"The Man in Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed".

These immortal lines are what attracted me to this novel of Stephen King's, a kind of fantasy western, I was immediately intrigued. Originally I think this was wrote as a standalone novel, but then King rewrote parts as part of the Dark Tower series, which Is the book that I read, (I wouldn't mind reading the original unrevised version).

Focusing on protagonist Roland Of Gilead, he is pursuing the Man in Black along with his desire to find the mysterious Dark Tower.
Set in a parallel universe similar to the Old West, with similarities to the real world with some overlaps, such as songs, food, etc.

As Roland the Gunslinger follows The elusive Man in Black, he always seems to too late, yet his presence is felt and he knows he is fairly close, he meets several characters along the way, including Jake Chambers, a boy seemingly from the real world, as well as Allie, who runs a bar.

We learn some things about Roland's past and how seriously he takes his mission, and he will stop at nothing to find the Man in Black.

I personally enjoyed this a great deal found it to be atmospheric and really enjoyed the mystery and intrigue behind the whole dark tower and mission to pursue his nemesis.
This isn't a lot of people's favourite of the series but I personally liked a lot and would recommend it to anyone who's particular a fan of the Western or fantasy genre.
⭐⭐⭐⭐ Stars, recommended.

Twelve years in the making, and kicking off the story that would envelop King's career, this was finally released in 1992. When I first read it, I thought it was OK, but had zero interest in the Dark Tower or the following books. It was only on reading it a second time, having now read some of the subsequent books, that I could appreciate this scene setting foundation of this series. On this, my third reading (second reading of this revised version), this book is more like a marker to outline the rest of the then yet-to-be written series. First time readers beware this is a magnificent series, so don't let this, at times meandering, other times engrossing opener put you off; and Constant Reader, this is a book you absolutely cannot skip.

A sombre introduction to one of the darkest anti-heroes in fiction, who brings a new meaning to the word collateral damage. Lots of the foreshadowing in this book is blatant, yet I missed it on previous reads - or forgot it. So much of the Dark Tower lore is set out in this book. On first read the ending didn't sit well with me, and even now it's far from one of my favourites. What King does well, as per usual, is tell a compelling coming-of-age story (Jake's). The storytelling style kind of works, but it feels like that there is not enough information in the shared tales told by the characters, this is probably intentional - but more depth in the characterisations would / may have served better. The characterisation of Roland however is on the money. All-in-all a quite laid-back start on the road to the Dark Tower. An 8.5 out of 12; 2 "and the Dark Man followed" very strong Four Star Read.

2018 and 2006 read

I get the popularity, obviously I do. And as a massive King fan, I dish out this rating sadly, for I would have loved nothing more than to tell you this is my new favourite book. Alas, it was not my taste- and as is such with all my reviews, my rating must be based on my own personal enjoyment and less on a novel's possible literary merit. So I can't tell you if this book is objectively good, I just know that I did not find it to be so.

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

Without a doubt, one of my favorite openings from one of my favorite series of all time! A spellbinding, gripping and mesmerizing story telling of the travails of a chevalier in a world that has "moved on".

Frighteningly prescient in it's apocalyptic setting and eerily similar to our world; It starts with Roland Deschain of Gilead, the last gunslinger of the line of the mythic Arthur Eld, whose world is on the cusp of annihilation and much of the kingdoms within lies in ruin, unless he, and only him can plow through the nightmare left and reach the Dark Tower at the nexus of all whens and all wheres that seems to be the crux holding our entire infinite multiverse in shape.

So begins the tale of one of my most beloved of epic fantasy sagas containing elements of a dystopian/post-apocalyptic Sci-Fi sprinkled throughout, written in awe-evoking and meticulous prose combined with amazing and magical world-building from a masterclass storyteller.

An absolute must read!

2023 Read V

It's as slow as most of King's books. And it has as addictive and engaging writing as the rest of his book. But what I loved most about it is the world from the eyes of the character from up close. How do I put it about the character; it's one of the legendary characters with classic western attitude and personality. In the first book of this brilliant series, Stephen King introduces readers to one of his most enigmatic heroes, 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 frighteningly mirrors our own, Roland pursues The Man in Black, encounters an alluring woman named Alice, and begins a friendship with the Kid from Earth called Jake. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.

Moments under magnifying glass made the pages stunning!

“I do not aim with my hand; he who aims with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I aim with my eye.

I do not shoot with my hand; he who shoots with his hand has forgotten the face of his father.
I shoot with my mind.

I do not kill with my gun; he who kills with his gun has forgotten the face of his father.
I kill with my heart.”
― Stephen King, The Gunslinger



“You see? Size defeats us. For the fish, the lake in which he lives is the universe. What does the fish think when he is jerked up by the mouth through the silver limits of existence and into a new universe where the air drowns him and the light is blue madness? Where huge bipeds with no gills stuff it into a suffocating box and cover it with wet weeds to die?

Or one might take the tip of the pencil and magnify it. One reaches the point where a stunning realization strikes home: The pencil tip is not solid; it is composed of atoms which whirl and revolve like a trillion demon planets. What seems solid to us is actually only a loose net held together by gravity. Viewed at their actual size, the distances between these atoms might become league, gulfs, aeons. The atoms themselves are composed of nuclei and revolving protons and electrons. One may step down further to subatomic particles. And then to what? Tachyons? Nothing? Of course not. Everything in the universe denies nothing; to suggest an ending is the one absurdity.”
― Stephen King, The Gunslinger

My third time reading! I have also read this same part of the story in graphic novels and remember references to it through the rest of the Dark Tower saga. I am definitely looking at this much differently knowing more about what happened before and after this book. I think back to the first time I read it and how I struggled some trying to imagine this fitting into a bigger mythology. Now it all flows much smoother.

This is also a part of my rereading all of King’s books in chronological order. So, did you know he released this originally the same year as Different Seasons, the Creepshow graphic novel, and the Bachman book The Running Man? Now you do! I think that also puts it into perspective where King was at during his career. He was in the midst of fighting a lot of inner demons and, as many of you probably know, one of the main themes of the Dark Tower series as a whole is doing battle with inner demons. Knowing that now, it feels like The Gunslinger must have been very cathartic for King at the time.

It is not my favorite of the series and I think the writing reflects the early stages of King’s vision. But, it is still a fantastic intro to the series and really creates the perfect atmosphere and mythology without giving too much away. In the end, the build up leaves you wanting to find out what is going to happen next.

For those of you who have not read this yet and may have been wondering about it there are a few things to remember:

•tIf you only have a slight interest in trying out King, this is probably not for you.

•tIf you have only seen the movie they released a few years ago, ignore that. And, by that I mean IGNORE THAT COMPLETELY! I am not even sure what they were thinking when they wrote that script, but it reflects nothing that you will find here. Not even close. They never should have called that movie The Dark Tower or tried to tie it to this. I was even annoyed that the cover of the audio version I listened to was from the movie. That is why I left it one for the original paperback cover version I read 30 years ago.

•tIf you like epic fantasy/sci-fi, world building, quests, and a bit of western flair this is the series for you! Give this first one a go, but don’t make any official decisions about whether you like it or not until you read the second book, too. That is the best of them (in my opinion).

I fully reserve the right to change this to a 2* or a 4* depending on the next book in the series.

EDIT: After nearly completing book two I'm dropping this to 2.5*'s

On the one hand this book was a myriad of shit with no real plot. On the other hand there were some brilliant scenes and foreboding to a richer story to be told through the series. Some of the interplanetary and multidimensional theories all leading to the dark tower were very intriguing. As were the old age battle between good and evil, god and satan and a lineage of the devil betraying Eve and creating the Gunslinger.

Mr King and I have a love/hate relationship where I generally find myself on one side or the other in regards to his works. I'm either really going to regret wasting the time continuing this or be utterly rewarded.

This was a re-read for me, but this time around I'm listening to the series via audiobook.

I enjoyed it just as much, if not more, than I enjoyed it the first time.

I've never done a review on The Dark Tower books before, but this will be my fifth time reading the series and I'm going to take my time and give each book the review I think it deserves.

The Gunslinger, the first book in the series is a delightful read which reminds me of The Hobbit; in terms of simplicity and comfort.

A lot of people dislike the first book, but me personally - I love it. Like I said, it's simple and I consider it one of my comfort reads.

It's split into sections, which I'll lay out below.

"The Man in Black Fled Across The Desert, And The Gunslinger Followed."

The first line of the book just sets the tone, beautifully and throws you into a barren desert - trying to catch up with the illusive Man in Black.

Roland, the protagonist of the story is the last Gunslinger who is in search of the Tower but first he needs to catch the Man in Black to get information on how to get there.

On his way through the desert, he comes a town called Tull and things get a little crazy; I won't go into detail of course because I don't want to spoil it for anyone who's never read it.

He also comes across a man called Brown and his talking raven Zoltan.

"Screw you and the horse you rode in on."

Then he reaches The Way Station, which is where he'll meet an important character.

The Oracle And The Mountains, where he'll take mescaline and try get some answers from the Oracle/Succabus.

The Slow Mutants, which are like human 'muties' (basically humans who've been exposed to radiation and have evolved into almost amphibian type creatures who live in the dark and eat whatever they can find.

Then the last part -

The Gunslinger And The Man In Black

Here he catches up with Him and gets some answers and more..

Go read it and find out, I can almost guarantee you'll want to get straight onto that second book.

This is such an atmospheric read, the descriptions of the surroundings just puts you right there with Roland and the characters are unbeatable.

Straight onto The Drawing of the Three, because it's impossible to not continue.

Buddy read with the notorious duo,  Quick Draw Stepheny and  Pistol Packin’ Delee .

The Gunslinger clambered over the rocks. He knew the Man in Black was close. He could pick up his scent. The Man in Black smelled like charred meat. Evil charred meat. The river to his left was the apotheosis of all rivers; it was watery and wet. The Gunslinger pictured himself lying in the river, being carried backwards in an unending current; lulled by the sweet relentless drifting towards death itself. In a fuzzy formless way, the gunslinger approved.

The Gunslinger spotted a crop of big rocks on the horizon. They stood out like thumbs. The Gunslinger, struck by a momentary dizziness faltered, for he knew the encounter with the Man in Black was nigh. Staggering towards the rocks, the Man in Black suddenly loomed above him.

“Wascally man in bwack, I’m going to shoot you”, said the Gunslinger.

The Gunslinger fired his guns but the bullets didn’t come close to the Man in Black, who while chomping on a carrot, grinned and said, “Eh, Doc, I hope you know this means war.”

That clicking sound you just heard is Stephen King removing me from his friends list.

A review (of sorts).

This is a good example of a few excellent vignettes that don’t translate into a satisfying whole. I get that the chapters contained in this book were published separately and I should withhold ultimate judgment until I read the entire saga (seriously?); however, I haven’t read them all and must make do with what I have read.

The disparate elements (western, scifi, fantasy) didn’t really coalesce. Throwing in the Arthurian stuff (mention quest a few times, throw in the word grail once or twice) just made it more of a muddle.

The ending here wasn’t so much perplexing the Dark Tower is a Nexus for all realities but head shaking King is really going to lift T.H. White’s concept of Merlyn and throw him in here?.

Gunslinger, if you come across Edith Keeler in your journey, don’t let Bones save her from getting run over by a fast moving truck.

I’ve been urged to keep reading, so a hopeful three stars.

This is the beginning of Stephen King's famous magnum opus, the Dark Tower. This is where the master of horror writes his great work of fantasy based on a combination of The Lord of the Rings and The Good, the Bad and the Ugly.

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

This simple and beautiful sentence is the opening line, the trademark and even the summary of The Gunslinger. In most ways, this single sentence is what defines this book.

For that is how it all begins. The man in black flees across the desert, and the gunslinger follows. In the beginning, the reader has no idea who the man in black is, or even who the gunslinger is. You don't know where this desert is. You don't know why the gunslinger is following the man in black. And you don't know to what end they go. All you know when you start reading this book, is that he does follow him.

This is one of those books where you don't get to know anything about anything when you start reading. The characters go by illusive names like 'the man in black' and 'the gunslinger'. The setting is... a desert. Nothing more. This had both a positive and a negative effect on my experience with the book. The negative thing is the fact that in the beginning, I understood absolutely nothing of what was going on, and didn't care at all about what happened to the characters. Why should I, when there was no way to tell who was the good guy, and who was the bad guy (except maybe the title of the book), and no characters had any relations to any other characters or places? The positive thing is that the book gets better and better the more you actually get to know. Eventually, you learn who the characters are, what secrets are hidden in their past, and where this dramatic chase is actually taking place.

Thus arises one of the saving graces of this book: its main character. Roland Deschain, Roland of Gilead. Roland is one of those determined and silent protagonists allowing his guns to speak for him instead of his mouth. In most ways, he is reminiscent of Clint Eastwoods character in the famous Dollars trilogy, the Man With No Name (which is actually the author's intention).

The writing is... strange. Yes, I think that would be the best way of describing it. King seems to switch constantly between simplicity and complexity when constructing his sentences, making some strange combinatory lines of long and impressive words and then irritating sounds like "Yar". That does not mean that the writing is bad, only perhaps that the style does not suit my tastes completely.

Despite all that, I would say that I thoroughly enjoyed the experience of reading this book. The story of the Dark Tower series definitely appears to be quite interesting. It is hard to say anything more about it without including spoilers, but once I got to know a bit of what was happening, I was hooked. Also, since what irritated me the most was that I was thrown into the book without any kind of background knowledge (and didn't start to get it until I was halfway through), I think I might enjoy the the rest of the series more, when I've gotten to know the world in which the story takes place, and the characters featured in it.

I will definitely continue reading this series. Whether or not I would recommend either the book or the series is too early to say. This book does absolutely not do as a standalone, and so I must take the next few books into account before I might say anything about that. But since I've repeatedly heard that this book is a lot weaker than its sequels, I'm obviously excited and quite optimistic about reading them.

In the end, The Gunslinger unfortunately did not meet my expectations. That might say something about the book, or it might say something about my expectations. Both options are possible. It's certainly not a bad book, but there's no possibility of it becoming a favourite of mine either. I only hope that the Dark Tower series as a whole is as good as the legend says.



Dark Tower reviews:
#1 n  The Gunslingern
#2 n  The Drawing of the Threen
#3 n  The Waste Landsn
#4 n  Wizard and Glassn
#5 n  Wolves of the Callan
#6 n  Song of Susannahn
#7 n  The Dark Towern

August 2022: Fourth reread (this has definitely been a summer of rereads!), and I had high, high hopes to head back to the tower, but it may be a slower journey this time. Harry Dresden and, randomly, the Starks and Lannisters, etc. have taken over my entire reading life. Sai King is gonna have to wait. I want to incorporate other tower related books eventually, too, but now is not the time for grand expectations and stretch goals. There are attacks from the Nevernever destroying Chicago, and everyone in Westeros wants to sit on the Iron Throne. Roland’s gonna hang on a little longer before he draws the three and makes his ka-tet. He’ll be fine.

—————-

February 2018:

a sucker for origin stories. In fact, this is the third time I’ve read this book. I’ve read The Fellowship of the Ring and watched the movie multiple times, but I’ve only read and seen the others once. I love watching Marvel movies, especially when the movie is just an origin story of a super hero. I love the first Harry Potter book where you get to learn all about Hogwarts and the amazing characters in that world.

In fact, I love origin stories so much that I usually just stop there and don’t continue the series. I read the first Mistborn book, The Name of the Wind, Ender’s Game, etc. but I never keep going. I’m good just learning about the world and the people mixed up in it, but it’s hard for me to continue sometimes once everything is up and running.

I’m telling you all of that to basically say this book and this series (at least the first half that I’ve read... maybe I’ll actually get to the daggum Tower this time!)... anyway, this series is the opposite for me.

The Gunslinger is fine, and the beginning and end of the story are great, but it doesn’t have the same feel of what I expect from the first book in a series. It feels kind of half-baked and unorganized and at times hard to follow along. There’s so much discussed and so many names that at times it can be frustrating. I don’t know. It’s short, and its intentions aren’t to give away much but to kee you intrigued so you keep going in the series to learn more.

It isn’t King’s best writing, and it’s a rough departure from what he normally does, although I feel like he greatly makes up for that in Wizard and Glass. That’s one of my favorites of his ever if you take out the ending. But this book gives you enough to start and pushes into the next book where King gets back to King and things really start rolling along. I think if I finish the series I will want to revisit this one as it will likely make a lot more sense.

Anyway, I’m continuing on to the Tower! Wish me luck!

But first... my post-book popkin!