The third book in Stephen King's epic Dark Tower cycle is titled The Waste Lands. This book picks up the action a few months after the events of The Drawing of the Three and follows Roland, Eddie and Susannah as they journey inland from the ocean. Roland is now suffering from a mental paradox. Because he killed Jack Mort, Mort was never able to push Jake Chambers in front of a car. Since that never happened, in Roland's mind Jake is now both alive and dead. Jake Chambers, living in New York, is experiencing the same thing. In his journeys he comes across a vacant lot with a single rose growing in it. He also meets Calvin Tower and Aaron Deepneau, two fairly important figures in the later books of the series.The trio is attacked by a giant bear called Mir, or Shardik, depending on the translation Roland gives. The bear is actually a cyborg/robot who is one of the Guardians of the Beam. The Beams, Roland explains, hold up the Dark Tower. They are not physical objects, but essentially currents or energy.
The group finds the Path of the Beam and they begin to follow it, knowing it will lead them to the Dark Tower. Eddie begins kind of absent-mindedly whittling a key out of wood. As they approach another speaking ring, Rolands comes to understand that the third has not truly been drawn yet, and that Jake Chambers is coming to them through the ring. Susannah is forced to have sex with the demon of the ring to distract it while Eddie and Roland pull Jake through.
Once Jake is through, the group is joined by Oy the Billy-Bumbler, a type of dog/racoon with the ability to mimic speech like a parrot. They journey to the town of River Crossing and receive the blessing of the town Matriarch before going on to the city of Lud.
The entrance to Lud is the George Washington Bridge, but before they reach it they find an old Nazi airplane crashed outside the city. While crossing the bridge Jake Chambers is abducted by Gasher, a street thug. Roland goes to rescue him while Eddie and Susannah find a way out of the city, a monorail train.
They eventually board the train, but in doing so they learn that the train has gone crazy and will crash and kill them all unless they can pose a riddle that the train, Blaine, does not know the answer to.
More than a few fans of the series were angered by the pseudo-cliffhanger ending of this book. The train is flying out over the Waste Lands towards its mysterious destination (Topeka, Kansas). The group begins seeking riddles. That's it.
Overall, though, this is a really good book. Unlike other long book series that seem to contain a lot of filler, everything in this book is important. For me, considering that this is a very enjoyable series, this book steps up a bit. I can't really say why.
Final Grade: A+
Re-readability: 9.8
