The Wind Through the Keyhole

A Dark Tower Novel

By: Stephen King

Narrated by: Stephen King

Stephen King's epic fantasy series, The Dark Tower, is being made into a major movie starring Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey. Due in cinemas February 17, 2017 USA.

For listeners new to The Dark Tower, The Wind Through the Keyhole is a stand-alone novel, and a wonderful introduction to the series. It is a story within a story, which features both the younger and older gunslinger Roland on his quest to find the Dark Tower.

Fans of the existing seven books in the series will also delight in discovering what happened to Roland and his ka tet between the time they leave the Emerald City and arrive at the outskirts of Calla Bryn Sturgis.

This Russian Doll of a novel, a story within a story, within a story, visits Mid-World's last gunslinger, Roland Deschain, and his ka-tet as a ferocious storm halts their progress along the Path of the Beam. (The novel can be placed between Dark Tower IV and Dark Tower V.)

Roland tells a tale from his early days as a gunslinger, in 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, The Wind through the Keyhole.. 'A person's never too old for stories,' he says to Bill. 'Man and boy, girl and woman, we live for them.' And stories like these, they live for us.

©2012 Stephen King (P)2012 Simon & Schuster Audio Division, Simon & Schuster Inc.

Great story, shame about the reader!

Would you say that listening to this book was time well-spent? Why or why not?

Yes, but only because I abandoned this version, read by the author, and sought out another version, excellently read, by, I think, Jack Fox. I am blind so I have access to visually impaired talking book libraries. My time listening to the Stephen King narrated bit that I did listen to, was not time well spent. He reads in a totally flat tone and without any thought put into the phrasing of sentances. It is strange that an author can read such textured dialogue, and yet has little skill in speaking that same dialogue.

Who was your favorite character and why?

Not wishing to give any spoilers away, I will just say that my favourite character was the young lead character in the middle story, followed by, of course, Roland!

How did the narrator detract from the book?

As mentioned previously, it is nearly always a waste of a good book to allow the author to read their own work. As much as people might think they are the ultimate solution to hearing the book as it was intended, it does not go without saying, and this is largely due to a basic lack of acting skills. Being a good narrator is a very skilled job, and it would be amazing if an author just happened to have both the skill of writing and that of narrating too.

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

Nope...don't do movies!

Any additional comments?

Please, please, could someone who has the power to do so, please encourage Mr King to stop reading his own books. Listening or reading to a book is mostly a once only experience, so lets not allow such sentiment as ''wouldn't it be cool to get the author to read his own work'', or ''wouldn't it be best to let the author read the book in the way he intended'', because it's not true and it's wasting our, the listener, experience with that book. Some of us have no choice but to listen to a book, so let's think about us, the customer, and put us first! I will be seeking my money back on this item, as I feel it wasn't 'fit for purpose'.

Narration by the author fails to please

Listening to this book for the second time, without the mystery of an unfolding story to draw me on, I found that I couldn't continue. The author cannot compete with the equally superb narrations of Frank Muller and George Guidall.

really enjoyed

it was wonderful to listen to Stephen King read one of his stories, I really enjoyed it and would like to hear more!

Dropping in on old friends for a story

Like many Dark Tower fans I was drawn to the promise of a new novel like a moth to a flame and on the whole 'The Wind Through The Keyhole' doesn't disappoint. Much like 'Wizard and Glass', 'The Wind Through The Keyhole' delves into Roland's youth in Midworld and tells of a challenge he faced as a new gunslinger. However it weaves itself into a story within a story regarding another young boy's experience with an all to familiar antagonist.
King's narration at first seems a bit half-hearted, but about a third of the way through where he hits his stride, he really breathes a lot of life into his own story. Perhaps it just took him a while to get settled into the flow.
Overall, I'd recommend it to any fan of the Dark Tower series, as long as you don't go in expecting Dark Tower 4 and a half. As the man himself states in the prologue, it's more of a visit to old friends to hear a tale they'd not gotten around to telling. I wish I'd gotten to spend a little bit more time with them though.

Not bad dark tower filler.

Story isn't bad. Had a filler feel with no real substance to the main story. The performance (Stephen King himself) is pretty terrible. He is very flat without voice work at all.

Great Classic Story Telling

I have not listend to any other books in the Dark Tower series exept this one. At the beginning I thought I had made a mistake but after about 2 hours the story just sucked me in. I would like to get more books in the series but I would like to start with number 1 (The Gunslinger) and it is not available at the moment (please do something about this Audible!). The story is quite interesting and I must say that I liked it a lot. The author reads it himself and I kind of wished he had not done that. He actually did it quite well but I found myself comparing him to the late and great Frank Muller and he was just one of a kind. Rest in peace Frank, you still live on millions of Ipods.

Story within a story within a story

This is an enjoyable return to Roland's ka-tet but won't solve any great mysteries or provide any profound insights into the Dark Tower series. I liked the concept of the story within a story within a story - while the group are holed up against a storm Roland relates a past event in which he spins tale to young boy.

Ok story, poor narration

A side story of the Dark Tower world, a bit like an old fairy tale. I loved all the other DT novels, this was not as good and too be honest I really disliked Stephen Kings narration, nowhere near the amazing narration of Frank Muller and George Guidall on the original series.

Please Mr King - Stick to Writing

I can't really comment on the story because the performance was deplorable. I gave the story 2 stars because - well - it's Stephen King. Mr King is a master storyteller but a narrator - he ain't. I couldn't finish it.

To be fair reviews of the written book are excellent but I couldn't persevere with this audio version.

Did not feel like a Dark Tower story...

I'm not sure why but I did not find this book very enjoyable. I loved the Dark Tower series very very much and found it hard to put the book down, but I found this one a chore to listen to for the most part unfortunately...

I am not sure if my experience would have been any different if I listened to it after Wizard and glass but I doubt it. Stephen King is the author bit his performance is no where near as good as the narrator of the rest of the dark tower!

At least I quenched my curiosity.