The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1) (edition 2003)

The Dark Tower The Gunslinger

"The Man In Black fled across the desert, and the Gunslinger followed. The desert was the apotheosis of all deserts, huge, standing to the sky for what looked like eternity in all directions."

Back in the 80's, before "The Dark Tower" became the huge hit it is today, I lucked out, coming upon this jewel of modern American writing in a tiny little used book store in a tiny little town in Texas. King dreamed up the story from a reading of "Childe Roland To The Dark Tower Came" by Robert Browning, and carries all of the angst, pain an despair which fills that poem.

The series centres around Roland Deschain, The Last Gunslinger, who may be a creature of myth and legend, or simply a man, as he tracks the Man In Black across a bleak and hopeless desert - a desert of reality and of the soul.

"My first thought was, he lied in every word,
That hoary cripple, with malicious eye
Askance to watch the working of his lie
On mine, and mouth scarce able to afford
Suppression of the glee that pursed and scored
Its edge, at one more victim gained thereby. " Robert Browning

The Gunslinger immediately gripped my attention and refused to release me. Poetry, mythology, pain and loss, a searching of the mind soul and body. As a Browning fan, the concept touched me deeply.

Over the years, I was thrilled every time a new Tower came out, and was never disappointed. This is King stretching himself, moving outside his "horror" boundaries, while still remaining true to his writing style in many ways. The world of the Tower is desolate, painful and digs deep into archetypes of the human soul.

Is this another world, somewhere lost among the tides and times of the Universe, old beyond measure and dying? Or is this our world, old itself beyond measure, stretched thin and worn, fading into the universe with a whimper, rather than a bang.

The story grows and develops over the subsequent editions, building and expanding on its mythos, its archetypes, its heart. A serialized novel of depth and power, of heartbreak and redemption, with characters unlike any others, The Tower is a blend of poetry, art and prose unlike any other. Read "The Gunslinger." Then gift your soul with the rest of the series. And think - - - what is real? Are we? Is Roland? Is the world of Roland just on the other side of our own reality?

George Guidell does his normal, spectacular job as the voice of the Audible.com edition of the series. His voice, which has narrated over 900 audio books, and won two Audie Awards for Excellence in audio book narration, is perfect for the part and never deviates from its power and perfection.
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What a good book to end this year's reading with. A book that you can totally immerse in, frighten yourself into no sleep. 5 stars would be more appropriate,but I'm keeping the willies too long. ( )

Recently, my comrades in literature featured a Dark Tower conversation on (prepare for shameless plug) Shelf Inflicted. Unfortunately, I was unable to participate because I had not yet read the series. It felt a little like being the uncool kid who gets picked last for kickball. I decided it was time to remedy this. I was going to prove I could kick that damn ball.

Now I have made vague promises for years to them and to others that, yes, I would read the book and I was sure that I would love it. Last summer I even went so far as to purchase a copy of the book. That was as far as I got. So what was the problem? After all, I've read a few Stephen King books and enjoyed them. The problem was that it was a series. A series where the books become progressively longer. And if I've said it once, I've said it a hundred times: I hates me a series. Because "series" usually translates to "sucking at the teat of the publishing cash cow for as long as possible." Such novels often recycle the same premise over and over and over again until they have completely worn out that which began as unique and inventive. They're the Lost of the literary world. If you can't wrap it up in a trilogy, you have nothing to offer me.

But caving to peer pressure placed upon me by people I both trust and fear, I finally started The Gunslinger. And so it has begun.

In a narrative as bleak and barren as its landscape, The Gunslinger follows Roland Deschain, the enigmatic gunslinger of the title, as he chases the man in black across a seemingly post-apocalyptic desert wasteland. The last of his kind, the gunslinger is the ultimate anti-hero--a knight in tarnished armor with polished guns. He's capable of extreme violence and single-mindedness in pursuit of his prey:

he stood, screaming and reloading, his mind far away and absent, letting his hands do their reloading trick. Could he hold up a hand, tell them he had spent a thousand years learning this trick and others, tell them of the guns and the blood that had blessed them? Not with his mouth. But his hands could speak their own tale (64).

However, he is also surprisingly tender to the helpless and hopeless who cross his path, like the young Jake, a boy plucked from 1970's America and brought to the nowhere through which Roland is traveling. This place, while seeming like the frontier of the Old West, may be more than it appears to be as machinery is scattered throughout like so many fossils and everyone seems to be familiar with Hey, Jude. The gunslinger himself is from New Canaan, a place like a medieval western (imagine A Game of Thrones with guns) where time has suddenly accelerated. As best as I can tell, Roland's ultimate goal is to capture the man in black and make his way to the Dark Tower, a nexus of time and space to seek answers to why this is.

The novel itself is a mash-up of all that is good: sci fi, fantasy, western, horror, dystopian, legend, quest. However, I can see where this book is not for everyone. It's not a book that explains itself to you so much as happens to you. If you don't like narratives that offer more questions than answers and leave you with no sense of resolution, then you might want to sidestep The Gunslinger. I, however, am anxious to start The Drawing of the Three because destination is irrelevant to me at this point. I just plan on enjoying the ride.

Cross posted at This Insignificant Cinder ( )

I'll come back to this...someday

Rating: 3.5 of 5

Book One in the Dark Tower epic offers fast-paced fantasy with moderate action and few answers. Its focus, though, is on the introduction of the story’s hero, his initial quest, and his world.

The Gunslinger follows Roland, the last gunslinger, on his quest across the desert of a ruined world to find the Man in Black. Along the way Roland meets Alice, a lonely but tough broad, and Jake, a frightened Earth boy, both of whom play an important role in his finding that which he seeks. Ultimately, Roland must decide whether he’s willing to sacrifice everything (and everyone) in order to satisfy his vengeance.

Few first lines are as compelling:

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

Once I started this book, I could not put it down. The sad thing is, I’ve owned the book for over 20 years. Why did I take so long to finally pick it up and give it a read?!? When I finished, all the seedlings – the quest for revenge, the dying world, magic, fantastical beings, a prophecy, and the Tower – sprouted into my overwhelming need to know more.

Roland’s world was quite similar to our own with subtle (and not so subtle) differences. His language, at times, was confusing; a mix between “High Speech” and 70s – 80s American lingo. I wasn’t sure if that was to demonstrate Roland’s lifespan of hundreds of years, the similarities between his world and ours, or simply to make him relatable.

The novel’s structure maintained the balance between pace, forward motion, and backstory. Throughout the story, there were flashbacks to Roland’s childhood and training as a gunslinger, which illustrate who he is (or was intended to be) and hints at potential motives for his relentless search for the Man in Black. At no time did I feel like King needed to hurry up and get on with the story.

There were many unanswered questions that I’m sure King will explore, if not all-out answer, in the rest of the series. But I still felt satisfied with this book’s story and resolution. Overall I’m quite pleased with Book One and cannot wait to start Book Two in October for the Dark Tower read-a-long.

Interesting tidbit: The series was inspired by a ream of green paper, silence on a winter’s day, and the poem, “Childe Roland,” by Robert Browning. (That’s what Stephen King wrote in the “Afterword,” anyway.) The story’s evolution as well as where King intended to take readers in the Dark Tower series were also explored in the “Afterword.”

** First published on my blog, Unleash the Flying Monkeys! ** | Read for The Stephen King Challenge

"The greatest mystery the universe offers is not life but Size. Size encompasses life, and the Tower encompasses Size (p.291)." ( )