I couldn't wait to sink my teeth into Other Worlds Than These. The conclusion of Jack Sawyer's story has been a long time coming and many readers doubted that we'd ever get it when Peter Straub passed away in 2022. I read Black House earlier this year just to get back into the thick of things and jumped into this latest installment of the Talisman trilogy as soon as I got my hands on it.
At first, it felt good to be back in Mid-World. But it soon became evident that something felt wrong. The more I read on, the more that feeling worsened. Sad to say, but
Other Worlds Than These is by far the weakest Talisman book. Not only that, it's also one of King's weakest efforts in a while. Straub's absence is perceived in a myriad of ways, which was to be expected. Had he been there, lots of things would have been different, of course. Not the least of which would likely have been the fact that not so much of the Dark Tower saga would be channeled throughout this novel. True, Mid-World has always been part of the Dark Tower universe. And yet, this strange Talisman/Dark Tower hybrid somehow failed to honor both series and can't be anything but a disappointment.
Here's the blurb:
This is Stephen King and Peter Straub's epic and unforgettable finale to the Talisman Trilogy (including the novels The Talisman and Black House) and a wrapping up of the fate of the worlds in King's iconic, fiercely beloved Dark Tower epic. It is also a wonderful stand-alone novel, that will appeal to new readers, as well as to King's Constant Reader.
Other Worlds Than These is the story of Jack Sawyer, whom readers first met when he was twelve, crossing America and 'the territories' to save his mother's life, and met again in Black House, where Jack faces a child killer and the Crimson King (among other evils). In Other Worlds Than These Jack must stop a rampaging gang of infected teenagers from America-side, and the forces of the mysterious Gullet at the edge of Mid-World, before it destroys our world and all worlds. Jack is older now; his Ka-tet is fraying; and his task, nearly impossible.
Magnificent, riveting, full of heart, and humour, Other Worlds Than These is a spectacular, propulsive adventure, and features 30 exclusive black and white illustrations by artist Gabriel Rodriguez.
Many fans are aware that Straub sent King an email containing several plot ideas for a third Talisman book in 2013. At the time, King was writing
Doctor Sleep and had no interest in completing the Talisman trilogy. Both collaborators thought that they'd find the time to write that book, but then Straub died before theyb could get to it. Even worse, King lost that email and had to work from memory when the time came to write
Other Worlds Than These. It eventually resurfaced when it was found in Straub's archives, yet by then King was deep into the novel and as a result it diverges considerably from what it was originally meant to be. As mentioned, I doubt that Straub would have been interested in a bizarre retelling of the tribulations of Roland's ka-tet by a fifty-something Jack Sawyer and a new cast of supporting characters. Though part of the same universe, in my humble opinion at least, I've always felt that the Talisman trilogy was its own thing. To link it in such a fashion with the Dark Tower, perhaps in the hope of offering some sort of resolution for both series, was bound to create a certain backlash.
The worldbuilding remains the most interesting aspect of this novel. A vast chunk of
Other Worlds Than These is a travelogue across Mid-World. Along the way, Jack encounters a number of North Central Positronics facilities containing modern weapons, military vehicles, and futuristic technology associated with the Old Ones. All of these play an important role in this third Talisman installment. So much so that I'm hoping that at some point we'll get a story that shines some light on all these Dark Tower mysteries that can also be found in various Stephen King works. It is implied that the Old Ones predate North Central Positronics and their robotic/magic technological wonders, yet no one knows what happened to either of them before the world moved on. It is also implied that forces from our world came to Mid-World to experiment with things that could have destroyed our world. To be honest, if King wishes to return to the universe of the Dark Tower, I would love to finally get some answers regarding all these questions. In many ways, the tantalizing hints found within the pages of this book were more fascinating than the plot itself.
The characterization leaves a lot to be desired. Jack, now a fifty-something man, remains a three-dimensional protagonist you can root for. I was sad to learn that Sophie had passed away, but I was glad that they shared some happiness for many a year before her death. I have a feeling that what were probably the original plot ideas detailed in Straub's email--the rampaging murderers that can cross between our world and Mid-World, the infected teenagers that fall prey to the influence of what may or may not be the essence of the Crimson King inside the Gullet bent on bringing Discordia, and the fact that this breach is growing and threatens to destroy first this world and than all the other worlds--would have been a better story. King's attempt to channel the Dark Tower, especially Roland's ka-tet with a bunch of men and women who could never hope to hold a candle to the original group, in the hope of bringing everything full circle was likely too ambitious and didn't work. On the whole, Jack's ka-tet, other than Mary and Ryall, are more than a little lackluster. Personally, I wanted this to be Jack's swan song. I didn't quite like the fact that he becomes some sort of cypher for Roland Deschain. This was meant to be his tale and he didn't need to emulate the legendary gunslinger for the plot to work out the way it was intended.
Many parts of
Other Worlds Than These suffer from pacing issues. The rhythm is not a problem at first, but the better part of the novel focus on a number of travelogues in which Jack must first go check the Gullet and report back to his boss, to be followed by another travelogue recounting his return to Dezi, and then by an even longer travelogue as Jack and his ka-tet must go back to the Gullet and try to save Mid-World and the rest of the multiverse. Given the amount of superfluous scenes, I believe that about 200 pages could have been cut without the plot suffering in any way. That last trek to the Gullet took way too many pages and lost a lot of what was meant to pack a powerful emotional punch due to all the time spent just moving toward their objective.
Ultimately,
Other Worlds Than These is disappointing because it fails to be a worthy conclusion to Jack Sawyer's story and the Talisman trilogy as a whole. It also fails to be a worthy addition to the Dark Tower saga by highjacking plotlines and characters that were only loosely connected to that universe and then forcing them into a semblance of resolution that would hopefully bring both series full circle. This third Talisman volume needed to be just that. The culmination of the tale which began when a young boy first came to the Territories to find a cure for his dying mother. Sometimes, less is more.
The final verdict: 6.5/10
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