The Wind Through the Keyhole (Stephen King)

Title: The Wind Through the Keyhole

Series: The Dark Tower

Author: Stephen King

Released: 2012

Rating: 5/5

Basic Plot: Roland's group finds shelter during a deadly storm. Roland takes time to tell a story about his younger years as well as a childhood story his mother used to tell him.
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The Multi-Story Novel
This novel is told with the three stories interconnecting. It starts off with the ka-tet (long story short: it's Roland's group he travels with throughout The Dark Tower series) finding shelter from a deadly storm called a Starkblast. Once they are sheltered and the Starkblast has started, Roland ends up telling a story about his childhood. This second story opens up to the third story when Young Roland tells a faerie tale to the boy. The third story takes up the majority of the novel's length. When the third story ends it goes back to the second story and finally to the first one. I'm only explaining this at length because it's a little confusing going from story to story. Also I assume, you like me, are wondering how the three stories fit into this novel.


'The Wind Through the Keyhole'
The title of this novel comes from the story Roland's mother used to tell him. In the first story Roland remembers it because the ka-tet are in the way of a Starkblast. I assumed that a Starkblast would be a big part of the title story, but it was only a little part. The majority of the story dealt with a boy finding out about his father's death and how he reacts. While the story is very good, it makes me think that those in Gilead have a very different view about childhood if they tell their kids those kinds of stories.

  
The Dark Tower Series
So you're probably wondering if you should read the other Dark Tower books before reading this one. Good news, you don't have to. Stephen King is kind enough to give you the little information you need to know (to get you caught up to speed). If you're a reader of The Dark Tower series you can put this inbetween books 4 (Wizard and Glass) and 5 (Wolves of the Calla). So don't be afraid if this is your first Dark Tower book you pick up.

Final Thoughts
One of the things I had to grow used to was the language that's used in the book. The dialect that's  used is hard to grasp at first and then grows easier as time goes on. On The Dark Tower wiki they bought out a few errors in the novel. One is about what happens to Roland after he kills his mother and the other is what he knows about the Crimson King. As for the latter, it's revealed during the third story so I didn't find it too hard to think Roland didn't think of that particular fact.