" The sixth book of the epic DARK TOWER saga is one of the shortest, and is the perfect book to lead into the grand finale of book seven. King moves all the players to their ultimate positions, gets the fireworks set up, and lights the match. Of course, he doesn't light them up until the final book. Still, this book is fine. It DOES NOT stand alone, though (none of the DARK TOWER books really do, except for the flashback of WIZARD & GLASS), so don't read it until you've read the previous five books of the story. "
— Bill, 2/3/2014