The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Title: The Gunslinger
Author: Stephen King
Series: The Dark Tower #1
Source: Bought
Format: Paperback
Pages: 307
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Overall Rating:


Synopsis (from the book cover):
In The Gunslinger, 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 a desolate world which frighteningly echoes our own. In his first step towards the powerful and mysterious Dark Tower, Roland encounters an alluring woman named Alice, begins a friendship with Jake, a kid from New York, and faces an agonising choice between damnation and salvation as he pursues the Man in Black. Both grippingly realistic and eerily dreamlike, The Gunslinger  leaves readers eagerly awaiting the next chapter.
It is hard to believe that I ended up enjoying this book so much. It started off incredibly slow and it definitely takes a little bit of time for me to get used to the language and the author’s style of writing.

The story was about the Last Gunslinger, Roland of Gilead, as he made his quest across the desert in pursuit of the Man in Black and ultimately reaching the Dark Tower (Which does not happen in this first book, of course). Throughout this journey, he met quite a few interesting characters which include people in the town of Tull (Alice was one of them) and also a boy named Jake that Roland ended up really cared about. A lot of things happened (sweet things, gruesome things – you named it!) to these characters and in one way or another, it seems like all of them serve some specific roles in the whole story. However, what the roles really are still remain unclear.

Although the story might be confusing at first, it is hard not to feel enchanted by this alternate world that King created. It is also impossible to feel not attracted to the mysteries that revolved around Roland and the Man in Black. I think this was the essence that keeping me leafing through the book, pages by pages. So many mysteries involved and so many mysteries yet to be solved. I believe that if you’re a big fan of The Lord of The Rings, you’d also be glad to join Roland in his quest to the Dark Tower.

This book is the first part of The Dark Tower. The other books under this series are: The Drawing of the Three, The Waste Lands, Wizard and Glass, Wolves of the Calla, Song of Susannah and The Dark Tower.

17 comments:

  1. Hi shy!! i struggled a bit when i read Mr. King's Duma Key weeks ago..
    coz of the languange used by him....
    same as u...the more I read, the more I got used to his style...
    well...this looks interesting...Dark Tower series...
    hope you enjoy 'em Shy!!

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  2. Oh my God! This is my favorite series of all time. I love the Dark Tower and absolutely cannot wait to see if you review the others.

    Roland is def my book crush. I'm glad you enjoyed this! Ridiculously glad :-D

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  3. @CJ: You definitely have to try this one, CJ. The introductory part has been very interesting, I cannot wait to see where and what King going to bring me next!

    @April: You're definitely right, there. Roland was my book crush as well -everything about him just drew me in! I've the first four parts of the book, so I definitely going to write more reviews as I read them =)

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  4. dark Tower series were published long time ago rite Shy?
    coz...i find out that not so many of the books are available in bookstore..
    of course non in any bookstore here! haha!
    I might try to fish it out from my campus library....hope i can found it. Pray for me luck Shy!!

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  5. @CJ: Yes, you're right. The Gunslinger was published somewhere in the '80s but the final three of the books were published just few years ago. I'm wishing you all the best in your book hunt, CJ ;) May the luck be yours! *lol*

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  6. wow! somewhere in '80s? So, i'm going to hunt the pre-hostoric book then. Haha!! dont u think that Mr King's book cover are all creepy, shy?
    they freak me out..lol.... =b

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  7. @CJ: Yes, the original edition was published in '82, to be exact. I actually read the revised version, some said it was better than the original. As for the covers, I do have to agree with you especially when it comes to his horror novels.

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  8. wah..reading all the conversations between you and cj really going to make me think twice about stephen king..i have only 3 books of king's(all given by my bestfriends like ages ago). i read one though, but it was too much horror, killing, really made me nauseated..till now, i never read the other two.. LOL..

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  9. @Darlyn: What are the title of the King's books that you have? Tbh, I've came across a few that I decided to put down because I was too chicken to continue reading :P

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  10. i've read more than a half of gerald's game, another two were carrie and IT..it creeps me out! have you watched IT? the movie was in early 90's i guess..

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  11. woops!!! shy is chicken out!!!!
    i watched The Mist movie...it's based oh Mr. King's writing...
    but i'm really dissapointed with the ending..
    when the father killed his own son...truly frustrated u noe..
    but the movie is awesome!!! try to watch it n then u noe...

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  12. I never read any books by Stephen King before, but this one sounds very interesting and i like good mystery books. Maybe i should try one soon!!

    Btw great review.

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  13. I've never heard of this. Fab review.

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  14. @Darlyn: I've never watched the movie "It", but did watch a couple of others including the one that has this haunted car (sort-of). I think the title was "Christine". The horror book by him that scared me to death was The Shining.

    @Nina: This one was very good! Would be very interesting to see how King end this series.

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  15. Great review Shy! I don't usually read Stephen King but this looks like it might be an exception!

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  16. @Alaine: It definitely worth reading it. I heard some people said that you can see the maturity of his writing style as you go through this series from volume I to VII. I would really like to witness that myself =)

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  17. I've been wanting to read this book for quite a while, I'll definitely have to bump it up my TBR list. Now I just have to try and find the whole series!

    I loved the review! :)

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