. I finished this one after the 7 books, so it was nice having something to follow it up. This story doesn’t necessarily follow the Ka’Tet to the Dark Tower, but it does provide a nice side story.

Was a little unsure of the narrator...

Some of King's finest storytelling, prose, and character development. I thoroughly enjoyed this trip back to midworld. I was a little uncertain of the narration at first. The voice didn't have the richness of a traditional voice actor, he also pronounced some things incorrectly... PalAVer instead of PalavER and he pronounced Cuthbert "Cue-thebert". But his character acting was good, the voices were distinct and believable and I never felt like it took me out of the flow. I did eventually realize the Narrator was Sai King himself. Apparently I'm the one who's been pronouncing things wrong.

An interesting interlude

An interesting story on the road to the Dark Tower. Really a stand-alone adventure and a story in a story in a story. Having King himself narrate was a bit of a miss for me. He has an amazing imagination and writing style but a nasally voice more suited to silent films. Not terrible but not earth shattering.

You could probably skip this one, but not bad.

I was slightly disappointed to realize that this book is just Roland telling another story, this time about when he tracked down a skinwalker. While tracking down the skinwalker he told another story about a young boy and that story is almost half the book. I didn't dislike it, but if you're looking to advance the plot of The Dark Tower series you could skip this one and not be confused at all.

The consummate storyteller

This book hit the mark. Still had the main characters, but didn’t lose King’s dynamic style of narration. More, please.

So Many Better Readers...

Is there anything you would change about this book?

I am disappointed that Stephen King chose to read this novel on his own voice. Other readers are better than him. At least he could have pronounced Roland's last name the way I was used to it already.

Previous narrators have done a great job. Stephen King reads with no warmth and no "pull" of the listener into the story.

Maybe others will like this more than me, but I felt unhappy I even got started with this one. I put it down about an hour into it, just disgusted with it. I guess the characters' dialogue annoyed me "back then" too, but hearing them again -- and this time in Stephen's voice -- annoyed me more than ever, and made me not want to stick around to see how the plot went.

How did the narrator detract from the book?

Not a good voice for narration. Stick to writing.

Loved it! A great addition to the dark tower!

Loved it! A great addition to the dark tower! it's fun hearing Stephen King's own voice.

A complete surprise. I was not aware there is another Dark Tower novel.

Very fun story presented in the dark tower style.
I would recommend to anyone who thinks they completed the Dark Tower and Roland.