ROLAND THE GUNSLINGER and his band have narrowly escaped the city of Lud and boarded Blaine, a train that will take them to, of all places, Kansas. There the ghost city of Topeka has been depopulated by a superflu. Alongside Interstate 70, an emerald palace rises enchantingly. Before Roland and the companions of his ka-tet continue along the Path of the Beam, Roland must tell them the tale that defines him both as a man and hero: a long-ago romance of witchery and evil, of the beautiful, unforgettable Susan Delgado, of the Big Coffin Hunters and Rhea of the Cöos. And when his tale is finished, Roland confronts a man who goes by many names, a man who “darkles and tincts,” and who may hold the key to the Dark Tower.
--back cover