A tedious amount of time spent on the bad guys Story ...
927949
A tedious amount of time spent on the bad guys
Story moves too slowly
Style and substance, of course, well written
2876650
This book is too long. King is not at his best on writing detective stories because the moment Brady learned of the concert it was obvious that would be his next target. When I got to 300 pages I started skipping around because the story just dragged to a simple ending. Brady got killed by being knocked in the head from a pistol. Such a simple way to end the bad guy. The story could have been shortended to less than 300 pages and put into a collection of short stories.
2403211
I gave this 2 stars because I did like the story, and there were some good parts to it, but it was WAY too long.  I think a good editor could make this a one or two part book, if they weeded out half of it.  There was entirely too much internal processing, which these characters seemed to do at every-single-little occurrence.
2202463
I am a sucker for Christmas stories - written and on screen.  Around Thanksgiving I start looking for a few Christmas books, and use the Tivo to find some holiday movies.  So I was happy to find a new book for 2009.

Unfortunately, I did not feel like there was much here.  While wanting to see how the story would resolve itself, I felt like I was slogging through the story-telling.  How many times must I hear Betty, the central character, think that her neighbor, Jack Jones, must be a dreadful person, even though, as far as I can tell, she has interacted with him less than a few minutes?  How many times must I read her fears that he might be a criminal, perhaps even a serial killer?  And it is hard not to laugh at writing like, "What if she were setting herself up for trouble?  What if Jack Jones was a dangerous man?  A criminal?  It was one thing to love thy neighbor, but what if her neighbor was a murder, or a pedophile, or a sociopath?  Should she take cookies to a man like that?"

So, while I agree with other reviewers that this is a nice, gently story, to me it felt like a 2 hour, made-for-television movie that didn't really warrant more than 30 minutes.
4143192
Long, tedious, delivery.  Very slow read. Laboriously written.  Not much action.  The detective in this book spent years pursuing the villain.  I felt every one of them.  Could not wait to be done with this book.
4176047
I feel this book requires a great deal of editing. It is twice as long as it needs to be. The constant episodes of mutual admiration that hinder the plot on every chapter get old really fast. The heroes can't decide if they are strong independent men or jelly fish crippled by their strong emotions and insecurities. There is no middle ground. Aside from their occupations the characters seem to have very little to distinguish one from the next. The villains are so cartoonish you can almost see them stroking their handle bar mustache. The plot in general is not bad, but it was not enough to hold my interest to the end.
3872235
story is too slow moving, and the level of detail is too much. particularly so when its not really relevant to the story.
4485177
If you have enough time.... Slow, slow, slow.... Too much detail, too long, too little logic.... In fact, ellipses are useful descriptors for this mystery.... Just waiting for the next back story to be over.... Waiting to find sensible characters.... Three stars are a lot...but if you have time.... And it was free....
3159799
I know this isn't the majority view on Wizard and Glass, but I find this mid-point volume to be a long and tedious slog through uninteresting territory. The majority of this nearly 800-page work is devoted to a flashback of Roland's youth, recounting the story of his ill-fated romance with Susan Delgado. The story is well-written but reads as a cross between a classic Western and a Shakespearean Tragedy, with virtually none of the fantastical or strange elements of Mid-World present through the majority of the narrative. I found this to be an especially jarring hard-stop following the Lud/Blaine sequence, which surely ranks among the most energetic, imaginative and compelling stories ever written in this genre.

I'm revisiting the Dark Tower series in preparation for the upcoming movies, and was hoping I'd be able to enjoy Wizard and Glass more than I did the first time; sadly, however, I continue to wish that this 700-page epic tale was something more like a 50-page summary, with the full story existing outside the main narrative as a supplemental (and optional) volume.
2409289
The story is not only convoluted, it is too long, tiresome and ultimately boring. I read 80% and decided the remaining portion was not worth my time. If I become desperate for something to read, I may go back and see how it ends.
1143516
So hard to not only keep the characters straight, but to understand just who is doing the talking. Tediously slow...tediously...
1309793
If you like books full of worn out dialog (like "let's do this!") and super smart villains who then do incredibly stupid things all wrapped up in every heist movie cliche you've ever seen this is your book.  There were so many things wrong with this story that it was painful to finish, and then the finish topped it all.  Spoiler alert: major character surprisingly shot at close range and dies.  Whoops, the bad guy missed (don't you hate when that happens!).  It just grazed him!  There's lots of this kind of nonsense, with a few chapters on the Hope Diamond's history thrown in for good measure (and that history appears to be terribly wrong too).  The book goes psycho-babble trying to make a statement about a major character's relationship with her father.  Then at the end she goes to a church and the author seems to be trying to throw something in about God being the father that she's always needed.  Where did that come from?  This isn't a theological book in any way - until that moment.  The super criminals do so many dumb things that allow them to be caught that you are hoping they'll go to jail for stupidity.  If they were so smart that they could steal the most famous gem in the world how come they don't notice the police landing in a helicopter or can think of a way to stop the thief from double-crossing them. Supposedly the Head Bad Guy flies from Paris to South Africa with Mr Thief holding a gun on him and "forcing" him to take him to the meeting point with the big money Art Buyers.  Really?  Mr Thief never got sleepy on that long flight, and ultra smart Head Bad Guy couldn't signal in some way for his henchmen to jump Mr Thief along the way?  Nope, of course not.  Then the other evil villain who stole the Hope Diamond gets full immunity (on the spot!) when the bad guys are caught so he can pursue the love interest because he is willing to tell all about the other super criminals.  Puh-leeze!

The Kindle edition was on sale for .99 and that's why I bought this book.  I only overpaid by about 98 cents.  There is nothing in this book to recommend.
1352330
I kept slogging away the first half of the book but it is overly detailed and tedious. I did finish it only to feel like the story had just began. Tad Williams needs a much better editor to trim the excess and he needs to bring some kind of completion to each story even if it IS the first of a trilogy. I will not be buying the rest of the set. The story was just starting to really take off when the book is chopped off. I know he wants to get readers hooked and sell more books, but I felt I put a lot of reading in for very little satisfaction.
1007891
Very very tedius...first 5 minutes starts of interesting  - some intrigue and mystery...NOW take that 5 minutes and repeat 15 times, with each loop adding just a little more information.....still tedius and should you finally make it to the end then you will wonder why it was longer than 5 minutes. A poor very poor twilight zone type movie much as a bad cop show where the majority of the film is just noisy car chases....repetitive and boring. That being said it would probably make a good read. As others...dont waste your time.
579695
I'm a serious sci-fi and fantasy fan, and enjoy most of the books I read.  I found this to be a very slow and tedious read - I'm on page 250 of 400 after a week's effort - and I usually read a book within 2-3 days.  I don't think I'm going to expend the effort to finish it.  While I couldn't call it "bad", I couldn't call it "good" either.  It felt like the author was trying to write Sherlock Holmes stories, but only changing Sherlock's name; and not as engrossing as the originals. It also feels like "steampunk", but with none of the technologies that come with that genre.

It might be more interesting in the last third of the book, but I'll never know... My apologies to the author...
3755852
My main criticism is that it is way, way too long. Rather then enhance the story, it detracts from it. "Let's get on with it," was my thinking throughout.

Too much time was spent on details about houses, surveillance devices and bookie joints. That time could have been better served (and with less prose) on character development.  I liked the main character - Jake/George. I liked the characters in Jodie and in Jake's hometown.

However, I never quite understood why Jake undertook this task. Idealism? Curiosity? A sense of duty? Desire to do good?
I didn't mind the love story that got dropped into the middle of the narrative. It humanized Jake but, at the same time, it also didn't quite fit with his determination to "do the deed." With his motivation unexplained, I kept wondering why a normal guy would abandon happiness for the unknown.

I was completely bored by the time spent on the details of the Oswalds' life. It wasn't enlightening; it didn't help me to understand Oswald further. (Can much else really be said about him?) Who, then, was the focus of this story - Jake or Oswald?

This book is in need of an editor: cut out about 300 pages and eliminate the words "obdurate" and "harmonize." Make this a tighter, more focused story. Right now, its just another mediocre tale of time travel.
1942211
Very tedious read for an interesting story. The underlying story is good. But you have to be willing to slog through page after page of senseless babble to explain minor characters' actions. Then those actions have no bearing on the direction the story goes. While I'm not sorry I read the whole book, I truly wish I had skimmed more than I did.