Wolves of the Calla

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The Dark Tower V -
Wolves of the Calla
Image:wolvescalla.jpg
Author Stephen King
Cover artist Bernie Wrightson
Country United States
Language English
Genre(s) Fantasy, Horror, Science fiction novel
Publisher Donald M. Grant, Publisher, Inc.
Publication date 2003
Media type Print (Hardback & Paperback)
Pages 714 pp
ISBN ISBN 1-880418-56-8
Preceded by The Dark Tower IV - Wizard and Glass
Followed by The Dark Tower VI - Song of Susannah
The Dark Tower Portal

Wolves of the Calla is the fifth book in Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. This book continues the story of Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, and Oy as they make their way toward the Dark Tower.

Contents

[edit] Plot summary

After escaping the alternate Topeka and the evil wizard Randall Flagg, Roland's ka-tet travel to the farming village of Calla Bryn Sturgis where they meet the townsfolk, as well as Father Callahan, who was originally introduced in 'Salem's Lot. He and the townsfolk request the ka-tet's assistance in battling against the Wolves of Thunderclap, who come once a generation to take one child from each pair of the town's twins. After a few months of being away, the children are then returned "roont" (ruined)--mentally handicapped and destined to grow to enormous size and die young. The Wolves are due to come in about a month's time.

Father Callahan also tells the gunslingers his remarkable story of how he left Maine following his battle with the vampire Barlow in the novel 'Salem's Lot. Since that encounter he has gained the ability to identify Type-3 vampires with a blue aura. After some time he begins killing these minor vampires as he finds them; however, this makes him a wanted man amongst the "low men" [1] and so Callahan must go into exile.

Eventually he is lured into a trap and dies, allowing him to enter Mid-World in 1983, much as Jake did when killed in The Gunslinger. He appears near the Calla with an evil magic ball called Black Thirteen, and is found by the Manni people.

Not only do Roland of Gilead and his ka-tet have to protect the Calla-folken from the Wolves, they must also protect a single red rose that grows in a vacant lot on Second Avenue and Forty-Sixth Street in mid-town Manhattan of 1977. If it is destroyed, then the Tower, which is the rose in another form, will fall. In order to get back to New York to prevent this they must use the sinister Black Thirteen.

To add to that, Roland and Jake have noticed bizarre changes in Susannah's behavior, which are linked to the event recounted in The Waste Lands when Susannah occupies the demon in the stone circle.

The wolves attack, using weapons resembling snitches, and are revealed to have Doctor Doom-like visages. Jake finds out one of the town's members is a traitor, in a military outpost known as "The Dogan" (which is also featured in The Dark Tower: The Long Road Home.

[edit] Influences

Stephen King has acknowledged multiple sources of influence for this story, including Akira Kurosawa's Seven Samurai, its stepchild The Magnificent Seven, Sergio Leone's "Man with No Name" trilogy, and other works by Howard Hawks and John Sturges, among others.

Many direct references to popular culture are noted either by characters or via narration within the book's text. Such instances include: several of the Wolves carrying weapons that resemble lightsabers and a "messenger robot" similar in demeanor to the android C3PO from the Star Wars movies; the messenger robot's name Andy/Andrew is also a more than casual reference to the works of Isaac Asimov, the Wolves themselves seeming to bear a physical resemblance to Doctor Doom from the Marvel Comics comic books, and flying grenades named "sneetches" that are designated as being from the "Harry Potter" production line, a direct reference to the J.K. Rowling books.

[edit] Editions

[edit] External links

v • d • e
The Dark Tower series by Stephen King

The Gunslinger · The Drawing of the Three · The Waste Lands · Wizard and Glass · Wolves of the Calla · Song of Susannah · The Dark Tower

Prequels: The Little Sisters of Eluria · The Gunslinger Born · The Long Road Home · Treachery