What a horrible way to start a series. I could only get to page a 110 before I decided I didn't want to waste my tme with this book. I had heard before that this book wasn't as good as the actual series but... I was on page 110 an I still didn't know what the purpose of the character was, why he was following the black man or what the heck was going on with the dead people who weren't dead.
( )

Not going to rate this one. I love King's books but this one and I, we just cannot connect. This is my third time reading it and I am just going to accept that it's not for me.

The writing is so beautiful in places you want to read it over and over again but the story is not one I can fall into.

I have a very long term goal of reading as many Stephen King books as I can. I also have a more short term goal of reading a couple books in this series and then watching the movie adaptation. What can I say? I like seeing if the movie adaptations fall in line with the book or have fun with the story.

I picked this book up after buying it many years ago (one of the few books I've bought full priced). A coworker of mine kept suggesting it, and I decided it was FINALLY time. And man, I actually binged this book! I normally don't go for more slow paced westerns, but this one intrigued me. I don't know if it's Stephen King's writing or just the pure intrigue I had from my friends and family all talking about it. Either way, it was a good read that I binged in a couple days (initially).

I will say, it's very slow for me. I won't be able to read a lot of this series back to back. I'll be continuing on with this series eventually, but man... I hope it picks up and brings out some more of the fantasy and intrigue of this series.

Three out of five stars. It's okay. ( )

L'ultimo cavaliere è il primo romanzo di Stephen King che leggo: mi sembrava doveroso visto che è un autore così importante. Devo dire che l'inizio non mi colpita particolarmente: sì, ha un'ambientazione molto particolare e un protagonista altrettanto intrigante, ma mi è sembrato mancasse qualcosa. Probabilmente il fatto che sia un'opera giovanile ha il suo peso.

Ci sono, infatti, molti passaggi efficaci circondati da parti più deboli e meno incisive, parti che nemmeno le cinquanta cartelle aggiunte dall'autore in questa edizione sono riuscite a rafforzare.

Tuttavia, il mio giudizio complessivo sul romanzo è positivo perché le ultime pagine fanno davvero ben sperare per i volumi successivi (in tutto sette). Penso che L'ultimo cavaliere risenta anche della sindrome da “primo libro”: incuriosisce abbastanza da desiderare di continuare la serie, ma non spicca per eccellenza (che, però, mi aspetto nei romanzi successivi).

Un ultimo appunto. Certo che Tolkien, tra le altre cose, ha instillato la mania di Torri Nere in un considerevole numero di scrittori. Si finisce per trovare Torri Nere ovunque... ( )

A dark and gritty fantasy world rich with religious undertones.

Stephen King has a great way of grabbing you by the face, and making you read each word with bile threatens to escape. In a good way. He shows the dark and morbid sides of death like he does in most of his books.

But this does suffer from any real sense of progression or resolution. The reader is trudging along this gruesome journey without any directional signs.

Some of the Flash backs within Flashbacks were jarring to read, while others worked effortlessly into the story.

Ultimately a great read, short introduction to this world, but I can’t help but feel nothing happened; and hopefully this is setting up a much grandeur, and better, plot line. ( )