Okay, so here's the thing about being six books deep into the Dark Tower series during a particularly brutal on-call rotation: you start measuring your life in chapters. "I'll fix this P0 after Roland figures out what's happening with Susannah." That kind of thing. (Kevin says this is unhealthy. Kevin also stayed up until 3AM last week arguing about Bobiverse timeline inconsistencies, so.)
Song of Susannah hit different for me because it's basically the "everything is falling apart" book. You know that feeling when you're debugging a distributed system and suddenly realize the problem isn't in one service, it's in like five services talking to each other wrong? That's this book. Multiple timelines, characters splitting off in different directions, reality itself getting weird. And Stephen King—the actual Stephen King—shows up as a character. Which is either brilliant metafiction or the most audacious flex in fantasy history. Probably both.
Quick Verdict: Worth your commute. But with caveats.
The Guidall Question
Look, I need to address the elephant in the room. Frank Muller narrated the earlier books and he was... I mean, legendary doesn't cover it. George Guidall taking over is like when your favorite tech lead leaves and someone else inherits the codebase. Guidall also narrated Wolves of the Calla, so by this point I'd already adjusted to his style. Can he do it? Sure. Will it feel the same? No.
But here's what Guidall does really well: he doesn't try to be Muller. He brings his own thing. His Susannah is genuinely impressive—he captures her different personalities (and if you know, you know about Susannah's... situation) without it feeling like a gimmick. The emotional beats land. When things get dark—and they get dark—his delivery matches the weight of it.
The weaknesses? Some listeners complain about long pauses between chapters. I barely noticed at 1.5x speed, honestly. More noticeable: he underplays the vocal distinctions between some characters. Eddie and Jake can blur together if you're half-asleep on the 6:47AM train. I had to rewind a few times during dialogue-heavy sections. Not ideal.
The Pacing Problem (Or Is It?)
This is the penultimate book. Second to last. Which means King is doing a LOT of setup. There are stretches where you're like "okay, but when does something happen?" And then something happens and you're like "wait, slow down, I need to process this."
I finished this in about 5 commutes plus one very long debugging session where I needed background noise that wasn't Slack notifications. The middle section dragged a bit—there's a lot of Susannah dealing with her situation in 1999 New York, and while it's important for the story, it's not exactly pulse-pounding. But the last few hours? Time flew. I missed my stop. Twice.
Perfect for: train, long drives, gym cardio sessions. Skip for: deep work background (too much plot to half-listen to).
When The Author Becomes A Character
I can't talk about this book without mentioning the Stephen King sections. He literally puts himself in the story. As a character. Who interacts with his own characters. King's done meta stuff before—Billy Summers plays with the writer-as-character angle too—but never quite this brazenly. It's either going to work for you or it's going to pull you completely out of the narrative.
For me? It worked. It's basically breaking the fourth wall but making the fourth wall load-bearing for the plot. Very meta, very King. Guidall handles these sections with the right amount of gravity—he doesn't wink at the camera, doesn't make it feel jokey. It's weird and earnest and somehow that's exactly right.
The ROI Calculation
14 hours is a significant investment. Is it worth it if you're already this deep in the series? Absolutely. You're not stopping now. Is it the best entry point for the Dark Tower? God, no. Start at the beginning.
The audiobook production is clean—no weird background noise, no audio glitches. Just Guidall and King's increasingly unhinged multiverse. The content warnings are real though: violence, language, some sexual content, and supernatural stuff that gets genuinely unsettling. Not a bedtime listen unless you want weird dreams.
Who should queue this up: Anyone already committed to the ka-tet's journey—you're not stopping at book six. Fans of metafiction who can roll with an author inserting himself into his own universe. Who should skip: Dark Tower newcomers (seriously, start with The Gunslinger), and anyone who needs clean character voice distinctions for early-morning listening.
Commit Message: Solid Build, Ship It
George Guidall isn't Frank Muller. But he's a two-time Audie winner for a reason, and his performance here is solid. Not transcendent, but solid. He carries a complex, weird, metafictional story without dropping it. His Susannah is excellent. His pacing matches King's rhythms.
Is this the best Dark Tower book? No. Is it essential for the series? Yes. Does Guidall do it justice? Yeah, he does.
I'm already queued up for the finale. Ask me how productive I'll be next week.
(Spoiler: not very.)
