The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower I) by Stephen King
Summary
““An impressive work of mythic magnitude that may turn out to be Stephen King’s greatest literary achievement” (The Atlanta Journal-Constitution), The Gunslinger is the first volume in the epic Dark Tower Series.
A #1 national bestseller, The Gunslinger introduces readers to one of Stephen King’s most powerful creations, Roland of Gilead: The Last Gunslinger. He is a haunting figure, a loner on a spellbinding journey into good and evil. In his desolate world, which mirrors our own in frightening ways, Roland tracks The Man in Black, encounters an enticing woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the boy from New York named Jake.
Inspired in part by the Robert Browning narrative poem, “Childe Roland to the Dark Tower Came,” The Gunslinger is “a compelling whirlpool of a story that draws one irretrievable to its center” (Milwaukee Sentinel). It is “brilliant and fresh…and will leave you panting for more” (Booklist).”
-From Amazon.com
Review
Well this was certainly an interesting Stephen King book and nothing like I expected. At all. His writing was quite unique in it and unlike any of his others book which I wasn’t prepared for. It has moments that the dialogue and the writing style is definitely quite difficult to follow because it’s set, I guess you could call it, in a post-apocalyptic world and there aren’t many people around and such. I got the feeling, when reading this book, of the old wild west movies were there is sand everywhere and the few buildings which are around are just made of wood and are dilapidated. Then you have the people and they’re either alive or like these demon kind of things. I would go so far to say that they are zombies because some of the people had died but they somehow came back to life again.
I will state blatantly that after finishing this book, I am still confused on many aspects on it. Such as the man in black. I wasn’t sure if he had magical powers or if he was just a normal man but just knew more than others and was good at messing with people. But then there was this other side character in the beginning who supposedly was dead but then was alive again. So I was not sure if there was a sickness which brought people back from the dead or if someone brought people back from the dead. I mean, I was totally lost in that aspect, but I’m sure that it will be all cleared up as the series continues. And I will be reading the others because The Gunslinger movie will be coming out soon and I want it to all make sense. After reading this book, I can understand why everyone is excited for the movie to come out because if it is done well (which I pray to God that it is), it will be really good!
Now, for the characters, it was quite interesting in how it was all done. I usually get attached to characters or am able to connect to them and understand where their decisions come from, but in this book you aren’t able to do that. You just don’t have enough time to connect with the characters or have enough information to do such a thing as well. It’s interesting. It keeps you on the fringes. Which is kind of useful as well because then you don’t get too attached to the characters, but it also is frustrating because you never know what a character will do. Their decisions and their attitude keep changing depending on the situation, and also how they are in that particular instance, and so you can never predict how someone will react in a particular moment. An example was I thought when the Gunslinger met the Man in Black, he was going to kill him or something was going to go down. But what happened definitely wasn’t expected.
Then there is the whole mission which the Gunslinger has of finding The Tower which was kind of like what? I can’t reveal anything but what the Tower is explained to be towards the end of the book had me sitting there like “mind-blown”. There was a whole life conversation and it hurt my brain but was so accurate and incredibly well written, so kudos to Mr. King for his writing and logic process.
Overall, I honestly can’t say that I enjoyed it because it took a lot of effort to even understand what the purpose of the story was. But I am definitely intrigued and had more of a like of the book in the last section of it. Even though I didn’t love the book I will be reading on because I want to know what happens and I want to find out more. Which is a good job on King because it’s rare that you can have someone not love the book but still want to read more of the series just because of the story line and such.
I do recommend reading it as this is one of those books that I cannot say to avoid or not because the writing style is so different, and so is the story, that I can’t predict how anyone will react to it. So I do suggest checking it out and letting me know what you think about the story and such.
And I will be seeing the movie because I love books to movies. I just hope that it will be good!!!
But the cast looks fantastic. I mean come on! Idris Elba and Matthew McConaughey?! What’s better! But Idris will be the Gunsligner which wasn’t expected because I see McConaughey more as the Gunslinger now after reading the book, but I think the actor choice will grow on me!
Happy Reading!!!
