The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger (Dark Tower, The)

A seven book long masterpiece that makes you feel one with the story. Steven Kings written details brings the stories to life. An amazing story of a man on his hunt to a mystical tower that he must reach at all costs. I am reading this story for the 4th time and still find new details. I look forward to diving in each time I read it. Truly spectacular story.

The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed...

If you HAVE NOT read this book, DO NOT follow. I repeat: DO NOT follow. Spoilers ahead!

So, this one is very tricky. Why "tricky", you might ask. Well... many people don't know there are two fundamentally different versions of this book. I read it for the first time in 2004 or 2005, serbian translation of the "original" version. I knew about it back in 1993 already, when there were only two or three books in the series. But it just never attracted me (I lived in Germany back then, and the strange German titles for books didn't help either). So when I read it, it was hard. I was tempted to put it down. Until Jake Chambers was introduced into the story. Then I became hooked. Then I hated King and Roland for killing Jake.

That original version doesn't sit well with many people. It's strange, the tone is much different than most other King-books. It's on the edge of boring when you read it the first time. So that's why King decided, back in 2003, to publish a revised version - one that would be more in the tone of the books that followed in the series, and one that would be clean of mistakes he made in the continuity when he wrote the later books. So when I first read The Gunslinger in English in 2012 (as a preparation to read The Wind Through the Keyhole), I read the revised version. And I liked it. It was a bit of a bummer that now all the lingo of the later books seeped into the first, "innocent" one, but it made sense in the big picture.

Now I want to re-read the whole series (and hopefully, finally all the comics, too) and I took the original Gunslinger in English. And it's the story I remember reading the first time, with all its flaws, all the things young Stephen King (remember, he was 23 when he started the book, and he wrote it for 12 years. He never wrote anything that long) wanted to put into it to be cool, cryptic, myterious... And I still love it. I still hate King and Roland for letting Jake fall into that abyss near the end of the book (it doesn't matter what great things happen later in the series), but OH MY GOD the energy of the story, the big way ahead, the adventure... and with all the knowlegde of what awaits, it is just marvelous. All those connections to the Old Ones, the remnants (like the big railway station)... it makes me all want King to write stories about THAT time. Way, way before the Gunslinger and his time. But that probably won't ever happen.

This book is the key to connecting to Roland, Jake, their relationship, The Man in black, who already here, though Young King didn't know yet, had all the charm of Randall Flagg, and as strange as it is, I can't imagine a better start for the series than this. And the flashbacks of Tull, Hax the cook, Roland's gunslinger test... it just has the magic only a young, but extremely talented writer (which is in itself rare) can produce. Yes, the following books have a different tone, which changes from book to book almost, but remember, this is a story which was started by a 23-year-old guy in 1970, and finished by a 56-year-old in 2003 (the last books were published in 2004). Now you try and write something like that without having differences in tone.

I for one am grateful to sai King for having pushed us on this great journey.

And just to show off what kind of a Tower-junkie I am - I got two DT-related tattoos. One of them is pretty big.

Reviews for the rest of the series follows as I finish the books.

Go then, there are other worlds than these.

There are usually three reactions people have when Stephen King is mentioned. I love him. I hate him. And I like the movies based off his books, but I can't stand the books themselves. Whichever way you roll, you do have to admit that he's one of the most famous and successful writers of our day. He's often called the Master of Horror, however, very few of his books can actually be classified as being part of the horror genre. Oh, he does have his straight up horror novels, but the majority of his work is misclassified because his reputation is for horror, and that's what sells his books, regardless of whether or not they actually fit into that genre. He has stated in many an interview that he is a science fiction and fantasy fan, and has always wanted to write a grand fantasy epic to rival the Lord of the Rings. And if you look at them, most of his books are really more science fiction, fantasy, and thriller, rather than horror

That is where The Dark Tower series comes in. He had an idea for the beginning of such a grand epic story, and he wrote it in high school. It was titled The Gunslinger and it is the first book that he ever wrote. It was published in a literary magazine, and later re-written and published as book one of The Dark Tower series once he'd gotten his foot in the door of the publishing world. The Dark Tower series as a whole has taken him decades to complete, oftentimes he would set it aside for years because he was basically making it up as he went along and couldn't think of anything to happen next. It was not until the famous accident when he was run over while jogging near his home in Maine that he realized he came inches away from dying and didn't want to snuff it before finishing his epic. It spurred him to get the final three books out within a couple years of each other and finish the series off.

The Gunslinger begins with Roland, a Gunslinger, who is something like an Arthurian Knight if he were to have grown up in the old west rather than ye olde England, chasing after the Man in Black. Those who are familiar with other works of Stephen King will recognize Randall Flagg in the Man in Black, though his name is not revealed in this book. The world is dying around him, and through a series of flashbacks we find that the Man in Black is the cause of it. Roland pursues him across an endless desert wasteland, seeking vengeance for the deaths of his family and friends, for countless wars and rebellions, and the very breaking down of reality itself. Long ago he began a quest with his friends to find the Dark Tower, the center of the universe, to set things right, and the Man in Black may be the only one that can show him the way.

As he chases after his quarry he encounters a boy named Jake, whom the Man in Black has transported from our world to Roland's as a means to slow Roland down. Being a good man at heart Roland cannot leave the boy behind to die in the desert and so they travel on together and finally reach the mountains beyond the desert, catching the Man in Black at last, at the mouth of a cave. He is given a choice, sacrifice the boy the next time they meet in exchange for details of the Dark Tower, and the companions he will need to find in order to reach it, or forever lose any hope of undoing the wrongness that is tearing reality itself apart.

The Good? This is the very first book that Stephen King ever wrote, and therefore it is relatively clean, lacking the graphic sex and repeated use of the F word for which he is so famous. The story, though simple, is written in such a compelling way that it pulls you in, offering up questions about the past and the future of Roland that you can't help but continue reading to find the answers to. Roland as a character is well developed, with a clear goal in mind that he will do anything to achieve. The atmosphere and tone of the book are extremely well done. This book feels like the beginning of the grand epic story that it is. For the majority of the book, there is only Roland alone with his thoughts and inner demons. You might not think that to be very interesting, but King does it in such a way that you just can't stop reading.

The bad? Stephen King is well known for the fact that he never outlines or plans anything before sitting down to write. He gets an idea and basically makes things up as he goes along. Though this is less evident in The Gunslinger, because the plot is so simple, and there are so few characters in it, you can still see where he just pulled stuff out of nowhere when he painted himself into a corner.

The ugly? Stephen King uses a type of viewpoint called Third Person Omniscient. Normally, in a third person story, you see the story through the eyes of a single character at a time. You know their thoughts, their emotions, and their reactions to everything that happens. With Omniscient, the writer will give you thoughts and internal details from more than one character at a time. You're not in any one character's head, you're in all of them, and which one whose eyes you're seeing the world through can change at the drop of a hat, and normally with nothing to tell you that the viewpoint has changed. Some people, including myself, can find this to be confusing at times. It can also lead to the reader not connecting well with any of the characters. In a huge science fantasy epic like this one, it is vital that you connect with the characters, because you're going to be with them for a very long time. Luckily there are really only 3 characters in this book, so its easy to get attached to them early on so there's less confusion later in the series when more characters are introduced.

All in all, The Gunslinger is a very good book. It lacks the hard language and sex that put many people off Stephen King books, and despite my dislike of King's writing style, it is very well written and thought out. It's hard to make something this interesting and compelling with a cast of only three characters, and he's done excellently with it. The atmosphere of the book is great, you can really feel the hopelessness of the dying world weighing on Roland's back with every step he takes, and the hope that he feels as he chases after the one man that may be able to give him some clues on how to set it right again. Roland's internal struggles play out very well, and you're teased enough with things to come and things long past that you want to continue on to the next book. As the beginning of a large epic the likes of which King wanted to rival Lord of the Rings with, it's rather short and simple. However, it is exactly what it needs to be to get this story rolling. Even if you do not go on to read the rest of the series, this book alone is worth reading for the simple reason that it is a perfect example of excellent writing and imagination the likes of which you would not have though Stephen King capable of, looking at his other works. I wish more of his books were like this one, clean and well written, rather than full of sex, horrible language, and not very well thought out or coherent.

I'm giving this book five stars. It loses a point or two because of the confusion of the Omniscient point of view and a little bit of rambling due to King's making it up as he went along. Other than those two small issues I have nothing to complain about, not enough to lower it to 4 stars though. It was an excellent book that I certainly recommend you read.

So I finally got her around to reading the dark tower series. Years ago, I started the first book and could not keep reading after the gunslinger (Roland) made it to Tull (the first 10%). It just didn’t capture my attention. However, as a lifelong Stephen King fan who has read almost all of his books. I figured it was time. Plus, over the years I had read so many good reviews about the entire series. I also learned that this book was Stephen King’s coup de grace and that the story has many ties to Kings characters.

The gunslinger is a short, quick read. It is beautifully written, with exquisite detail. There is a lot of background being written, and some of the references are words that are unfamiliar to the reader. However, I believe this is setting the story up.

By the end of this first book, we are left with many questions, and I can honestly say I am excited to see where this story goes.

"There are quests and roads that lead ever onward, and all of them end in the same place -upon the killing ground."

Over three decades ago, Stephen King introduced readers to the extraordinarily compelling and mysterious Roland Deschain. Roland is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, a landscape strewn with the wreckage of civility, he tracks the man in black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with a boy from New York named Jake. Both fiercely realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger is the first book in what is perhaps the greatest odyssey Stephen King has ever written. I have never read anything by Stephen King, I was always more of a watch the movies type with his work. This book was recommended to me by a friend and I have to say I was engrossed pretty early on. In the introduction he gives King says its inspired by LOTR (so win automatically because I love LOTR). I was a little confused when the book started about what exactly was happening; but I couldn't stop reading. King has an interesting style in which he tells the narrative that I really enjoyed. He would give these long sections of flashbacks, but only things that were important to understanding the narrative. (So win for me). Usually I am not a fan of world building or even the first book in a series because of all the world building, but I think the way King did it was perfect for what I needed. He gave me just enough, but left so much unanswered that I want to read what comes next. I was honestly surprised by the entire book and the outcomes of all the events; I thought certain things would play out differently because it's how it always goes... but this book was like... nope let's be real. I can't wait to see what happens next in Roland's saga and journey.

The plot of The Gunslinger is pretty straightforward. An ancient pistol bearing warrior named Roland Deschain is seeking revenge on The Man in Black, an evil sorcerer who destroyed his family and country. The world through which he seeks him is in a state of decay and mutation (whether magic or radiation induced is not clear). There are vestiges of our world in Roland's, for example the song "Hey Jude" by the Beatles is mentioned and there are buildings and machinery in ruins that have somehow slipped between our world and his.

It's not clear what The Man in Black's purpose is except that he seems to delight in laying traps for Roland, whether they are physical, mental, or spiritual. Roland believes that the Man in Black's latest attempt to ensnare or torture him is the arrival of a young boy named Jake Chambers. Jake appears to be from our version of Earth. Apparently, the Man in Black pushed him in front of a car back in our reality and killed him and Jake awoke in Roland's world. Jake's memory has been mostly lost so he doesn't really know why or how he got there. Having no other reasonable options, Jake decides to accompany the Gunslinger on his quest to kill The Man in Black. What makes Jake really conflicted is that he begins to have the feeling that Roland, the supposed good guy, is simply using him as a tool or plans to sacrifice him in order to kill The Man in Black.

Even though I really like his books, it has been a LONG while since I read a Stephen King novel, probably the last one I read was Dreamcatcher way back in 2001! But knowing the new Dark Tower movie was coming out sorta galvanized me into reading this first book in the series.

What I really liked about this first volume was that it did not reveal too much about Roland's past or why Jake appeared, what The Man in Black's ultimate aim is, or what happened to Roland's world. I ENJOYED the mystery of it all. It reminded me a bit of George RR Martin's Game of Thrones novels. The worldbuilding is done in little pieces as the action is taking place. Heroes and events from an earlier time are alluded to or mentioned but it's only gradually over time that Martin begins to flesh out the backgrounds of the various families and conflicts. Essentially, what led up to the current events.

Stephen King does the same with the Dark Tower and Roland. Every once in a while we get flashbacks to a young Roland to see the world he grew up in and which is now long gone. We get mentions of a woman he once loved, and the chaos and deceit that brought about the downfall of his homeland. But in the end there aren't a lot of info dumps or explicit information given. I think this first novel's function is really like an overture to an opera. This is the Gunslinger, these are his motivations, his quest. This is what his world is like, this is the atmosphere, these the overarching conflicts. I think it's really going to take off in the succeeding installments. It's so short, just think of this volume as an introduction to the series.

The setting and ambience of the first book was really great. King reminds me a little of HP Lovecraft in that respect. There are horrible creatures existing in Roland's world and the sense of danger inherent in that and the melancholy of a world's lost glory really inform the novel. These are not Dungeons and Dragons monsters. Also, as in so many of King's works, they may not look scary, but the humans in thia first book that the Gunslinger encounters can be just as bad or worse.

I definitely see this first book as just an introduction to a much bigger world and will for sure read the next volume in the series.

The Gunslinger was my first foray into The Dark Tower series. Since I am not a huge fan of Stephen King’s novels, I didn’t know what to expect.

I obtained the Kindle version through my local library lending program and also listened to the Audible version while reading. George Guidall is fantastic as the narrator of this story, and westerns (even sci-fi westerns) seem to be one of his better narrative genres. Guidall also narrates the Walt Longmore series, as well as the Mitch Rapp series, but I think his best narration work to-date is Don Quixote.

The writing of this story is, at times, a little overdone/verbose, and it is also, at times, excellent. The mood is held tight throughout, and it’s the mood of this story that is so interesting and captivating. The narration of George Guidall mostly makes up for the weaknesses in the writing.

I did not enjoy the constant interruptions in the progression of the story for large chunks of backstory. I had to remind myself that Stephen King wrote this very early in his career, when new young writers tend to think their readers need or want a lot of backstory explanation. As a writer learns, sooner or later, the reader doesn’t need all that backstory, especially long passages that completely interrupt the progression of the main story. New writers might accept the importance of “in media res” but then they mess it up with all the backstory. I stuck with this story because of all the hype surrounding the soon-to-be-released movie.

I did take note of a number of reviewers who were ardent fans of The Dark Tower series and how they suggested that The Gunslinger episode was probably not the best place to start – all because of the continuous backstory and sometimes plodding narrative. King had come back to this first episode a few years ago to do some editing to make the storyline consistent with the later episodes. This is explained in the preface.

While I enjoyed getting a feel for a series that has gotten a lot of attention and a whole lot of avid followers, the story didn’t quite connect with me. If you love sci-fi/fantasy/horror, then you’ll probably love this one. I’m glad I read this episode, but I won’t read any more of the series. Not my cup of tea.

It's quite a big deal when one of the most renowned authors of our time is influenced by the greatest artisan of fantasy writing. Stephen King was enamored by Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series of books and thus they became the inspiration that motivated him into creating what he considers his magnum opus: The Dark Tower series. King wanted to write a fantasy journey that he felt was just as epic and large in scope as the Fellowship's quest to destroy the Ring of Power atop Mount Doom. Though at the same time he wanted his tale to reflect his own personal style of writing and identity. With this in mind, King chose to forgo the traditional genre conventions of elves and dwarves in the favor of guns and cowboys while wrapping it up in his unique flair of mysticism. The result is a look and feel that retains King's knack for the unexplainable but still maintains a distinction from his other literary works of horror. It's unlike anything King has written before and frankly, it's unlike anything I've ever seen.

The plot is very minimalistic, but I feel that was by design. Roland the Gunslinger is on a mission to defeat The Man in Black, an adversary he's been hunting for years. Though ultimately, The Man in Black is the stepping stone in his mission to find the Dark Tower. The central nexus point of time which has supposedly disrupted its natural flow resulting in the abnormalities seen in the book. While this is minimal when compared to other novels, the core of The Gunslinger is about Roland's journey and the people and places he sees along the way, making it more about the quest itself rather than the destination. Reading this book felt like being set adrift on a boat in the middle of the ocean. You have no bearings or sense of destination; you can only go where the wind takes you, wherever that may be. I liked the sense of freedom this gave the narrative, but if you're looking for a deep plot than you'll be disappointed. This is a book that's meant to let your mind and imagination wonder, not ponder.

But what really sets The Gunslinger and the rest of the Dark Tower series apart is that it's an amalgamation of various different genres. By the book's cover it has obvious roots in the western genre, with King even admitting to being heavily inspired by the classic spaghetti western `The Good, The Bad, and The Ugly.' But there's much more than that, such as strong elements of low fantasy with the more fantastical segments taking place in a world that is supposedly like our own, and even some science-fiction from the elements of time travel. There's also a strong sense of mystery that surrounds the book and its characters. Who were the Gunslingers? What's the Dark Tower? And who or what is The Man in Black? Like Roland himself, you just have to press on, and hopefully the answers will be waiting at the end. This union of vastly different genres would have normally made for an incoherent novel that's trying to accomplish more than it can handle, yet King manages to keep it from falling apart in a believable fashion.

Reflecting the arcane aspects of the world and his mission, Roland the Gunslinger is a man of mystery. He's the quintessential western folk hero, an enigmatic figure on a righteous path for justice. But as the story progresses and more insight into his past is revealed, the reader slowly begins to unravel more of the mysterious wanderer. Though while he's an excellent lead, he's hardly a character you can form an emotional attachment to. Whereas the young boy from the future, Jake, felt like the heart of the book for me. The companionship between Roland and the boy really brought a smile to my face and the perilous journey to find The Man in Black and the Dark Tower all the more daunting. The villain, The Man in Black, felt more like an entity rather than an actual character in the story. He's given very minimal attention and exposition, but his dark presence is always felt. Longtime King fans will recognize him as Randall Flagg, a character that King has included in many of his different works.

Special attention must also be given to Stephen King's incredible prose that he uses to illustrate the book's mystifying flair of wonder. However, for me this came off as a rather double-edged sword. When The Gunslinger is at its best, King is able to transport the reader into a semi dream-like trance, further immersing them into the incredible world King has crafted and suspending their disbelief on the unexplainable events that transpire. The potential downside for me at least, is that some passages felt more like a disorganized mess of thoughts rather than a coherent narrative. Moments like these were frustrating and really pulled me out of the story.

In the end, The Gunslinger was a bit of a mixed bag for me. I liked the sense of adventure and mystery King instilled with his unique style and the mashing of several classic genres into something that King can call his own. And while I don't usually prefer shallow plots, I am willing to make an exception with the direction King was taking the book. Yet I felt the narrative sometimes fell flat, and the ending was very unsatisfying. The Gunslinger is definitely worth checking out for its peculiarities, even if I don't absolutely love it, but I certainly do like it enough to see where this journey ends.