Customer Reviews
Imagination to paper takes time
At under 300 pages, "The Gunslinger" - the first book from Stephen King's "The Dark Tower" series - may seem oddly short, especially when compared to the latest volume from the epic, weighing in at around 700 pages. And still, Constant Reader, there are thousands more to go!
According to the afterword from this book, it took King twelve years to complete the writings. He wrote the opening line, "The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed" while an undergraduate, the middle portions when "'Salem's Lot" was going bad, and was inspired with another concurrent writing: "The Stand." For King to have kept the Gunslinger, the Man in Black, Jake, and the other characters - and really the entire world of the Dark Tower - alive for so long in his mind is a testament to not only the power that this held over the author, but holds over us - his Constant Readers. Moreover, since the first publishing of "The Gunslinger," around twenty years have passed, a number of newer volumes in this series have come and gone - yet with this first, partially inspired by Robert Browning's poem, "Childe Roland," and partially inspired by reams of green paper (read the afterword to the book), you know that this was a very special creation indeed.
I am not a fan of King's horror fiction. But when he gets down to writing about "other worlds than these," such as "The Stand," "Insomnia," "The Green Mile," and "The Talisman" (co-authored with Peter Straub) - there is no one better. His is an imagination to be jealous of. There is always a feeling that alternate universes exist, next to our own. King imbues his other worlds with just enough of our own so that we feel a tantalizing connection between our own perceptions of reality, and those that King entertains us (Constant Readers) with.
At any rate, "The Gunslinger," at under 300 pages, is just right to introduce us to the world of The Dark Tower, and keep us on course, with a desire to continue (and to wait, ever so patiently for the next volume in the series) the journey the Gunslinger started many years ago.
A Good Beginning.
Let's face it: King is just too good an author, has too much going on, to simply stick to writing novels his whole career. I'm not saying that his stand-alone novels aren't good, far from it,(even though I've only read two) but it is even better for King to do something bigger - in a word, a masterpiece. These Dark Tower Dark books appear to be just that. I guess, at the core of the story, its a fantasy. It has all the elements - a quest, final battle approaching, a great civilization now gone to ruin, etc... But I'm sure this is unlike any fantasy that you've ever read. It's got a definite western setting, but to classify it as a western would probably be just as bad as the other. I'd say its a fantasy/western, with smatterings of science fiction and horror as well. But, when it really boils down to it, its an epic. It definately has some strangness, but its strange in a good way. There's something extremely evocative and intriguing about the whole setting that makes me eager to finish the tale.
The book opens with the gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, chasing the man in black across the desert in a world that has "moved on." The author is intentionally vague about what that phrase means, as well as who the gunslinger is and what his purpose is. More will be revealed throughout the book, in pieces, but only a little, because there'e six more books to go. Since it starts off this way, it may take a little getting into, because at first all you know is that this guy is chasing another guy, but it definately gets enjoyable pretty soon. There are flashbacks throughout the book, but they don't slow the plot down. Part of the beauty of the story is discovering all the back history piece by piece. This book really was quite enthralling. The ending will definately throw you for a loop; it gives a hint of just how big the whole story is, but at the same time I found it very anticlamatic, and when the story ended I was left with a sort of emptiness that I did not like. But, aside from the very beginning and very end, this book was quite good.
Now, on to Round Two...
Way to weird
There have only been a few books that i never finished, but the Dunslinger was one of them. It was just so weird. King never told you what was happening. it's kinda like if you go into a movie halfway though it. Especially a fantasy one. I never got into it. i had no idea what was happening. read IT instead.
