The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower, Book 1)
by: Stephen King
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Amazon.com Review:
Thirty-three years, a horrific and life-altering accident, and thousands of desperately rabid fans in the making, Stephen King's quest to complete his magnum opus rivals the quest of Roland and his band of gunslingers who inhabit the Dark Tower series. Loyal DT fans and new readers alike will appreciate this revised edition of The Gunslinger, which breathes new life into Roland of Gilead, and offers readers a "clearer start and slightly easier entry into Roland's world."
King writes both a new introduction and foreword to this revised edition, and the ever-patient, ever-loyal "constant reader" is rewarded with secrets to the series's inception. That a "magic" ream of green paper and a Robert Browning poem, came together to reveal to King his "ka" is no real surprise (this is King after all), but who would have thought that the squinty-eyed trio of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach would set the author on his true path to the Tower? While King credits Tolkien for inspiring the "quest and magic" that pervades the series, it was Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that helped create the epic proportions and "almost absurdly majestic western backdrop" of Roland's world.
To King, The Gunslinger demanded revision because once the series was complete it became obvious that "the beginning was out of sync with the ending."While the revision adds only 35 pages, Dark Tower purists will notice the changes to Allie's fate and Roland's interaction with Cort, Jake, and the Man in Black--all stellar scenes that will reignite the hunger for the rest of the series.Newcomers will appreciate the details and insight into Roland's life. The revised Roland of Gilead (nee Deschain) is embodied with more humanity--he loves, he pities, he regrets. What DT fans might miss is the same ambiguity and mystery of the original that gave the original its pulpy underground feel (back when King himself awaited word from Roland's world). --Daphne Durham
Product Description:
Filled with ominous landscapes and macabre menace, Stephen King's latest mass market novel features The Gunslinger, a haunting figure in combat with The Man in Black in an epic battle of good versus evil. A spellbinding tale that is both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike.
Thirty-three years, a horrific and life-altering accident, and thousands of desperately rabid fans in the making, Stephen King's quest to complete his magnum opus rivals the quest of Roland and his band of gunslingers who inhabit the Dark Tower series. Loyal DT fans and new readers alike will appreciate this revised edition of The Gunslinger, which breathes new life into Roland of Gilead, and offers readers a "clearer start and slightly easier entry into Roland's world."
King writes both a new introduction and foreword to this revised edition, and the ever-patient, ever-loyal "constant reader" is rewarded with secrets to the series's inception. That a "magic" ream of green paper and a Robert Browning poem, came together to reveal to King his "ka" is no real surprise (this is King after all), but who would have thought that the squinty-eyed trio of Clint Eastwood, Lee Van Cleef, and Eli Wallach would set the author on his true path to the Tower? While King credits Tolkien for inspiring the "quest and magic" that pervades the series, it was Sergio Leone's The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly that helped create the epic proportions and "almost absurdly majestic western backdrop" of Roland's world.
To King, The Gunslinger demanded revision because once the series was complete it became obvious that "the beginning was out of sync with the ending."While the revision adds only 35 pages, Dark Tower purists will notice the changes to Allie's fate and Roland's interaction with Cort, Jake, and the Man in Black--all stellar scenes that will reignite the hunger for the rest of the series.Newcomers will appreciate the details and insight into Roland's life. The revised Roland of Gilead (nee Deschain) is embodied with more humanity--he loves, he pities, he regrets. What DT fans might miss is the same ambiguity and mystery of the original that gave the original its pulpy underground feel (back when King himself awaited word from Roland's world). --Daphne Durham
Product Description:
Filled with ominous landscapes and macabre menace, Stephen King's latest mass market novel features The Gunslinger, a haunting figure in combat with The Man in Black in an epic battle of good versus evil. A spellbinding tale that is both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike.
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Customer Reviews
Average Rating:
Rating: 
- A very efficiently-written western thriller, and that's just the start of it
The Gunslinger is a fantastic piece of literature, the start to a series of epic proportions.
The story starts with Roland the Gunslinger, last of an order known as the Gunslingers, chasing the Man in the Black through the desert. We do not fully know what world this is in, when it is, where these characters fully came from, but we know the Gunslinger is after the Man in Black, and just that keeps the reader going.
We see the many adventures of Roland as he goes on through ... Read More
Rating: 
- book
This book is a slow moving book.This was not his best i feel.Not worth what I payed for it.
Rating: - Tough to get through, but well worth it in the end
The Gunslinger, the first book in Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series, is a somewhat slow, vague, drawn-out story about an old-west style Gunslinger traveling across barren wastelands.
This book sets the scene for the seven-book series which follows.Books that prove to be an extraordinary epic.Get through this book and move onto the second of the series, they get much better from then on.
Rating: - Enough to get me to read the next one ... but barely.
In this book a "gunslinger" follows a man in black across the desert.We learn a bit about his past, and that there has been some sort of time disturbance.There are mutants and other strange things and a "Dark Tower" that has something to do with the gunslinger's destiny.
I liked the book and I'll read the next one, but I would have preferred that it provide more information about the scope of the series or what the larger plot is.As it is I was left feeling that I had been led on and ... Read More
Rating: - A very fun ride
I've read several of Stehen King's books, I think the Gunslinger is a very easy read, you can finish it in one afternoon.The story is not overly complicated, but it keeps you turning the page.I don't like giving plot "spoilers" I'll just say the reader follows a man on a mission of revenge, and Stephen King sure knows how to create a "moody" setting, this book gives you the "chills" in a sense because it's a dark post-apocalyptic type world where the reader can constantly feel the tension!I haven't ... Read More
- A very efficiently-written western thriller, and that's just the start of itThe Gunslinger is a fantastic piece of literature, the start to a series of epic proportions.
The story starts with Roland the Gunslinger, last of an order known as the Gunslingers, chasing the Man in the Black through the desert. We do not fully know what world this is in, when it is, where these characters fully came from, but we know the Gunslinger is after the Man in Black, and just that keeps the reader going.
We see the many adventures of Roland as he goes on through ... Read More
- bookThis book is a slow moving book.This was not his best i feel.Not worth what I payed for it.
- Tough to get through, but well worth it in the endThe Gunslinger, the first book in Stephen King's epic Dark Tower series, is a somewhat slow, vague, drawn-out story about an old-west style Gunslinger traveling across barren wastelands.
This book sets the scene for the seven-book series which follows.Books that prove to be an extraordinary epic.Get through this book and move onto the second of the series, they get much better from then on.
- Enough to get me to read the next one ... but barely.In this book a "gunslinger" follows a man in black across the desert.We learn a bit about his past, and that there has been some sort of time disturbance.There are mutants and other strange things and a "Dark Tower" that has something to do with the gunslinger's destiny.
I liked the book and I'll read the next one, but I would have preferred that it provide more information about the scope of the series or what the larger plot is.As it is I was left feeling that I had been led on and ... Read More
- A very fun rideI've read several of Stehen King's books, I think the Gunslinger is a very easy read, you can finish it in one afternoon.The story is not overly complicated, but it keeps you turning the page.I don't like giving plot "spoilers" I'll just say the reader follows a man on a mission of revenge, and Stephen King sure knows how to create a "moody" setting, this book gives you the "chills" in a sense because it's a dark post-apocalyptic type world where the reader can constantly feel the tension!I haven't ... Read More
