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I should state right away that I have not read Stephen King's book series "Dark Tower"; yet I do intend to buy the 7 books. I'm also very fond of this variant of books (graphic novels), so I did not hesitate to order. The book is split into six chapters, which corresponds to the individual 6 magazines the book is a compilation of. I notice that a lot of people were dissatisfied with the previous hardcover edition books in the series due to them having left out material, but since this is my first encounter with the Dark Tower-series, I can only recognize their grievances as probably valid, but not really concerning myself at this time. This particular book on the other hand, appears to contain a lot of new material, so not too much to complain about there in regards to "staying true". That they publish high-quality hard-covers is uncommon enough as it is, in this market of cheap paperbacks and low-quality publishing.
Since this is the fourth book of the series, I assume you've read the first, hence I won't tell much about the contents themselves. The previous book ended with a gruesome death in Roland Deschain's very own family, at hands close to him. This book plunges itself straight into the dramatic story as the particular arc centred on the seat of the Deschain-family's power: Gilead. Through the sorcery and deceit of the family's enemies: Gilead is put under siege by his enemies, and as one can gather from the title of the book: disaster follows. King's inspiration from Greek tragedies is crystal clear here, and by god how fine the result is.
The story is quite the epic with its brooding heroes, evil forces, beautiful but troubled women, horrible creatures and all the various vicissitudes of life. The drawings themselves are simply breathtaking, and contain such amazing colouring, shading, drawing and storytelling that I can hardly wait for the next book in the series to come out come August, I believe. I felt that this volume took the beauty of graphic novels to new heights: almost mind-blowing colouring and drawing.
All in all, epic storytelling for adults that I found appealing in every way and without the negative sides that I find King to sometimes espouse in some of his writing; a kind of soft-core horror that I can't really imagine thrill anyone but the occasional housewife back in the 80's. If you ever liked the type of graphic novel represented for example by "300", "Sin City", "Preacher" and so on, I think I can guarantee you'll find this to be enjoyable too. I read it in one sitting, if that is anything to go by. 5 stars.
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