Gwendy's Final Task (Gwendy's Button Box Trilogy)

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To see what this whole button box is all about was very thought-provoking and just made me see things in a whole new light. I’d highly recommend reading this trilogy consecutively as it’s just a great story from beginning to end. It’s another bit of a slow burn but my goodness, it delivers and then some towards the end. The payoff is real as you get to the last 30% of this novel. But wait! There's the entire ending. King and Chizmar take it into an entirely new level of ridiculousness, expecting the reader to suspend so much disbelief it could fill the Grand Canyon, just so they can force the ending that had to happen, but never could in any sort of sane, realistic scenario. Before going further – I do need to say thanks to Richard for sending me a physical ARC of this – seriously blown away by that act of kindness. I’m not gonna give much away. I know when I start to talk about plot, I cannot stop myself without giving too much spoilers! I can only say I loved this thrilling wild space ride!

It happens again, not quite as egregiously, but still someone felt the need to cap several chapters with a completely unnecessary extra two-word paragraph. Following a mysterious phone call leaking information that Gwendy was seeking but was otherwise stonewalled, I can only hope that Chizmar got his retirement fund out of his connection with King and doesn't continue to milk the everliving shit out of it.

Table of Contents

But Gwendy’s Final Task has even more explicit connections to Mid-World and beyond, from its imagery to her real reason for going to space to a prominent phrase that just hits differently if you know its origins. The problem is, the Dark Tower novels aren’t exactly standalone, and if you’re hooked on The Gunslinger, you may as well finish the whole saga. Gwendy is just....sigh. I don't care about her. She's just there to move the story along. I don't rate her as high as other Stephen King female protagonists like Susannah Dean (the Dark Tower), Susan Delgado (the Dark Tower), Dolores Claiborne (Dolores Claiborne), and Susan Norton (Salem's Lot). I loved the first story starring her character and each subsequent one since then has been a disappointment. I think it's because King and Chizmar don't quite know what to do with her. They just made her uber Gwendy and she's gone from being a member of the House of Representatives, to a best-selling author, and now a Senator from Maine. I wish that King and Chizmar had kept her more grounded instead of doing these big leaps with her that didn't feel true to the character.

What’s In Your Bookbag? Gwendy’s Button Box, Gwendy’s Magic Feather, all seven novels in the Dark Tower series, The Stand, The Eyes of the Dragon, It, and Hearts In AtlantisIn the present, as Gwendy is traveling to the space station, she learns that Winston is part of a conspiracy to keep Gwendy from disposing of the button box. As Winston tries to steal the box from Gwendy, he tells her that he had been promised by the low men in yellow coats that if he brought them the box, he would be awarded his own world over which he could reign.

Ending made me sad as expected but I always cry when something is too good eventually runs out of its own time. I’m saying goodbye to this brilliant trilogy with misty eyes and highly recommend to you read each book, enjoy the talents of the authors! Where the story shines is in the universal questions it asks: how much of any of our lives is our own doing versus a result of intervention from an unseen force? And how much power do any of us have to save the world—or destroy it? Readers will eagerly devour this thought-provoking, satisfying tale, even as it leaves them unsettled."

Discussion

No matter how careful you were, no matter how good your intentions, the button box always extracted its due. In blood.