I just started re-reading The Waste Lands, book 3 in the Dark Tower series by Stephen King, and I’m loving it (of course), but I’m also a little bummed.
I miss my pictures!
I think that the first time I read this book, about seven or eight years ago, I read the hardcover. With all of the awesome illustrations. Now, I’m just reading some crummy, mass-marketed paperback with a picture of a skull-faced train on the cover.
Not good enough!
I realized this when I read a description of Mir, the giant cyborg bear, and had an image in my head that I knew wasn’t placed there from reading the description. I was picturing this:
Pretty awesome, right?
But, that awesome picture isn’t there for me now. I have to use my rotten imagination. Boo.
Just check out some of the amazing illustrations that I’m missing out on:
At least, I know that all of my next books in the series are all illustrated (I think that I checked out books 1-3 from the library, and bought all of books 4-7 myself). But, man. I didn’t realize how much I loved the art until it was missing!
How do you feel about book art? Do you think art, such as the above images, really adds to the novel, or is it a far second in importance? There’s some really trippy art in Wizard and Glass, so I can waver on my opinion probably next month (although, I love Dave McKean’s work with Gaiman!).
sj
These books really aren’t the same without the original illustrations at all.
If I weren’t currently on an “I’m so angry at you Stephen King, so we’re ON A BREAK!” break, I’d re-read with you.
borkadventures
Alright, so why are you angry with your old buddy? It helps to talk about it. : )
sj
UtD and then 11/22/63. I was so disappointed with both. I think I wrote an open letter on my review of the latter on goodreads?
I get that he’s branching out and doing different stuff, but I think his last few books have been in desperate need of editing. I’ll stick with his short fiction from now on so that I only have to invest an hour or so at a time instead of days.
borkadventures
ahhh, yes. That is how I reacted to Cell. And I was disappointed in UtD. I did enjoy 11/22/63, but sometimes I wonder if what I’m bringing to the table is making me enjoy his books more. My king background knowledge is supplying back stories that aren’t there. It’s hard to explain, but I think I might be reaching.
sj
Dude, I was an obsessive fangirl for more than 20 years.
I don’t know if it was him that changed, or if it was just me, but I’ve lost patience. I don’t have to be the first to read and finish anymore, and frequently I don’t care if I read at all. The new DT? Still undecided. I might read all the spoilers from UNBIASED OPINIONS before I decide if it’s worth my time.
borkadventures
Well, I think it will be easier for me to be unbiased with the new book as I will read it right after reading his first DT books, which are obviously masterful. If it sucks, it will definitely be glaringly so. I promise to be honest when I read it! : )
Brian James Freeman
I love the illustrations in the original hardcovers of The Dark Tower series. The first Plume trade paperback editions had them, too, if I recall correctly, but it’s been a long time so I might be wrong.
borkadventures
I think you’re right, because I think that’s what my copies of WandG and Song of Susannah are. I hope the new book is illustrated!
Nerija S.
Probably a cliche answer, but for me it depends on the art — for some books, the illustrations are symbiotic with and/or add to the story’s overall mood. Like Coville’s black-and-white illustrations for the children’s book, Sarah’s Unicorn; or Rackham’s color plates for De La Motte-Fouque’s Undine; or, like you say, the illustrations for King’s Dark Tower series (in this case, I haven’t even read the books yet, but the illustrations — like that amusing, yet skin-crawlingly creepy choo-choo train — already give me a sense of their tone. Having actually read the books, do you think I’m on the right track there?).
Just imagine reading only the text of Brian Froud and Alan Lee’s FAERIES, without Froud’s illustrations??
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