Wizard and Glass

Roland and his band have narrowly escaped the city of Lud and boarded Blaine, a train that will take them to, of all places, Kansas, where the ghost city of Topeka has been depopulated by a superflu and where, 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 his companions 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 Reah of the Coos.

And when his tale is finished, Roland confronts a man who goes by many names, a man who "darkles and tincts" and who holds perhaps the key to the Dark Tower.