SPOILERS FOLLOW
This is probably going to be a short one. Which is fitting because Song of Susannah is a pretty short book, especially compared to some of the others in this series. But that's the problem with big multi-book series like this. If you go past about four books, the penultimate chapter is only going to be so much running in place and setting things up for the finale. Not that nothing important doesn't happen, indeed some very important things do happen here, but as we near the end (and the Tower) they either get dealt with quickly or are left hanging for the finish. But let's look over what Song of Susannah does give us...
I'll dive right into the two dangling plots from Wolves of the Calla. Firstly, the plot that takes up the bulk of this book, Susannah's possession and pregnancy. This was pulled off better than I expected, though my hope for a better resolution on Susannah's schizophrenia was dashed almost immediately. Turns out Mia isn't a new personality but a kind of weird demon ghost possessing her body and the Man in Black tempted into serving as a vessel for the Crimson King's child. The interactions between Mia & Susannah mitigated some of my fears about this plot thread, as Mia embodied the stereotypical "mommy" archetype I was afraid Susannah would get turned into and Susannah shared many of my own criticisms for Mia. What I really thought helped this not get bogged down into misogyny is that everything about Susannah's pregnancy is treated with appropriate horror and used to build up the threat of the villains. King makes no bones about how Susannah was basically raped, had her body & mind hijacked, and was kidnapped away from the ka-tet all for the purpose of serving as a baby oven for the Crimson King's enfante terrible. And she voices her justified anger about this to Mia, who's just over the moon about having a demon baby. It's muddied a little by Susannah developing feelings for the literal monster growing in her belly though. I feel like there's a great feminist reading of Susannah's whole character arc to be had, but I'm not the person to give it.
Secondly, there's the matter of Father Callahan discovering he's a character from a Stephen King novel. And that by extension, all the characters are just merely creations of Stephen King's. Yes, the meta stuff. I was really worried about this thread, thinking it had the potential to sink the whole series, but King managed to pull it off. In fact, I don't know why I was worried. King has always been the self-deprecating sort and turning himself into a character doesn't change that. But while King's characterization of himself is funny, it's the details of his relationship to the ka-tet and their world that keeps this plot line from sinking. See, to King the character the Dark Tower stories are just as fictional as they are to us the reader. He isn't consciously aware that his writing affects this other reality. What's going on is that when King the character writes his Dark Tower stories, he's channeling the god who sits atop the real Dark Tower in Roland's reality. And that by writing these stories, that creator is ensuring that Roland's ka-tet complete their quest and keep the Tower up. It's all cyclical. No one reality, not even the ostensible "real world" of King the character, is given greater importance than any of the others. Save King, save the Tower. Which will be important since this book ends with a news clipping saying King the character died in a car accident, just like King the writer almost did in real life. Yeah, it's getting even more meta. King is turning his nearly fatal car accident that almost kept him from finishing the Dark Tower into a plot point about how getting killed in a car accident will keep him from finishing the Dark Tower. I'm still not sure if that's clever.
But that's about it for important things. A few other dangling threads are sewn up, and it's interesting to note that this is probably the Dark Tower that takes place mostly in our world (or at least the reality closest to it), but not much else. Again, this goes back to being the penultimate chapter in the story. There's only so much you can do before you just dive into the climax. Song of Susannah feels very much like Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince in that regard. It deals with the aftermath of big events in Book 5, introduces the plot line that will drive the last book (Horcruxes and saving King the character respectively), and wraps up a few loose details. None of that is bad, it's just not very interesting to reflect on since you're mostly commenting on a preamble. The writing and the characterization is still excellent, and King's hints at the finale are all exciting. But I couldn't help feeling like I was rushing through this volume to get to the end.
Not that it matters now. We are on the cusp of reaching the Tower dear readers. Will Roland and his ka-tet finally see it in all its splendor? Or will it tumble to the ground at the hand of the Crimson King? Come back and find out, or forget the face of your father.
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