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A review by bozzi1
The Gunslinger by Stephen King
adventurous
challenging
dark
emotional
mysterious
reflective
medium-paced
5.0
🥀Spoiler Free Book Review🥀
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“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
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Going into my first reread of The Dark Tower series I didn’t plan to review each book individually. I think of the series as a whole, as one epic journey that doesn’t need to be dissected, and yet here I am. Why? Because it was impossible to fully appreciate The Gunslinger until now.
•
There are a lot of people that read The Gunslinger and don’t like it. Some go on, read the rest of the series and love it, others stop somewhere along the way deciding the journey isn’t for them. I can’t promise that reading the 7 books in this series, not to mention all the other books King has written that are linked, will be a worthy endeavor for you; each reader is different and I can only share my experience. Having said that, The Dark Tower is, hands down, the greatest book series I’ve ever read and I encourage everyone to give it a try.
•
The Gunslinger, as an introduction to the series, is far from perfect. It is slow at times, can be confusing, and barely touches the surface of the saga that is to come. So how can I say that and rate it five stars? Simply put, because it’s made for a reread.
•
I took my first journey to the Dark Tower many years ago and I’ve forgotten a great deal. Regardless, opening this book and reading that first line was like coming home. Instead of an unlikable protagonist as I initially perceived him, Roland is a sympathetic character trapped by his fate, or by ka. Instead of unfamiliar words I’ve never seen before, my mind slipped fluently back into the language of mid-world and high speech. The teasing look into Roland’s past, and the present adventure, with the introduction of Jake and the man in black are good, but understandably confusing and even lacking for a first time reader. This time through, I was particularly impressed with the backstory of Roland and Cort, Jake’s appearance, and the palaver at the end. The foreshadowing throughout is genius and what makes a reread perfect.
•
If you’re making your first trip to the tower, this is probably a 3.5-4 star read. If you read this and don’t even rank it that high, I beg you to give the next two books a try before giving up on the series. Long days and pleasant nights are ahead.
•
For anyone taking this journey for the second time, prepare to be even more enthralled, because you know. “Go then, there are other worlds than these.” The ka tet awaits, and I’m ready to follow the beam.
•
“The man in black fled across the desert, and the gunslinger followed.”
•
Going into my first reread of The Dark Tower series I didn’t plan to review each book individually. I think of the series as a whole, as one epic journey that doesn’t need to be dissected, and yet here I am. Why? Because it was impossible to fully appreciate The Gunslinger until now.
•
There are a lot of people that read The Gunslinger and don’t like it. Some go on, read the rest of the series and love it, others stop somewhere along the way deciding the journey isn’t for them. I can’t promise that reading the 7 books in this series, not to mention all the other books King has written that are linked, will be a worthy endeavor for you; each reader is different and I can only share my experience. Having said that, The Dark Tower is, hands down, the greatest book series I’ve ever read and I encourage everyone to give it a try.
•
The Gunslinger, as an introduction to the series, is far from perfect. It is slow at times, can be confusing, and barely touches the surface of the saga that is to come. So how can I say that and rate it five stars? Simply put, because it’s made for a reread.
•
I took my first journey to the Dark Tower many years ago and I’ve forgotten a great deal. Regardless, opening this book and reading that first line was like coming home. Instead of an unlikable protagonist as I initially perceived him, Roland is a sympathetic character trapped by his fate, or by ka. Instead of unfamiliar words I’ve never seen before, my mind slipped fluently back into the language of mid-world and high speech. The teasing look into Roland’s past, and the present adventure, with the introduction of Jake and the man in black are good, but understandably confusing and even lacking for a first time reader. This time through, I was particularly impressed with the backstory of Roland and Cort, Jake’s appearance, and the palaver at the end. The foreshadowing throughout is genius and what makes a reread perfect.
•
If you’re making your first trip to the tower, this is probably a 3.5-4 star read. If you read this and don’t even rank it that high, I beg you to give the next two books a try before giving up on the series. Long days and pleasant nights are ahead.
•
For anyone taking this journey for the second time, prepare to be even more enthralled, because you know. “Go then, there are other worlds than these.” The ka tet awaits, and I’m ready to follow the beam.